We scoped out some that have been causing a stir among critics and parents and compiled a list of the top five Roblox games that aren’t suitable for young children: Want to learn what these games are all about and why they’re inappropriate for young kids? Concerned about what Roblox could be exposing your children to? We’ve broken it all down for you in the guide below. Some parents have noticed that their kids were playing inappropriate Roblox games featuring machete-wielding killers chasing down players, or even onscreen characters engaged in sex acts. While the graphics and visuals aren’t as high-res and realistic as most video games, the inappropriate nature of the content couldn’t be ignored. Though Roblox has banned and blocked some very controversial games, some parents are still concerned about a handful of titles that linger around Roblox. We’ve researched and rounded up five of them in our guide below.
How Roblox Games Can Be Inappropriate for Kids
Roblox isn’t like regular video game studios or platforms. On the platform, anyone can create and publish games, so there are definitely going to be some games with inappropriate elements. While sex, violence, and horror elements certainly concern parents, it’s not only the content that makes Roblox a questionable place for kids to play online games. Many Roblox games are multiplayer games, which means your child can get into contact with anyone playing at the same time through in-game chat features. Moreover, gamers can talk to each other within the app. Both of these features allow for cyberbullying and inappropriate remarks to your child. Worst case scenario, your child could interact with adults pretending to be kids or be groomed by an online predator. While our list is primarily concerned with content, parents likely shouldn’t ignore these concerns either.
The 5 Most Inappropriate Roblox Games for Kids
We’ve put together a list of the top five games that get parents in a twist, and for good reason. Whether it’s jump scares or adult-themed content, these titles feature elements that many parents have deemed a little too much for kids.
1. Poppy Playtime-inspired games: Horror in a toy factory
Although the official Poppy Playtime isn’t an official Roblox horror game, there are many copycat games on the platform. The original was created by indie-developer MOB Games. The premise of the game is that you’re a former employee of a toy production company. You return to the factory ten years after all of its staff disappeared and need to solve puzzles while you encounter heart-pounding horror scenarios and terrifying creatures and characters. The look-a-like games that players create for Roblox often follow a similar format, with the most popular one being “Poppy Playtime Co.” The character most likely to haunt the dreams of (young) players is Huggy Wuggy, who appears in both the original and the Roblox versions. At first glance, he appears to be a cuddly soft blue creature, until he reveals rows of razor-sharp teeth and a knack for chasing down players at seemingly impossible speeds. You can get a glimpse of Huggy Wuggy as gaming streamer Markiplier runs through Chapter 1 of the official game on his YouTube channel. Some other cute-sounding yet sinister-looking characters — Kissy Missy, Mommy Long Legs and Boogie Bot — have made appearances in the game and its Roblox copies. There are various risks that come with playing Poppy Playtime that also carry over to similar games on Roblox. The Ineqe Safeguarding Group, a Belfast, Northern Ireland-based group specializing in keeping children safe online and off, has reported that the game could cause different issues for some children. This could be “added anxiety and stress,” the “intrusive thoughts” of a new Boogey Man in Huggy Wuggy, as well as developing “new fears” of toys coming to life.
2. Survive the Killer: You can kill or be killed
Survive the Killer is one of many games on Roblox where the graphic content isn’t too shocking, but the premise of the game is. The characters in Survive the Killer may not look particularly realistic, but that doesn’t mean this game is appropriate for young children. The premise of the game is to run, hide, and eventually escape from someone who is trying to murder you. Alternatively, a user might end up playing as the killer. Truth be told, this was one of the more anxiety-inducing games our 27-year-old reviewer said they’ve tested. After all, if you’re one of the players being chased, you constantly feel pressured to move and flee. Since you have no idea where the killer is, you don’t know where you should be fleeing to. To exacerbate this, the game is dark and the layout of the map is confusing. Even the goriest and most realistic horror games from big-time studios give you an idea of where you’re at and what you’re supposed to do. If you want to see how the game works, you can watch a video of gaming streamer SpyCakes playing the game from the point of view of the killer. In this case, he played the infamous Slender Man as he hunted down other players.
