dAvid, 46-year-old father from Calgary, Canada. My 10 year old son didn’t see any problems at first I started playing on Roblox, a user-generated gaming and virtual environment platform, especially among younger gamers, which has exploded in popularity in recent years.

“We thought he was a way to maintain a level of social interaction during the blockade of the community,” David said he assumed that his son would use the platform’s chat feature to speak to friends he personally knows.

After a while, his parents found him talking to someone in his room in the middle of the night.

“We discovered that a man from India approached him and approached him with Roblox and mentored him to bypass our internet security management,” David said. “This person persuaded his son to take nude pictures and videos that he compromised and send them via Google Mini.

“It was tough to get to the root of why my son did it. I think he was lonely. I thought this was a real friend. I think he was given a gift to Roblox, who made him feel special. It was truly the worst nightmare for all parents.”

David was among parents all over the world who often shared with the Guardian that primary school children were either heavily affected or had serious harm from the games at Roblox. Many confirmed the results of reports last year that Roblox allegedly exposed children to grooming, pornography, violent content and abusive speech.

Some parents said Roblox was a creative outlet for their children and brought joy to them or improved some of their skills, such as communication and spelling, but the majority of parents who were in touch with expressed serious concern. These were primarily about the incredible levels of addiction we observed with our children, but also about extreme political images such as parental control, grooming, emotionally horrifying mail, bullying, and avatars of Nazi uniforms, as well as examples of traumatic content in games that children can access despite inappropriate talking to children on the platform.

“Deeply disturbing” research By digital behavior experts who reveal reality The 5-year-old was able to communicate with adults while playing games on the platform.

Roblox admitted in response to the possibility that children playing on the platform could be exposed to harmful content and “bad actors.” This is an issue that the company claims to be working hard to fix it, but requires industry-wide collaboration and government intervention. The company said “I have deep sympathy.”

The newly announced, additional safety tools aimed at giving parents greater flexibility to manage their children’s activities on the site, have failed to convince many of the parents the Guardian spoke to.

“I don’t think the change will address my concerns,” said Emily, Hemel Hempstead’s mother.

“The new features are useful, but they don’t stop children from accessing inappropriate or scary content. People are allowed to choose an age rating for the game they create, and they may not always be appropriate or accurate.

Her 7-year-old daughter said that her 7-year-old daughter was asleep as she was shot after Roblox’s game took her to a room with an avatar where she was introduced as “your dad.”

Despite Roblox claiming to have introduced “new easy-to-use “remote management” parental controls,” parents found it extremely difficult to navigate parental control settings and said it takes several hours to review their child’s activities regularly. It was also impossible to tell people that many people were behind their usernames.

“Roblox monitors the type of language used, such as blasphemy, but there is no real way to policing players’ age.

The company highlighted last year that it defaulted to the fact that under 13 years of age could no longer send messages directly to others on Roblox, outside of gaming or experience.

However, Roblox admitted that it struggles to verify users’ age, saying, “age verification for users under 13 is still a challenge for the wider industry.”

Nelly*, a Dublin mother in her 40s, said she had just finished a play therapy course to process sexual content her 9-year-old daughter saw on Roblox, which caused a panic attack.

“I thought it was okay to play,” she said. “I didn’t allow her to be friends with strangers either, and I thought this would be enough, but it wasn’t.

“There was an area where she went, people were wearing underwear and someone went in and lying on her.”

Many parents felt that Roblox was exploiting his child’s “underdeveloped impulse control.” As one father said, he constantly gave them a nidge to gamble and stay on the platform, urging many children to lose interest in other activities in the real world.

Jenna, from Birmingham. Two months after her children began playing Roblox, they were able to see their “all life” [had] It is carried over by the platform and reflects the statements of other parents’ scores.

“I feel like I’m living with two addicts,” she said. “If they’re not playing, they want to watch a video about it… When they’re told to go off, it’s like you cut them off from their final fix – screaming, arguments, sometimes pure rage.”

Peter, 51, a London artist and father of three boys, said that his 14-year-old son became so engrossed in Robras and his devices that he was generally violent, breaking the windows with his fist when the game was turned off.

“People who run Roblox don’t give parents shit that they can’t control the game. We didn’t try everything. We’re in treatment now,” he said.

Roblox CEO I advised my parents To keep children away from the platform if they feel worried. Maria, a mother of three from Berkshire, felt that her children were socially excluded when they were offline, making it difficult for parents to do so, and was among many who emphasized that they had unlocked the monetization elements of the platform – the higher game levels and personalization features, becoming a status symbol between the children.

In a statement, Roblox said: “We deeply sympathize with parents who described their children’s negative experiences at Roblox, which is not something we strive for and does not reflect the online civic space we want to build for everyone.

“Ten millions have positive, rich, safe experiences at Roblox every day in a supportive environment that encourages connection with friends, learning and developing important STEM skills.

*Name changed