The Polemic Of Roblox Blocking Plan, Is It Enough To Protect Children From Violence?

Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Abdul Mu'ti revealed plans to block the game Roblox because it is considered to contain elements of violence. (Roblox)

JAKARTA The government's plan to block Roblox games has caused pros and cons. According to a number of experts, the ban on accessing online games is not enough to protect children. It takes the role of parents to assist children's growth and development.

The plan to block the game Roblox was first mentioned by the Minister of Basic and Secondary Education (Mendikdasmen) Abdul Mu'ti while reviewing the free health check at SD Negeri Cideng 02, Jakarta, last August 4. At that moment, he reminded students not to play on their cellphones too long.

At that time, a number of students expressed their penchant for playing Roblox. However, Abdul Mu'ti stated that children should not play Roblox because of a lot of violence and harsh words in it.

"If you play on your cellphone, you can't watch violence, there is a fight there, there are bad words, don't watch useless things. Now, those who played the blocks (Roblox) don't play that one because it's not good," said the Minister of Education and Culture Abdul Mu'ti, quoting Antara.

Responding to this, Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi also revealed that Roblox's chances of being blocked if the violent content inside crossed the line. Not only Roblox, another online game that presents violence can also be done.

"What is shown there affects the behavior of the younger siblings. The government wants to protect our generation. If it contains elements of violence, we will close it," said Prasetyo, making a claim.

The discourse of Roblox blocking has received mixed reactions, especially among parents. Many agree that Roblox's game is blocked because they have difficulty reprimanding their child who often spends time playing this game.

Not to mention the question of requests for children to use digital money so that they can play without access restrictions. This can encourage children to behave consumptively.

But on the other hand, not a few parents also don't mind Roblox's game, one of which is director and comedian Ernest Prakasa. He admitted that he found the benefits of the Roblox game played by his youngest child, Snow, who is 11 years old.

Through uploads on social media, Ernest said his son made arollercoaster game in Roblox. From there, Ernest said his son earned it for people who visited the game he made.

"Snow learns a lot of life skills through its interactions with many people: negotiations, fraud alert, twining objectives, and other things that I think tend to be positive," wrote Ernest.

However, Ernest still applies regulations to his son for the Roblox game. Snow, said Ernest, can only play with friends she already knows directly.

"One condition: you should not interact with strangers," said Ernest.

Child and teenage psychologist Sani Budiant said, apart from Roblox, there are actually many games or other content that contain violence or sexual violence and eventually make children addicted.

"Incidentally, now it's the Roblox trend. But actually the most dangerous thing is children who are addicted to games, children forget their obligations, social interactions go down because they play indefinitely. So their addiction is dangerous," said Sani when contacted by VOI.

In addition, the feature that allows players to chat with foreigners at Roblox is also in the spotlight of Sani. Because this game is ageless, children, said Sani, could use this feature for land coffee or make an appointment promise outside the game.

"Well, this is what we don't know whether there is a criminal loophole, or whether there are predators that launch their actions," he continued.

Parents, according to Sani, still have full responsibility in controlling the use of gadgets in children. In the context of Roblox's game, he advised parents to play an observational role before allowing children to download and play Roblox.

"What is clear is that parents must be concerned, if possible parents must also come in and see their children, monitor their children too," he explained.

Sani Budiant ini juga menekankan pentingnya kesepakatan dan komitmen antara anak dan orang tua tentang permainan Roblox. Hal ini, menurut dia, bisa mengurangi paparan dampak negatif dari gim Roblox terhadap anak.

There must be a time limit for playing, for example three hours per day, or if you have done homework. Things like this must be communicated with the child and there is an agreement with the child. And parents must commit, don't play cellphones often in front of their children, don't double standards," Sani explained.

If children have a time limit, children must know what activities can be done. Parents must provide other activities to replace Roblox. Sometimes children go out of style if they don't play games confused," he continued.

Child psychologist Roslina Verauli has the same opinion. Instead of totally banning, Vera puts forward a more effective approach is education and active assistance by parents.

"Involve the child in the process of setting rules so that he learns to be responsible. Invite the child to reflect on his feelings after playing games and recognize when it's time to stop, for example when the body is sore, the eyes are tired, or the time to sleep," he explained.

Roblox blocking, explained Vera, is not a panjag-term solution if it is intended to protect children from violence.

Vera assessed that games like Roblox have a very attractive and even addictive design for children and adolescents. The merger of social elements, the exploration of the virtual world, and the reward giving system makes Roblox players want to continue to return.

Vera emphasized the importance of regulation from the government needed, especially in the form of age verification, digital security standards, and digital literacy campaigns that reach families in various layers.

Vera said blocking would only be a short-term solution that would not touch the real root of the problem: the lack of digital literacy among parents and children.

He emphasized that the impact of Roblox game workers could be significantly reduced if parents and children had a warm, open, and full of communication relations.

Vera added that children want to feel heard, valued, and not blamed when making mistakes so that they are more open to learning and developing.

"So, it's not about protecting children from the outside world completely, but equipping children to be able to protect themselves in the digital world," he said.