For nearly 15 years, young gamers have flocked toward the online Roblox gaming platform. The innovative program allows users to essentially build their own video games that others can play. The game has been praised in the past for its parental controls and kid-friendliness. However, new reports suggest it may have a troubling dark side of sex and nudity.
Rather than a single game, Roblox is a platform that allows players to create an avatar and explore 3D environments. Game rooms are totally user-generated, meaning players make their own environments for themselves and others to inhabit.
These spaces can include various activities and games, from racing cars to playacting as superheroes. Some of the most popular games involve simulations of “grownup” activities, like raising a baby or running a pizza shop.
Since launching in 2006, Roblox has become enormously popular with young online gamers. Fast Company reports that at least half of all US kids under 16 use the platform, while the majority of its total users are under 18.
“We want kids to have an opportunity for free play,” said Roblox co-creator and CEO David Baszucki. “Roblox allows them to get together, make their own rules, go together wherever they might want… and create together.”
Child safety advocates have praised Roblox in the past for its robust terms of use, age restrictions and parental controls. However, new reports suggest that young, computer-savvy users have found ways to hack the system. The result? 3D spaces filled with naked avatars simulating sex and other debauched acts, while crude language and hate speech fly in the chat.
The Dark Side of Roblox
Roblox user Dylan Lemus-Olson has spoken to news outlets about these so-called “condo games” or “condo videos,” calling them “the dark side of Roblox.” The 19-year-old first stumbled on the phenomenon in 2017, when a Discord notification led him to a room with “a writhing crowd of naked Roblox avatars,” said Fast Company.
Lemus-Olson took it upon himself to blow the whistle on condo games, creating a YouTube channel to showcase their rampant sex, nudity, and foul language. His channel eventually gained over 53,000 subscribers. However, a series of recent copyright complaints from Roblox have forced him to remove most of his videos.
Fast Company reports that Roblox is constantly shutting inappropriate games down, only for more to pop up in their place.
“This is an adversarial kind of situation… [and] we know that the bad actors are not going to stop,” a Roblox safety rep, who asked not to be identified, told the outlet.
Experts say these rooms represent a significant danger to the safety of young Roblox users. “For somebody who wants to [prey on children], these types of environments make it very easy for them,” said Elizabeth Jeglic, a psychology professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Fast Company Editor-at-Large Burt Helm, who spent months researching condo games for their report, agreed. “[Y]ou don’t know if someone is actually an adult pretending to be a child or with very bad intentions,” he said.
Roblox reportedly denied a CBS News request for an interview on the matter. However, they said the platform has “a stringent safety system in place” and “no tolerance for inappropriate content or behavior.”
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