Safe Gaming

Games are great — and that's the truth

Let's start with something true: online games are fun, and most of the people playing them are just there to play, exactly like you. This lesson is not going to tell you to stop gaming. It's going to show you the handful of traps that show up inside games, so you can dodge them and keep playing.

Game chat is full of strangers

When you play a multiplayer game — Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, anything with other people in it — you can usually chat with them. Most of those people are strangers. Not scary, necessarily, just people you don't actually know.

So the rule from real life still works here: you don't give personal information to strangers. In game chat, never share your last name, your age, your school, where you live, your phone number, or photos of yourself. If a player asks for any of those, you don't owe them an answer. You can keep playing, or you can leave.

Watch for the move to another app

Here's a pattern worth knowing. Sometimes a stranger in a game will be really friendly, then say something like “let's talk on Discord instead” or “add me on Snap.” Moving you somewhere more private, away from the game, is something a person with bad intentions does on purpose.

You don't have to be rude about it. You just don't go. If someone keeps pushing you to chat somewhere else, or asks you to keep your conversation a secret, stop talking to them and tell a grown-up. That part matters — secrets with online strangers are always a reason to tell.

There is no free Robux

You will see it everywhere: “Free Robux!” “Free V-Bucks!” “Free skins — click here!” In game chat, in video comments, in pop-ups.

It is always a trick. Always. There is no website that gives away free Robux or V-Bucks. What those links actually do is one of two things: steal your account by asking you to “log in,” or steal money by reaching your parent's saved card. The rule is simple — if it promises free game money, it's a scam. Don't click, don't log in, don't enter anything.

Your password lives in one place only

You should only ever type your game password into the real game's own login screen. Not into a link someone sent you. Not into a website promising free stuff. Not into a chat box. If anything except the real login asks for your password, the answer is no.

In-game purchases are real money

Skins, battle passes, coins, loot boxes — they cost real money, even though it doesn't feel like it when it's just a button to tap. The rule: always ask a grown-up before buying anything in a game. It's their money and their decision, and they will not be upset that you asked first.

When a player is a problem

Sometimes a player is mean, says inappropriate things, or won't leave you alone. You have tools, and using them is not “losing.” Mute them, so you can't hear or read them. Block them, so they can't reach you. And if someone said something that made you uncomfortable, or asked you for something they shouldn't have, tell a grown-up — that day, not later.

Recap

Game chat is full of strangers, so keep your personal information to yourself. Never follow a stranger to another app. “Free” game money is always a scam. Your password only goes in the real login. Ask before you buy. And mute, block, and tell a grown-up when a player is a problem.

Try this today

Find the mute and block buttons in the game you play most. You don't have to use them right now — just know where they are, so they're easy to find the moment you need them.