KEY POINTS

  • The hidden rooms featuring X-rated content are called "condo games"
  • Some rooms feature naked avatars accessorized with adult sex toys
  • Roblox maintains it has "stringent safety systems in place"

Users of the popular kid-friendly online platform Roblox are now warning about hidden x-rated content that features nude block-like avatars simulating sexual acts.

Briona Thoms, a 17-year-old Roblox user, accidentally stumbled upon a hidden virtual strip club on the gaming platform. The user-created digital space, called “condo games,” allowed players to remove their avatar’s clothing and accessorize them with adult sex toys. The space also allowed users to get their avatars to simulate lewd acts.

"It looked like a bedroom that I joined into," Thoms told TODAY. "And then I saw morphs on the side, so I was like 'Oh, I could be like a dog or something,' and then I clicked on it and it said like male and female and then as soon as I clicked on female, it had like their chest and stuff but they're naked."

According to Roblox, it has continuously worked to maintain “a safe environment for its young and older audience.” Under the platform’s community standards, “sexual content or activity of any kind” is not allowed. The guidelines cover any content that depicts sexual acts, nudity or sexually suggestive clothing items for avatars.

Roblox said they believe “condo games” aren’t widespread in their virtual setup, noting that they have stringent safety systems in place to help moderators monitor activity on the platform.

"On the rare instances where we find or are pointed to people or content that violate our rules, our moderators swiftly remove it and take other strong actions," Roblox said in a statement provided to TODAY.

Roblox users are now blaming social media platforms for making “condo games” easy to find. Many videos posted on social media are disguised under a name to bypass the moderation system.

Some “condo games” are also made possible by users who write computer code that bypasses the platform’s child safety filters, according to Fast Company.

Burt Helm, editor-at-large for Fast Company, added that some users had also attempted to get the youngest users of the online gaming platform to strike up a private conversation with them using a different app.

"And you don't know if someone is actually an adult pretending to be a child or with very bad intentions," Helm added.

Roblox, an online platform that lets users build their own games, has been a massive hit during the pandemic
Roblox, an online platform that lets users build their own games, has been a massive hit during the pandemic AFP / Lionel BONAVENTURE
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