Dangerous Roblox Game “Ro-Meet”

ROMEET Chat with strangers in Roblox. “Make New Friends”

Roblox is a popular online gaming platform for children and teenagers, with over 164 million monthly active users. While the platform provides an engaging and fun experience for players, it's essential for parents to monitor their children's online activity on Roblox and set all the available parental controls on the platform to ensure their safety.

Recently, a new game called Ro-Meet hosted on Roblox (rated for “All Ages”- G rated) was brought to my attention by Marty from "Inform & Empower" This inappropriate game has been gaining popularity on Roblox, and it's causing concern among parents and online safety advocates. The game is scarily similar to Tinder and Omegle 18+, a website allowing users to chat anonymously with strangers, which is regarded as the most dangerous platform online for young people.

Even with the strictest parental controls to prevent chatting with strangers in text or via voice, children can chat with players via the “Global Chat” feature. Ro-Meet lets players connect, Troll, Rate and talk and friend random people, and the chats can quickly turn inappropriate or dangerous.

Ro-meet: Talk To Strangers

Rated “All Ages” or G rated

Omegle - Tinder Like Roblox Game

What Does It Do?

I tested this game myself and was shocked at how it was similar to dating apps like Tinder and the 18+ “talk with strangers” website Omegle. On Ro-meet you can rate other avatars, chat with them via text, voice and video and like Tinder swipe or skip to move on.

Ro-meets game's interface is all about players chatting with strangers, which can lead to online predators and cyberbullies targeting vulnerable children. Additionally, Ro-Meet is designed to attract trolls who can engage in controlling or inappropriate behaviour, making the game even more dangerous for children. This can include kicking players from the server, changing their avatars forcibly, randomly connecting everyone, and sending out global messages. You can also invite your other friends onto the game to play, so while your child may not know about this game, their Roblox friends may invite them to this game.

There are some free options on Ro-meet like global chat, which bypasses the “No Chat” parental controls, and emotes, but some players of Ro-meet buy packs of emotes and sounds, which can be rude or used inappropriately. Players can also purchase add-ons like voice changers to disguise their voices. Being able to Disguise your voice is just ripe for an adult or older teen to connect with a child pretending to be someone they are not. My experience with “Global Chat” showed that it bypasses the strictest parental controls, so that whilst your child might be protected from chatting directly with each random avatar that pops up, they can engage in Global chat, which was full of players being inappropriate, and looking to hook up with each other.

Normalising Meeting With Strangers Online

My other big concern with apps like Ro-Meet, (there are others like it on Roblox), is that it grooms children to use other platforms like Omegle and dating apps like Tinder. It also normalises rating other people's looks and behaviour and normalises meeting new people via a random popup and swipe online. Games like Ro-Meet set a dangerous precedent for talking to strangers online, which can have long-lasting effects on a child's safety and well-being. Roblox is a known platform for child grooming and for children who are looking for dates, it is likely a honey pot for predators online.

Global Chat can be accessed despite all parental controls set:

Parental Controls?

Unfortunately, even with the Roblox parental controls locked on to prevent chatting in the game, children can still hear the sounds, see the emotes and chat with others via global chat; see the example above, in the short time I was viewing, there were examples an offensive chat and sexually suggestive exchanges. With parental controls set, players can also engage with the platform and send and receive friend requests to whoever they randomly meet.

Setting all parental controls to block chat and other potentially dangerous features is crucial. However, it's important to note that the strictest "All Ages" setting won't block Ro-Meet. You cannot prevent another player from sending you a friend request on Ro-Meet.

What Can Parents Do?

Ro-Meet is a dangerous game that parents must be aware of. Tinder and Omegle inspire it. It is hugely popular, with over one million visits and over a thousand players on its servers at any one time, and therefore it is likely your child will see it at the top of their feed or be invited to it at some point. At this stage, it cannot be blocked.

Be Careful Not To Promote it!

As a parent, we must stay vigilant and ensure our children are safe online without alerting them to dangerous games that they may not yet be aware of. Parents are encouraged to have open conversations with their children about online safety, maintaining the privacy and the dangers of talking to strangers online. It is best to supervise younger children on Roblox at all times, as many “Chat Hangouts” on Roblox can be accessed with the “All Ages” rating.

While teaching children about online safety is essential, protecting them ultimately falls on parents due to many online platforms' need for more objective oversight. Marty and I have reported this game as inappropriate for the “All Ages” rating and containing sexual language, yet it is still rated as such. It is extraordinary how a game with these features was ever allowed an “All Ages” rating.

Even with the parental controls strictly set, this game is a perfect example of why Roblox needs a 13+ rating at a minimum. Roblox also needs to be held accountable for the consequences of children not being adequately protected by the available parental controls on Roblox.

MORE HELP FOR ROBLOX AND ONLINE GAMING - SMALL GROUP WORKSHOPS STARTING APRIL 4TH 2023