3. Club Iris: Club experience for youngsters
With over 130 million visits, Club Iris, by Infamous Productions, is one of the more popular games on Roblox. It has somewhat of a seedy reputation, as it’s essentially a nightclub experience for young players. It’s also known as a place where a lot of Oders (Roblox lingo for online daters) congregate. Online dating is strictly against Roblox’s policy, considering its popularity with kids. Nevertheless, it can still happen here in this Roblox dance club. Club Iris is mainly a dance game, but at times it appears to be more of a girls’ dance club. Stories have surfaced on online forums about users soliciting and giving lap dances. They do this to earn “Robux,” which is the in-game currency of Roblox games. Other users have described unwanted sexual advances from other players in the club. When we checked out the game, it was as unrealistic from a visual point of view, as most other games on the platform. Nevertheless, exposing children to this sort of behavior sends the wrong message. There are also beds in the game, where players can supposedly go to perform inappropriate acts on each other. We didn’t notice any of these acts personally in the game. However, we did notice plenty of inappropriate dancing and scantily-clad avatars. Most parents that have come across this game feel it’s better to be safe than sorry and tell their children to avoid it.
4. Vibe Place: A chill spot where anything goes
Vibe Place is an interesting game, as it doesn’t seem to have an objective, apart from “vibing,” hanging out, and listening to music. Though there aren’t many public reviews or complaints on this one, we found potentially disturbing elements when our reviewer went in to check the vibe. The main issues we encountered were simply due to the chat features. Since there are no real goals or missions, players generally just come in and interact with one another. Right away, our reviewer observed sexually-charged chats and other inappropriate topics. This is quite distressing, considering Roblox’s young user base. Furthermore, the bed that appears in Vibe Place is often used in a suggestive way. In videos of this game on YouTube, we’ve seen players attempting to kiss or touch each other’s avatars in a sexual way. A simple YouTube search of “Vibe Place Roblox Kissing” will show you what we mean. Granted, every group of gamers is different and they might not all discuss sexual topics. Nevertheless, this happened in three out of five games that we joined. Any game where you leave young players to their own devices could be a hotbed for inappropriate activity.
5. Fashion Famous: Looks aren’t everything
Fashion Famous is a game about (you guessed it) fashion. It might seem out of place on this list, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. The game chooses a theme, which the players will have to adhere to as they choose an outfit. Players are spawned in a large area that has many different types of clothing to choose from. Finally, gamers present their fashionable creations on the runway. Other players will give them a rating from 1 to 5 stars. The goal is to become the player with the highest rating. While this doesn’t sound too bad, one mother, Shona Hendley, found Fashion Famous particularly disturbing when she observed her two young girls playing it. She noted that it shifted from “a fun dress-up game” into a competition where players can not only change their outfits, hair color, and style, but also their skin color, noses, eyes, and other physical attributes to walk away with top honors. “While I am all for learning about winning and losing, when success is based on looks, on personal difference, there is no winner or loser, or at least there shouldn’t be,” Hendley wrote on the Australian news site Kidspot. “There should be accepting of difference, of taste, of appearance, not a world where it can be changed at the drop of a hat to obtain popularity votes.” Though not every child may take the competition too seriously, many parents agree that changing your appearance and looks — especially physical features — to appease others is a value that shouldn’t be instilled early on.
Tips to Keep Your Child Safe on Roblox
Apart from avoiding the games we mentioned above, there are other ways to keep your children safe on Roblox. We’ve compiled some tips that will help parents limit exposure and keep tabs on young players.
1. Inform yourself about Roblox
While you could ban Roblox altogether in your household, children will often find a way to play anyway. You can control your own home, but you probably can’t control those of their friends. To protect young minds from the dangers of Roblox, you need to know how it all works. We’ve provided a quick explainer in the next section, but for parents looking to take a deep dive, we’ve compiled a complete guide on Roblox safety and whether or not it’s suitable for kids. There are chat features and parental controls you can use, as well as ways to set up additional security controls and block specific users. Perhaps more importantly, parents need to dig in and understand why kids are flocking to this platform in the first place. This brings us to the next tip.
2. Talk to your children about Roblox
Protecting your child online becomes near-impossible when you don’t know how they’re spending their time on their devices. This might happen because of a simple lack of communication, or because your child is scared of being critiqued. They might feel their parents don’t understand the things they like. Everyone likes talking about their passions, and children are no exception. By showing a positive and curious attitude regarding Roblox, you can invite your child to open up to you. This way, you’ll be up-to-date on their online lives and able to take action when necessary. On top of that, children tend to respond to suggestions and warnings in a more positive way when you show you understand their interests.
