Toronto filmmaker shows dangers of Roblox and the metaverse in new documentary

In many ways, video games have a positive impact on people's lives. From pure entertainment and connecting with friends to stimulating your brain and even exercising, there is all kinds of data to show the benefits of gaming. But there's also a darker side to the medium that often goes unseen.

Covering that very subject matter is Dangerous Games: Roblox and the Metaverse Exposed, a new Canadian documentary from Toronto-based filmmaker Ann Shin (My Enemy, My Brother), TVO Docs and Fathom Film Group.

In the film, Shin explores the concept of a "metaverse" — virtual worlds in which humans can interact using 3D avatars — from the perspective of Roblox, the massively popular online kids game that allows players to create their own in-game experiences.

According to developer Roblox Corporation, around 85 million people play the game every day, with about 40 per cent of them being under 13.

Unfortunately, this also led many bad actors to use the platform to target children. In some cases, this means experiences that recreate infamous American mass shootings like Columbine, Uvalde and Parkland, as well as terrorist attacks carried out by white supremacists, as discovered by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Sometimes, the spread of this hateful rhetoric can even radicalize people to commit murderous hate crimes in real life. And in other situations, sexual predators use Roblox to groom children.

This sort of malicious activity is what initially got the attention of Shin's producer, Erica Leendertse.

"It was my producer's idea because she had children playing Roblox, and she started reading up about child predators and other illegal activity that was going on the platform," says Shin.

"And so she started talking to me about it, and I have a niece and nephew who play Roblox as well. So we immediately got caught up into what's going on on this platform, and we wanted to investigate it further."

Frighteningly, it didn't take long for the pair to come across sinister content on Roblox. "Within several minutes, we were in a sexual den with S&M," says Shin. "And we're like, 'Why are five-year-old kids playing a game where you can end up in a sex den?' It's chaos. It's the Wild, Wild West here, and there needs to be some regulations put into place."

Raising awareness for those very issues became the driving force for the film, and thankfully, Shin and her crew didn't have to look far for support.

Enter Alex Farrugia, a Toronto teen who's been a big player in the Roblox community. Since she was 13, she's been making all sorts of Roblox content on her TanookiAlex YouTube channel, and in recent years, she's pivoted towards community management, music and activism within the Roblox community.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Dangerous Games (@dangerousgamesmovie_)

In many ways, Farrugia is the central character of the film. From her perspective, Dangerous Games explores the insidious side of Roblox, including the many ways in which sexual predators weaponize the platform.

One of the worst examples of this is a prominent content creator named DoctorRofatnik, who was luring children through his popular Sonic the Hedgehog experience. He would later be revealed to be 23-year-old Arnold Castillo of New Jersey when he was arrested for grooming a minor online and having her transported to him across state lines. (Thankfully, the minor was rescued.)

In the film, we see Farrugia's efforts to warn others in the Roblox community about DoctorRofatnik and other bad actors after her own friends were being targeted.

One of the most frustrating elements for her is that even after initially exposing DoctorRofatnik and getting his Sonic experience taken down (not because it was a place for grooming, mind you, but because Sonic maker Sega hit it with a copyright strike), he was still able to just use a different name and return to his bad habits.

Despite the repeated concerns raised by Farrugia and others, Roblox did nothing, all while Farrugia faced online abuse — including "doxxing" (the release of her private information) — for daring to speak out.

Despite all of this, Farrugia remained committed to bringing about change and protecting other kids.

"This was important for me, because in particular, I'm a gamer myself. This is what I do. It's my job — this is literally what I do for work. And it's not just work, it's a passion. These are communities full of amazing people and amazing kids that deserve to be protected," says Farrugia, now 21.

"And I was once one of those kids — at the beginning of this documentary, I was 16, and it was when I was 14 that I really found that my friends were being lured by a lot of these bad actors, and I wanted to do something about it," she says.

"I'm not really a person that just likes to sit there and watch something I love being destroyed and real people being affected. These are real connections that we foster online, and I think when we put it in that perspective, we understand that this is a real job, and there's real work to be done."

One of the biggest problems that the film showcases is how many people, including Castillo, use the popular messaging app Discord to take conversations off of Roblox. As a result, Roblox Corp. normally deflects any blame. This is despite the fact that, as shown in the film, Roblox features in-game integration with Discord, effectively allowing a direct, private link through which adults can converse with children.

Shin notes that during the entire four-year production of the film, Discord was similarly uncooperative. "A lot of grooming that starts on the platform goes off-platform in the [Discord] chat, and they've been non-responsive."

The lack of support didn't stop with the tech companies. As Farrugia notes, it was "very difficult" to get the attention of politicians.

"We contacted a lot of our local politicians in Toronto, but we found that a lot of them weren't willing to listen to us because of our age. A lot of people think, 'Oh, you're a teenager, you're just gonna say crud.' And that's not the reality," says Farrugia.

"We need to listen to young gamers in order to get a real perspective, because they're the ones who play these games. They're the ones who can speak to adults on this situation, not an adult who's out of touch with the situation."

This is partly what prompted Farrugia to connect with two other like-minded teens in U.S., Janae and Katie. The former is a content creator who aims to make safe online spaces for fellow Black players, while the latter was actually targeted by DoctorRofatnik in Roblox.

