Minister Gumbs urges online safety and digital literacy amid Roblox concerns

GREAT BAY--Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Melissa Gumbs is urging parents, guardians, and schools to strengthen online safety conversations with children, following renewed international reporting and public concern about predators using online gaming platforms, including Roblox, to target minors.

Minister Gumbs emphasized that gaming is now a normal part of childhood and teen life, and that the focus must be on digital literacy, supervision, and clear family rules rather than pretending children will not encounter online spaces.

“Parents cannot stop kids from getting into gaming either. Their friends are going to be gaming if they go over to a friend’s house,” Minister Gumbs said. “Every game has the potential to have bad people in it. Learning how to be safe online while gaming is something we have to teach.”

Roblox is an online gaming platform where users can play a wide range of games and experiences created by other users, and it also lets people create their own games using Roblox Studio. It is especially popular with children and teens because of its social features, including chat and multiplayer gameplay, which allow players to interact in real time. Those same social functions can also create risks if safety settings are not used and if children are not guided on how to avoid strangers and report inappropriate behavior.

The Minister noted that children themselves are increasingly aware of online risks, including the dangers of engaging with strangers in online chat spaces, and she encouraged parents to reinforce these lessons at home. She also called on families to become more familiar with game ratings and content labels, as a tool to guide age-appropriate gaming choices and to frame conversations about what children are seeing and hearing online.

“There are ratings in these games. If you are a parent and you want to play a game with your kid, you have to be able to frame that game in context with them,” Minister Gumbs said. “Some games are rated for mature audiences, and that matters.”

Minister Gumbs stressed that online safety is not a single conversation, but an ongoing effort that must be supported by both households and schools. She encouraged parents to talk directly with their children about avoiding strangers online, limiting private chats, reporting suspicious behavior, and immediately informing a trusted adult if anything feels uncomfortable.

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