Roblox recently stated that it expects to pay out its content creators $70 million in 2018, which is double that of last year. The company has been flying under the radar for years, while quietly amassing a large audience of both players and developers who build its virtual worlds. The timing of the incident is particularly notable for the kids’ gaming platform, which has more than 60 million monthly active users and is now raising up to $150 million to grow its business. Our work on safety is never-ending and we are committed to ensuring that one individual does not get in the way of the millions of children who come to Roblox to play, create, and imagine. In addition, the offender was identified and permanently banned from the platform. We have zero tolerance for this behavior and we took immediate action to identify how this individual created the offending action and put safeguards in place to prevent it from happening again. The incident involved one bad actor that was able to subvert our protective systems and exploit one instance of a game running on a single server.

We provide parental controls to empower parents to create the most appropriate experience for their child, and we provide individual users with protective tools, such as the ability to block another player. This includes automated technology to track and monitor all communication between our players as well as a large team of moderators who work around the clock to review all the content uploaded into a game and investigate any inappropriate activity. As safety is our top priority - we have robust systems in place to protect our platform and users. Roblox’s mission is to inspire imagination and it is our responsibility to provide a safe and civil platform for play. Roblox has since issued a statement about the attack: *screenshots in comments for those who can stomach it* Although I was immediately able to shield my daughter from seeing the entire interaction, I am shuddering to think of what kind of damage this image could have on her psyche, as well as any other child that could potentially be exposed to this. Thankfully, I was able to take screenshots of what I was witnessing so people will realize just how horrific this experience was. Words cannot describe the shock, disgust, and guilt that I am feeling right now, but I’m trying to put those feelings aside so I can get this warning out to others as soon as possible.

Then the 3 characters ran away, leaving my daughter’s avatar laying on her face in the middle of the playground. A female observer approached them and proceeded to jump on her body at the end of the act. My sweet and innocent daughter’s avatar was being VIOLENTLY GANG-RAPED ON A PLAYGROUND by two males. She described the incident in a public Facebook post that read, in part:Īt first, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The mother then captured screenshots of the event in order to warn others. She says her child showed her what was happening on the screen and she took the device away, fortunately shielding her daughter from seeing most of the activity. The mother of the child, whose avatar was the victim of the in-game sexual assault, was nearby when the incident took place. The company has now issued an apology to the victim and its community, and says it has determined how the hacker was able to infiltrate its system so it can prevent future incidents. This allowed two male avatars to gang rape a young girl’s avatar on a playground in one of the Roblox games. Roblox, a hugely popular online game for kids, was hacked by an individual who subverted the game’s protection systems in order to have customized animations appear. There’s a special place in Hell for people who think it’s funny to rape a 7-year-old girl’s avatar in an online virtual world designed for children.

Virtual city playground hack