Sophomore Milla Watts (right) and senior Tyler Gerbel (left) discuss the Roblox controversy and how it affects children who play. Photo courtesy of senior Wesley Bisheff.
“Roblox” is a popular game among San Luis Obispo High School students, with 18.2% of freshmen reporting that they regularly play the game as of a poll conducted by Expressions in 2025. “Roblox” officially released back in 2006, it was a website for users to create games and for others to play those games.
Though it is a free-to-play gaming website they have their own currency, “Robux”, that costs real money and it is used to buy avatar accessories and certain games. But now in 2026, “Roblox” has been in hot water for its more recent AI additions to their website’s security and their CEO, David Baszucki’s plans regarding child safety on their website.
Senior Tyler Gerbel: So what do you think about the current situation with Roblox and the backlash they’re facing?
Sophomore Milla Watts: I think it’s pretty justified for the backlash, mostly due to the fact that the new AI security doesn’t seem to be working as well as it was hoped to. There’s many cases of people under the age of sixteen being categorized as over eighteen or even over twenty-one, and I just think it’s not the right measure that they should be taking. They should come up with something else.
Gerbel: And it’s so easy for any kid to just show Roblox their sibling or something to trick the AI into thinking they’re older than they really are. It just doesn’t work for security. Roblox is at fault for that, and they don’t seem to really care. And also, given what’s been going on with how Roblox has persecuted certain users who have tried to be vigilantes and stop these child predators themselves, Roblox needs to take more responsibility. The fact that Roblox is taking action against people who are trying to help, rather than the people who are actually causing their problems, that’s just insane.
Watts: Yeah, especially with the CEO referring to dealing with child predators as an “opportunity” for tech innovation, it just seems like they care more about profit and getting more users than protecting childrens’ safety.
Gerbel: Speaking of just making a profit, Roblox also profits off of young developers so much as well. I used to make games on Roblox, but then I quit because I realized that this isn’t a good deal for me. They’re taking too much. They take advantage of children who want to make games and basically don’t pay them enough. And apparently they’re also starting to make it so that to even publish a game, you have to pay, which defeats the entire purpose of Roblox being a platform where anyone can make games.
Watts: And a new problem that could be arising is the CEO has said that he’s interested in gambling being a part of Roblox, but it’s mostly children playing this game. So he’s basically promoting gambling addictions to children for a profit. And the fact that Robux is real money, it’s basically real gambling.
Gerbel: I think Roblox is trying to make it look like, “oh no we’re promoting gambling to people who are over the age of seventeen on our platform,” but that’s not what’s happening. The majority of people on the platform are minors, and it doesn’t really matter if Roblox tries to stop children from accessing age-restricted parts of the platform because their AI age verification system doesn’t seem to be working quite right. Regardless, Roblox is marketed as a kids game and shouldn’t be promoting gambling.
Watts: And they deflect most of their problems too, a lot of child predators will go meet kids on Roblox, but they’ll move the conversation off the website to a different social media. And Roblox doesn’t take responsibility for that, they claim it’s not their area, and that they can only work within their own website. Like you said, there are vigilantes trying to help, but they’re being blocked from the website for not working with Roblox’s systems that have been proven not to be working. And it’s really unfortunate to see that this popular website, the website that many people love, is just not protecting them.
Who should be responsible for protecting children on the Roblox website? The Roblox Corporation
Is it Worth playing, Tyler? There’s a few good games on there but in general Roblox isn’t worth playing anymore. Children definitely aren’t safe on Roblox.
Is it Worth playing, Milla? I don’t think children should play it with all the controversy but for adults it’s really up to them.
Who can Join? Anyone of all ages are allowed to make an account.
Who is Allowed to Chat? Chat verifications are broken into age groups that include under 9, 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, 18-20, and 21+.
