A parent's guide to Roblox: the social network that looks like a game

I thought Roblox was “just a game”, right up until I sat down and played it with my daughter. What I found was neither as frightening as the headlines nor as innocent as I'd assumed. This guide is what I wish someone had told me before I said yes to the app: what Roblox actually is, why the Norwegian Media Authority mentions it in the same breath as TikTok, and what you can do about it in practice.

The short version

The short version

Roblox isn't one game but millions of small experiences built by its users, with chat, a friends list, its own currency and recommendations that work like a feed. That's why the Norwegian Media Authority puts the platform in the same category as social media. Roblox with and without parental controls are two different apps: with a real birth date, a linked parent account and content levels in place, there's plenty of good play in there. And every “experience” in Roblox needs judging as a game of its own.

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The evening I learned Roblox is not “just a game”

For a long time I took Roblox for a game, roughly Minecraft with a different logo. Then one evening I sat down and played it with my daughter, and that idea didn't survive long.

We started in a hair salon. Then we fled a tsunami. Then we stood in a shop where a box of virtual pets cost 400 Robux, while in the corner a chat blinked away and someone I'll never be able to identify said unpleasant things. It felt like a shopping centre packed with small games, with strangers in every corridor and its own currency at the till.

What Roblox actually is

Roblox has been around since 2006, and it isn't a game. It's a platform holding millions of small games, made by the users themselves. Roblox calls them “experiences”, but let's call them Roblox games, and a good many of them are built by children and teenagers.

Knowing that your child “plays Roblox” tells you about as much as knowing that your child “is on the internet”.

In February 2026 Medietilsynet, the Norwegian Media Authority, published its report on how children use social media, and it made a point most headlines skipped. Roblox is formally a gaming platform, but it has the features of a social network: chat, a friends list, a front page that recommends more, purchases inside the content, and rewards that come back every day. My advice is to meet Roblox with the same questions, the same settings and the same conversations you would bring to a social network.

What the Media Authority found inside the games

In October 2026 the Media Authority followed up with a report on the platform itself. “Roblox under radaren?”, roughly “Roblox under the radar?”, was presented on 22 October and produced together with the research agency Respons Analyse. And since Roblox is one app holding millions of user-made games, the Authority picked four of the most popular and went through them: Adopt Me, Brookhaven RP, 99 Nights in the Forest and Clip It.

The shop is rarely far away

The games are designed to keep children playing and to get them spending, and some of them are hard to leave. Mari Velsand, the Authority's director, calls it “cynical design choices to keep young people logged in and active for as long as possible”, and describes the pressure to spend as “massive”. Perks come with a countdown, the kids themselves describe games where whoever pays wins, and in some games you pay to bring your character back when it dies.

Boxes with unknown contents

Several of the games have loot boxes: you pay for a box without knowing what's in it, the same mechanism as a slot machine. NRK, Norway's public broadcaster, compares them to gambling, and Barnevakten, a Norwegian organisation that advises parents on media, points out that loot boxes alone earn a 16 rating in the PEGI system.

Strangers and the chat

Anyone can make a Roblox game, and anyone can chat. Children see other people's chat even when their own is switched off, the people who make the games can offer chats of their own, and “Quick chat” is available whatever the child's age.

Where the Media Authority stands

The Authority's conclusion is clear about where the responsibility lies. “Video games are the biggest shared leisure arena of our time for children and young people,” it writes, and on responsibility: “That responsibility cannot rest on parents alone. The main responsibility has to sit with the games industry.” It advises against Roblox's own face scanning and the uploading of ID documents, on privacy grounds. The Norwegian government has said its planned age limit of 16 should cover gaming platforms like Roblox too, but for now that's only a plan.

The most popular games: my verdict

Here's where I would land after reading the report:

