Dec 27, 2021
Dangerous Avatars: How “Roblox” Trends Endanger Young Girls
Most, if not all parents, are well aware of the insanely successful and popular game Roblox.
It is an entirely innocent game on its own- offering a platform for users to create games that other users can play and enjoy.
What isn’t so innocent, though, are the rising trends rooted deep in the online spaces; the most extreme are style trends, trends of how an avatar should look. These include how they dress, what hair they have, and even body shape are the highlights of these.
While seemingly harmless on the surface, as style trends exist everywhere, the fictionality of Roblox allows for boundaries to be pushed.
Players can purchase different body pieces or physiques, such as feminine ones, slimmer ones, or even skeletal ones to enjoy. Players can also “scale” their character to appear smaller or taller.
This is where an issue arises.
With a combination of user-created clothing and mixing body parts, players can create characters that look extraordinarily child-like- with small torsos, thin arms, and big heads. These are then dressed in adult-like and mature clothing.
When these features are combined, a dangerous combo of what appears to be a young child in mature clothing is created.
Below is an example of a character I created, inspired by real ones that I have seen.
Here is the size of a character with a similar body shape next to a character with the default body shape. This illustrates the difference between these child-like avatars and “normal” ones.
Above is a real-life outfit a person has created. This avatar is in a game about dressing up, so their actual current appearance isn’t shown.
The average age of a Roblox player is between ages 9–12. A large percent is also under 9 years old.
These virtual body types arguably mimic the physique and proportions of these young children.
This combination of maturely-dressed child-like avatars in a space with actual children is extraordinarily dangerous. It normalizes the idea of dressing like an adult to these children, opening up avenues for online grooming.
Anyone can look any way they want to online. Grown men can dress as stylish young males and easily prey on these children by offering spaces that promote these promiscuous styles on adolescent bodies.
In real life, more mature clothing is becoming more accessible for young girls. These online spaces reflect a growing demand for children to dress far beyond their age.
Innocent children simply follow trends just like everyone else, but when these trends include this type of immodest clothing on young bodies, young children become endangered.
This is extraordinarily dangerous and crushingly scary. Protecting your child by monitoring how they present online and especially in real life is so very important.
What they see online will directly impact what they do in real life- we should never allow these styles to permeate young minds in such troubling times where fitting in is all that matters.
Children deserve safety. These trends threaten that precious safety.
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Thank you so much for reading! This is my first article and I greatly appreciate any feedback.
