KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 13 — Children playing shouldn’t end up in one of them being stabbed which is exactly what happened in Batu Pahat recently. A nine-year-old boy stabbed his younger brother aged six, allegedly over disrupting his game of Roblox.

According to Johor police chief Datuk Ab Rahaman Arsad, the boy reacted to his brother causing him to lose about one million accumulated Roblox points (Robux) by damaging the older boy’s phone.

Talk of a ban on Roblox is being mooted, with Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh saying she had met representatives of Roblox over its impact on children.

So, what do parents and concerned adults need to know?

What the heck is Roblox?

Roblox is an online platform operated by Roblox Corporation that allows users to create avatars of themselves and create their own little mini-games, play user-created mini-games and interact with other Roblox users. 

It was originally named DynaBlocks before being renamed Roblox, an amalgamation of the words “robots” and “blocks”.

It currently has over 100 million subscribers, with Yeoh saying Roblox had told her around one million of those are Malaysian.

While Roblox can be played on mobile phones as an app, it can also be downloaded to computers to be played online.

From June to September 2025, Roblox earned US$1.36 billion (RM5.6 billion) though it also reported a consolidated net loss of US$257.4 million.

Roblox creators have earned roughly US$1 billion in payments so far.

So it’s not a game?

No, it’s actually an online service, a digital playground of sorts. What’s special about Roblox is that it lets you create your own games with Roblox’s Roblox Studio instead of just being a passive consumer of games.

You mentioned Robux. What’s that?

Robux is the in-game currency used on the platform. You can either buy it with real world cash or you can earn by playing mini-games or even creating your own unique digital assets and sell them to other Roblox users.

This sounds neat. What’s the problem?

Think of the many dangers to children, unsupervised, in a playground. Now extrapolate that to the digital world where children left to their own devices will be vulnerable to being transfixed to their phones, interacting with questionable or unsafe content, or being attractive prey to dangerous adults.

Do other countries see Roblox as a problem?

Yes, actually. Roblox has long been criticised for its lack of safety controls and protections for minors. 

It has now agreed to make accounts of users aged under-16 in Australia private by default as part of an ongoing discussion with the country that had initially considered completely banning the service.

The US state of Texas is suing Roblox for allegedly keeping from parents the safety risks that Roblox poses to children.

Yikes. Are there any other games or services I should be aware of?

Roblox is probably the most visible because of its unique platform and how attractive it is to children. 

However there are concerns about children getting onto social media platforms or playing mobile games unsupervised leaving them vulnerable to possible predators or developing gaming addiction.

Children spending their parents’ hard-earned money on in-game currency and the spread of mystery boxes or gacha in games from Overwatch  to Genshin Impact, which brings an element of gambling to games, have also been reported on in the media.

Will banning Roblox be the answer?

Roblox is only one online avenue, there are still many other ways for children to get in trouble online,  but putting pressure on the service to create a truly safe space for children might be one recourse. 

Should I ban my children from playing it?

If they haven’t started, maybe you might not want to encourage it. The second best thing is to use the parental controls available on mobile platforms such as iOS and Android or have designated PC/mobile time, rationing how much time kids get to spend with their devices.

Roblox has said that it will work with the government to use AI among other things to create a safer gaming space. Stil, in the end, it’s up to parents to better monitor what their children are doing and to be aware of the spectre of digital addiction. 

As the kids online say, sometimes you just need to go out (away from your phones/computers) and touch some grass.