Together, the trio have worked to raise awareness of these issues in Roblox — efforts which even include Farrugia and Janae travelling to Washington, D.C. to speak with lawyers and politicians.

Alex and Janae. (Image credit: Fathom Film Group)

These efforts are especially important because, as Shin notes, the negative impact of bad actors in games like Roblox isn't just limited to crimes like grooming minors or inciting violence. A prime example of this can be found in the film when Janae creates a Black avatar to better represent herself, only for many players online to harass her and make racist comments. When she switches to a white character, all of that abuse went away.

"Aside from the real world spillover, everyone on these platforms, they really identify with their avatars," says Shin. "If an avatar is assaulted, you feel assaulted as a person, and the mental and psychological damage of that is practically the same. So there's a lot of harm that could happen on these platforms that we really need to address."

Where do we go from here?

In the four years since the start of the production of Dangerous Games, Shin and Farrugia say they've seen some improvements. Some of these include Roblox adding new parental controls and limited messaging functionality for those under 13 late last year. But of course, much more still needs to be done.

"It's still the platform saying, 'Hey, parents, look after your kids. We're not gonna look after what's going on here. We're gonna let all these people do whatever they do all the time, and you can just make sure your kids are okay,'" says Shin. "They're not shouldering more responsibility here, but they are enabling parents to have more insight and purview over what their kids are doing on their platforms."

The U.K.-based digital behavioural insights agency Revealing Reality also came down on Roblox last month, arguing that its recent policy changes "don't go far enough" and the platform is "deeply disturbing" on the whole.

Meanwhile, some parents have flat out prohibited their kids entirely from playing Roblox due to the risks associated with millions of user-generated experiences.

Of course, every parent can and should use their best judgment, but Farrugia suggests a more measured approach than a full parental ban of the game.

"Roblox is just like a real-life playground. You wouldn't leave your kid alone on the playground, so why would you leave them alone on Roblox online? Roblox is really great for family time, and so if I were a parent, I think the middle ground is only playing Roblox together with your kids, especially if they're of younger ages, because then you can learn what they play," she says.

"So that way, your child knows that if you're not there and something goes wrong, they can talk to you about it, and you understand the context behind what they're saying. It's about pre-approving the games. It's about playing with your children, so that way you are fully educated on what goes on."

On top of that, she suggests that kids only play Roblox with others they already know, like real life friends.

"I think the most important conversation that we can have as parents is 'stranger danger' on Roblox. If you don't know him, you don't talk to him, and that is the best way. Even real life strategies work on Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, you name it. And I think we need to teach kids that if something seems wrong, you're probably right. Trust your gut instinct."

Farrugia also calls for greater youth education in general regarding online safety.

"We need to be having these conversations, especially with schools, educators and places where kids go and parents go. Because a lot of parents don't even know what goes on on Roblox, and I think that's the problem," she says. "We need internet safety to really be household standard, just like home ec[onomics], just like personal finance. It needs to be a course, and it needs to be taught at schools."

In the meantime, she says there are a few resources Canadians can turn to, specifically citing the "great" work that Kids Help Phone and YMCA Canada are doing. The latter, she says, even hosts Roblox summer camps to promote a safe space in which kids can engage with the game.

On top of that, both the documentary and its accompanying website point to several useful tools, including:

• Cybertip.ca — Canada's tipline for reporting the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
• Netsmartz — Offers online safety tips, interactive activities and videos for kids, parents and educators.
• Psychgeist — Multimedia production studio about the science of games and pop-culture from Ottawa-based psychologist and researcher, Dr. Rachel Kowert (who's also featured in the film).
• Security.Org — Parent's Guide to the Metaverse.

And in the long-term, Farrugia hopes this increased awareness will help put pressure on politicians and, in turn, tech companies like Roblox Corp. to enact changes to protect kids online.

"I think it's about needing to motivate these companies to change, and legislation is the way to do that. But in Canada, I find we have a lot of bills that aren't necessarily targeted towards that issue."

"And I think we'd really just like to see it move forward, accelerated, because the more the years go by, the more Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, all of these platforms grow, and it's important that we have up-to-date laws that really reflect that," she says.

Last year, the then-Trudeau government was pushing for Bill C-63, also known as the Online Harms Act, which would have cracked down on malicious social media content and online predators, among other things. However, it never moved forward amid Trudeau's resignation and the subsequent federal election.

Following all of that, newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney said in April that "large American online platforms have become seas of racism, misogyny, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and hate — in all its forms, and they're being used by criminals to harm our children." 

He then promised to act on this, and so far, the Liberals have said they will "aggressively pursue action to protect children from online crimes," which includes "introducing legislation to protect children from online exploitation and sextortion." It remains to be seen what will come out of this.

"I know that there are a lot of legislators thinking about this, and I think the more that individuals and families and community groups speak up about it, the more that the legislators will feel the need to get bills like Bill C-63 passed," says Shin.

"And unfortunately, even though we don't have that, there are countries around that are starting to adopt this," adds Farrugia, mentioning New Zealand as one example. "We need similar [laws] with the metaverse, because the metaverse is essentially like video game social media."

Stream Dangerous Games: Roblox and the Metaverse Exposed for free on TVO (broadcast) and TVO Docs' YouTube channel, website and Smart TV app starting May 25.