Online Safety November 2022 Newsletter Anti-Bullying Week Roblox – updated PEGI rating 2022 Monday 14th - Friday 18th November The theme this year is Reach Out. The Anti Bullying Alliance have worked with Kidscape to develop resources to help you support your child: https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/ anti-bullying-week/parents-and-carers
PEGI have announced a change to the age rating for Roblox. PEGI used to rate Roblox as 7+, however because of the huge level of user generated content within Roblox, PEGI have changed the rating to a Parental Guidance label (icon shown right). You can read more about this change here: https://pegi.info/news/pegi-changes-rating-advice-roblox
What is Roblox? You can either use Roblox to create games or play games that other users have created. As a lot of the content is user generated, it may mean not all games will be suitable for your child to view/play. It is important to set up Parental controls appropriate to your child.
Allowed Experiences - NEW
Twitter: new feature You must be 13+ to join Twitter. Twitter have introduced a new feature called Twitter Circle. Twitter circles allows you to send Tweets to people you have chosen to be in your Twitter Circle. Only those in your Twitter Circle can reply to the Tweets you share in the circle. You can read more about this feature here: https://help.twitter.com/en/usingtwitter/twitter-circle
Roblox has introduced Allowed Experiences, which allows you to select ageappropriate experiences, so your child can only join experiences that match their age set. Please note that experiences above the age restriction set may be seen in search results. Age categories available are 9+, 13+ and all ages. You can find out how to set up Allowed Experiences here: https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/en-us/articles/8863284850196-AllowedExperiences-Controls
What should I be aware of? Chat Facility - Players can chat to each other on Roblox. You can add parental controls to turn this feature off completely or add restrictions. Virtual Currency - Players can buy Robux (their virtual currency) to buy ingame upgrades or accessories. If you do not want your child to purchase them, then ensure you set the Monthly Spend Restriction to zero. Game content – as mentioned, games are created by different users so sometimes the content may not be appropriate for your child. Blocking users and reporting – ensure your child knows how to do this.
What should I do?
Play the game with your child. Explore the parental controls within Roblox and set as appropriate. Show your child how to use the Report Abuse system within Roblox to report inappropriate content and how to block other users.
Further information:
https://corp.roblox.com/parents/ https://parentzone.org.uk/article/roblox Users of this guide do so at their own discretion. No liability is entered into. Current as of the date released 1.11.22.