NewsSafety + Civility
Roblox’s Family Zone Helps Parents and Children Explore Together
A Fun, Interactive Way for Parents to Connect With Their Child’s Online World
ByTami Bhaumik, VP, Civility & Partnerships
Today we’re launching Family Zone, a game built by Roblox and developer MindTrust to teach parents and caregivers about the platform. Family Zone fosters co-play between children and their parents and facilitates conversations about digital safety in an entertaining way.
It’s designed to bridge the gap between generations, giving parents a fun, safe, and active way to co-play and bond with their kids in the digital world. In the game, parents and children play together to learn platform basics, like how to control an avatar in a 3D space and how to set and adjust parental controls. They can also learn about broader online safety topics, designed to boost digital literacy on sites beyond Roblox.
We built Family Zone because the best way to learn about Roblox is to play on Roblox. While most parents play online games, many are still unfamiliar with Roblox’s games and settings, which may limit their ability to apply parental controls in a fully informed way. Family Zone is designed to help support ongoing dialogue between parents and children, with a level of understanding that comes from firsthand experience
Family Zone flips the traditional learning dynamic. Children guide their parents’ first steps on the platform, demonstrating how to move around and explore a digital space. When parents follow their child’s lead, they can play with full control over avatar movements and navigation.
Family Zone empowers parents with interactive lessons around safety and Roblox’s industry-leading safety guardrails and features. We guide parents through our robust parental controls, which allow those with linked accounts to set screen-time limits, manage spending, choose whom their child connects with, and manage what games they can play. We offer rewards, such as exclusive avatar items, for players who complete in-game tutorials, and provide families with a variety of age-appropriate experiences.
We’re working with global safety experts and leading organizations to design additional modules accessible through Family Zone that cover critical topics such as scam prevention, bullying, and strategies to identify and avoid predatory behavior. For example, we are working with Koko, a leading mental health nonprofit, as well as Playerthree and leading researchers at the Lab for Scalable Mental Health at Northwestern University to design a game to help kids and teens develop resilience in the face of bullying.
Family Zone will continue to add new educational content and co-play opportunities where families can enjoy new experiences on Roblox together.