• Brookhaven RP: yes. Role play in a neighbourhood with houses, cars, shops and a hospital. Social above all. It's the game the kids say they can leave at any time without losing anything. The one thing I'd keep an eye on is the signs the avatars hold up: players write whatever they like on them, and the moderation is automatic.
• Adopt Me: yes, with a Robux agreement and the purchase lock in place. A trading game about pets, eggs and houses, with its own currency called “Bucks”, bought with Robux, which are bought with real money. Sales windows pop up from the very start and have to be closed, often with a countdown, and the pets get hungry and sad quickly, so the shop is never far away. Santa on the marketplace sells gifts with unknown contents, from common to ultra-rare, which is the slot machine mechanic again.
• 99 Nights in the Forest: no for children between 9 and 12. A team survival game, in real time and with no pause button. If you die you lose everything, and you can pay Robux to revive yourself or a friend. A “sketchy salesman” tops up the campfire for a fee with an unknown result, and on Saturdays at 19:00 there are often events with free currency and rare items.
• Clip It: no. A feed of videos, like TikTok inside Roblox. Comments from strangers come through even when chat is switched off for the account.
• Dress to Impress: yes, with conditions. My daughters play this one, so I'm including it even though the Media Authority didn't look at it. Each round has a theme, six minutes to put an outfit together and a catwalk where everyone rates everyone from one to five stars, and the stars earn ranks that unlock new clothes. The game is creative, but very focused on beauty, fashion and looks. My advice is three conditions: Freeplay mode, which has no timer, theme or voting, or friends only with chat switched off. No VIP, which costs 799 Robux as a one-off or 299 a month and is sold as a competitive edge. And a talk about the stars being strangers' opinions, and the avatars being drawings that look like nobody does in real life. Researchers in England had 80 girls aged 8 and 9 play an appearance-focused dress-up game for ten minutes, and afterwards they chose thinner ideal figures than the girls who had played a neutral game. The effect was small to medium, it was one game and ten minutes, and nobody has studied Dress to Impress itself.

And whichever games you land on, new ones are shown to a grown-up before they're tried.

The Media Authority puts the main responsibility on the industry, and I agree that the solution lies in the design. Deleting the app for eight in ten of an entire year group is hardly a plan. But as parents we can't just wait for shared solutions. We have to ask, learn, understand, and make the moves at home that help our kids get as much good as possible out of the apps they use.

What's actually good in there

For many children, Roblox is where play with classmates carries on after school, and the youngest girls gather here more than anywhere else.

Kids who tire of playing other people's Roblox games can build their own in Roblox Studio, and then they've found a way into creating with technology instead of only consuming it. The best Roblox games deliver mastery and belonging for real, and they're worth looking for together with your child rather than judging the whole platform as one.

Setting it up

From a linked parent account you can see what your child plays and who is on the friends list, block individual Roblox games and approve the ones you think are fine, right up until your child turns 16.

• A real birth date on the account. It controls the content levels, the chat limits and the account type. An account claiming the child is 18 switches off the entire safety net.
• A linked parent account. Follow Roblox's own walkthrough, and set the content level, chat limits and purchase lock together with your child.
• Set a daily time limit. Set up screen time on the device your child plays on. A limit in the system cuts down the discussions and rows about playing time, and your child has to learn to manage their own time.

Agree on money straight away. A standing agreement about what Robux might be bought for and when, and a purchase lock with a PIN in the settings. Explain to your child why the rules on spending in games are strict: “The games are built to nag you into buying, because that's how they make money. We only say yes to spending when we think it gives you real value in your life, not for something that's cool for a day.”

The Media Authority reminds us that the controls don't cover everything, and that they can give a false sense of security.

In our house I've kept it simple: we're happy to spend money on good games, but we don't spend money on pretend value inside free games. That rule applies to me as much as to the kids. If a free game doesn't deliver a full experience on its own, there are good alternatives. More on what good and bad gaming look like in the parents' guide to gaming.

The content: a yes per Roblox game

One Roblox game is calm building. The next is horror, simulated gambling or something an adult has built to meet children. That's why the one yes, the yes to the app, isn't an informed yes. I recommend judging each Roblox game on its own, together with your child. You agree which Roblox games are fine for now, and new ones go via a grown-up before they're tried.

The dialogue with the kids

I'd recommend giving the kids proper guidance and clear limits for Roblox, something like this:

“In Roblox, anyone can make a game and anyone can chat. Nearly all of them are kids like you. But if someone asks you for pictures, wants you to keep a secret, or wants to move the chat to another app, that's your stop signal. Then you come to me straight away, whatever it is. You're never in trouble for what someone else does. And if someone says something nasty to you, even if you say something nasty back, you can show me without me getting angry. I'm only there to help as best I can, so that you have a good time playing.”

And about new games: “When you find a new game in there, show me before you try it, and we'll look at it together and work out whether it's a good fit for you.”

We always explain why: “Because I say so” only lasts until you leave the room.

Roblox isn't “yes” or “no”, it's “it depends”

Roblox is hundreds of small questions, and most of them are pleasant ones: which game shall we try today, who do you play with in there, what did you buy with your Robux. The most important tip I can give is that the kids play where you can see and hear them, ideally with friends, not alone in their room behind a closed door. I'd also recommend keeping gaming off the phone. If gaming belongs to the tablet, the TV and the PC, your child isn't carrying a temptation in their pocket all day. More on handling gaming in the parents' guide to gaming.

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