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Roblox’s tagline is “Reimagining the way people come together.” People have been coming together through Roblox, but not always in the way that Roblox imagined them to.
In early August, a “vigilante” (as referred to by Roblox) got banned from the game for doing “hero work.” That vigilante, known as Schlep on YouTube, helped get predators off the Roblox platform. When Schlep was younger, he met a predator that groomed him on the Roblox site, which led to severe mental health issues throughout his childhood. His experience motivated him to help other kids on Roblox not go through the same trials that he did.
The method that Schlep used to catch these predators was more effective and permanent than the Roblox methods themselves, which usually don’t lead to a long term solution. Schlep would pose as a minor on roblox, trying to lure in predators to start a conversation with him, asking to talk to them on another platform, usually Discord. He would then ask to meet up at a location, but instead of Sclep meeting them, the police did, making them face real and serious consequences. The reason Roblox gave as to why they banned him, was that they didn’t want their players traveling to different platforms to talk to people they met on Roblox.
The fact that Shlep was banned when he helped younger players escape from predators resulted in other content creators leaving the Roblox video stars program in somewhat of a boycott. It also outraged other Roblox players and their parents.
“My mom heard about the predators and pedophiles on the app, and so when she heard of the kidnappings, she banned me from playing,” freshman Leighton Johanson said.
In 2022 Evan McConney from Layton, Utah, met a stranger on Roblox, and eventually their online connection led to them meeting up and McConney getting kidnapped. Parents everywhere were concerned, questioning the safety of Roblox and whether or not their kid was contacting strangers through it.
“As a kid, I never contacted strangers through Roblox or online,” Johanson said.“I just friended people I knew, like my cousins or siblings.”
Strangers contacting youth online is not a problem that can be solely blamed on gaming platforms themselves, but can also be seen as the parents responsibility to monitor their kids online use.
“People are so quick to blame the internet and video games,” senior Beau Johnson said. “But the reality is, if you give your kids the attention and stimulation they need then they’re not going to go seek it from strangers. So in reality, it’s not just the internet’s fault or the games fault, it’s also the parents’ fault. They need to make sure they’re talking to their kids and educating them on the dangers of the internet, but also that they give their kids the attention they need.”
Some students said that their parents never gave them an online safety talk. Instead, it was usually through outside experiences that they learned.
“I never had these kinds of serious talks with my parents,” junior Olivia Lung said. “I just always knew that you aren’t supposed to talk to strangers.”
Even though most kids playing on Roblox are aware of the problem, some parents aren’t.
“I’ve never really talked to strangers online, but I know that there are people who do encounter predators and it’s a serious issue.” Johnson said. “But again, it leads to more underlying issues. Don’t blame the internet or websites because they’re dangerous, talk to your kids so that they don’t go to these dangerous places because they don’t have an outlet anywhere else.”
