Skip to main content

Kids are being exposed to adult images and simulated sex in Roblox

Roblox, an online platform aimed at kids that allows for the creation of games by its users, can potentially be a hotbed of adult material and sexual situations.

How are kids seeing adult content on Roblox?

The issue is over something called “condo games,” which can have simulated sex acts and nudity.

“Condo videos are basically, um, they’re like the dark side of Roblox,” 19-year-old user Dylan Lemus-Olson told CBS News.

These are games that pass the platform’s child safety features and contain nude characters who can simulate sex acts. Lemus-Olson has a YouTube channel where he goes by the screenname Dazzely, and he has more than 50,000 subscribers. On August 3, he uploaded a video called “no more condo videos… youtube’s gonna ban me lol.”

Other users have also noticed the trend. Fast Company’s Burt Helm told CBS that he was looking into condo games for a while, saying that they were like a party “where the parents are out of town.”

“Roblox has made a world where kids can build whatever they want, and with condo games, what they want is to be much more grown-up than I think anyone imagines they would try,” he said. “But the most shocking thing is that you see characters that are naked, and you see that kids have coded ways for these characters to have sex.”

What is Roblox doing about the problem?

A source at Roblox said they were aware of the condo game issue, and the company uses its moderation protocols to fight bad actors of all kinds. They have 1,600 humans moderating as well.

“We conduct a safety review of all images, audio, and video files through a combination of human review and machine detection prior to them becoming available on our platform,” CEO David Baszucki said in a blog post.

The bad actors are a very small group, the source said, and they want to subvert the system. A lot of them use third-party platforms, like Discord, to coordinate their efforts.

Roblox declined a CBS request for an on-camera interview and said that the company has “no tolerance for inappropriate content or behavior” and “a stringent safety system in place,” which monitors all content and acts rapidly when inappropriate content surfaces.

What’s an example of a bad situation on Roblox?

Another regular Roblox game called “Adopt Me!” was reported by Deranda Bordelon, the mother of an 8-year-old daughter. She said someone in the game took her character and simulated a sex act.

“All of a sudden, she brought me to this other room and took her clothes off and was asking me to take my clothes off and just all kind of, you know, adult stuff that shouldn’t be for kids,” she said.

The game has also had issues with hackers stealing login info in the past.

Editors' Recommendations

Jon Silman
I played Resident Evil Village on an iPad and it blew me away
Resident Evil Village

Back when the Steam Deck was just a rumor (dubbed the Steam Pal), I had my fair share of skepticism. It’s not that I didn’t like the idea of a handheld computer; it just felt like a short-term solution. At that time, I posited that we were quickly approaching a time when phones and tablets would be able to run PC games natively, making devices like a Steam Deck feel like a pricey stopgap. I’ve been won over by Valve’s handheld since then, but my prophecy may be coming true sooner than I expected.

Apple dropped a bombshell announcement this month when it revealed that Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Resident Evil 4, two current-gen games, will be natively playable on the iPad and iPhone 15 Pro, alongside older titles like Death Stranding and Resident Evil Village. That announcement has the potential to radically shift the handheld gaming market if Apple is able to launch new games on its devices at the same time as consoles and PC. That is, if those games actually run well.

Read more
Horizon Forbidden West is the next PlayStation game to make its way to PC
Aloy swimming underwater.

PlayStation and Nixxes Software have confirmed that Horizon Forbidden West: Complete Edition will be the next PlayStation 5 first-party game to come to PC. While it's not releasing on PC until sometime next year, Horizon Forbidden West: Complete Edition will drop on PS5 first on October 6.

Over the past few years, several previously PlayStation console-exclusive titles have made their way to PC. Games that made the transition include God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Returnal, The Last of Us Part 1, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Horizon Forbidden West was first released for PS4 and PS5 in February 2022, and will make the jump to PC about two years after launch in early 2024. We don't know what technical improvements this PC port will have yet, but we do know that it'll be available across Steam and the Epic Games Store for $60.
Nixxes Software and Sony also confirmed that it would be the Complete Edition of the game that comes to PC. Announced alongside this port, Horizon Forbidden West: Complete Edition comes with the base game, April 2023's Burning Shores DLC, a digital soundtrack and art book, a special pose and face paint for photo mode, and additional in-game items like outfits, bows, slings, and resources. It launches on October 6, so that'll be the best time to jump in for PS5 players who have been waiting to get Horizon Forbidden West. 
Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition - Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games
Horizon Forbidden West: Complete Edition releases for PS5 on October 6 and will come to Steam and the Epic Games Store sometime in early 2024.

Read more
Counter-Strike 2 is now available on Steam for free after surprise launch
A team groups up in Counter-Strike 2.

With little more than a slight tease beforehand, Valve just launched Counter-Strike 2 on Steam.

Counter-Strike is Valve's long-running competitive multiplayer shooter series. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has stayed near the top of Steam's player count charts ever since it launched in 2012. After over a decade of dominance, Valve first announced Counter-Strike 2 as a free, sequel-level upgrade to Global Offensive earlier this year. After some slight teases earlier in the month, Valve finally decided to surprise launch the game on September 27.
Counter-Strike 2 builds upon Global Offensive in Valve's newer Source 2 game engine. Outside of the obvious visual upgrades that change brings, Counter-Strike 2 adds to its predecessor with a new CS Rating system, overhauled maps, and tweaks to core mechanics like smoke grenades and the tick rate at which the first-person shooter operates. Valve also promises that the game features "upgraded Community Workshop tools," so we should get some entertaining Counter-Strike 2 mods.

Read more