3. Play Roblox with your child
Playing Roblox yourself, if time and personal interest allow, is a great way to learn about the games and their risks. You can study up and take our word for it, but you’ll never fully understand the platform until you’ve jumped in and played it yourself. While playing, you can decide for yourself exactly which games have inappropriate elements. You might even find some things we missed. Moreover, it gives you a chance to observe your child in real time while playing. This won’t just keep them safe, but can also be a fun bonding activity.
4. Use Roblox’s safety settings
Roblox offers parents ways to protect their children by adjusting certain settings. A good start is to adjust Roblox’s “Account Restrictions.” This means you can restrict communication from bullying players or potential groomers. By enabling restrictions, your child will be unable to receive messages on Roblox or partake in in-game or in-app chatting. Other users will also be unable to find your child’s account using their phone number. To enable Account Restrictions, follow these steps:
Roblox also offers “Parental Controls.” These useful settings allow you, among other things, to set a four-digit pin. This pin has to be inserted to change the account’s settings. This is an excellent way to make sure your child doesn’t tamper with their account’s settings. In order to make a pin, you will first have to fill out your email address under “Account Info.” After, you simply verify your email address by clicking on a button in an email that Roblox will send you.
5. Use a parental control app
Many parental control apps aren’t as useful for monitoring Roblox activity, since they’re aimed at keeping an eye on social media apps. Even so, they can enforce screen time limits, allow you to monitor chats, and have advanced location-tracking and geo-fencing features. Parental control apps can be particularly useful when your child uses Roblox in combination with other websites. This comes with significant dangers, too. Some online predators might try to lure players away from Roblox and onto less controlled platforms like Reddit or Discord. While you can tweak Roblox’s security settings, you want to make sure you child isn’t venturing off into other unapproved parts of the internet. Parental controls can help here.
How Does Roblox Work?
Roblox is not technically a game. Rather, it’s a gaming platform similar to Steam, Rockstar, and Uplay. On Roblox, you can buy and play many different games. These games are all created by Roblox users, which is how Roblox is unique in its setup. Anyone who learns the basic tools and programming language used on Roblox (Lua) can create a game. This is obviously quite different from having big-time studio developers put their games on the platform. While this is an inventive and creative idea, it also explains why some of the games are quite inappropriate: anyone can make one. If you combine this with the fact the platform is incredibly popular among children, the potential dangers quickly become clear.
Roblox has banned a lot of dirty games
Due to parental complaints, Roblox has significantly improved as far as children’s safety goes. Especially when it comes to sexual content, the platform used to have a lot more inappropriate games than it does now. For instance, Roblox has removed most of its so-called “condos “or “condo games.” These games involve user-generated “hangout” spaces where players can talk about sex and have their characters engage in sexual activities. An example of such a deleted game is the notorious and very inappropriate “Shedletsky’s dirty place.” As far as we can tell, the original version of “Shower simulator,” another questionable game, has also been banned. Furthermore, Roblox has banned certain features from games that they deemed inappropriate. An example of this is the “parties” feature from Meep City. Many complained about this feature, as it allowed many players to make inappropriate, sexual remarks and partake in similar actions. An often-cited example involves players wearing shirts with “Pornhub” printed on the front. Regardless of these bans, some of the games on Roblox can still be harmful or simply inappropriate for children. We made our top 5 list to make parents aware of the most popular questionable games.
Inappropriate Roblox Games: Wrapping Up
With the internet at their feet, any kind of content can be available to children at the press of a button. Even seemingly safe spaces like Roblox can harbor inappropriate game content and harmful communication from other users. When it comes to Roblox games, parents should keep an eye out for: While it wouldn’t be wise for very young children to take part in these games, older kids might feel very drawn to them. It’s important to communicate with your child and make them aware of the risks. Aside from inappropriate games, parents should also be aware of the dangers of cyberbullying and the threat of online predators. By avoiding chat-focused games and following the safety tips in this article, you can drastically decrease the probability of your child getting harmed by using Roblox. Inappropriate content on Roblox is just one of the worries parents face online today. We’ve dedicated an entire section of our website to help guardians navigate the murky waters of online threats for children. Is your child active on other social media? Make sure to check out our full parental guides on Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok. Check out our full guide on inappropriate Roblox games for a short explanation of the dangers of each of these games.
