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If another player is harassing, threatening, or pressuring you, stop the interaction, preserve useful evidence, block or mute the account, and report the specific behavior through every service where it occurred. Tell a trusted adult when a child is involved. Threats of violence, stalking, hate crimes, or sexual material involving a child require escalation to appropriate authorities; the correct route depends on your country or region.
Game menus and privacy controls change frequently. Use the current help page for the particular game, console, platform, or chat service after following the safety steps below.
1. Stop the interaction and get support
Do not try to win an argument with a harasser. Leave the match, pause the game, close the chat window, or stop replying. Continuing can give the person more opportunities to provoke you and can bury the evidence you need later. If you are playing with friends, tell them you are stepping away rather than asking them to confront the sender.
Decide whether you are in immediate danger
If someone says they are coming to your home, threatens violence, knows where you live, threatens self-harm to control you, or indicates an imminent physical danger, move away from the conversation and contact local emergency services. Do not meet the person or agree to an in-person exchange. If there is no immediate danger, continue with the documentation and reporting steps in this guide.
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A vague insult, repeated taunt, unwanted friend request, and credible threat do not all require the same response. You can still take every unwanted contact seriously while matching the escalation to the facts. Save enough context for a reviewer to understand whether the behavior was a one-time disruption, a pattern, or an attempt to identify or locate you.
Bring in a trusted adult
Children and teenagers should tell a parent, guardian, school counselor, teacher, coach, or another trusted adult. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) describes a child encountering “upsetting or inappropriate behavior from other players” and advises stopping play and talking with an adult. Ask what was said, whether the person requested personal information, and whether anything was shared. Keep the conversation factual and nonjudgmental; blame can make a child less likely to disclose the next incident.
An adult can help preserve evidence, adjust account settings, submit reports, and decide whether the conduct needs outside escalation. An adult should not continue a back-and-forth conversation with the alleged bully on the child’s behalf. A short plan such as “stop, save, block, tell” is easier for a child to remember than a long list of rules.
2. Preserve evidence without prolonging contact
Save evidence before blocking when that is safe and practical. If capturing it would require replying, opening a suspicious file, or staying in a threatening conversation, stop first and preserve whatever is already available. Your safety is more important than obtaining a perfect screenshot.
What to save
- Screenshots or screen recordings showing the message, username, profile, date, time, and surrounding context.
- The exact game, server, match, room, or experience where the conduct occurred.
- Dates and times, including your time zone when possible.
- A short factual description of what happened, in sequence. Quote the relevant words accurately instead of adding conclusions.
- Emails, direct messages, text messages, voice-chat notifications, and relevant links or case numbers.
- The account or user ID, if the service displays one, plus the display name if it changes.
- Any new account names used after blocking, so the pattern is clear.
Keep original files unedited. Make a backup in a location the other person cannot access, such as a trusted adult’s device or a secure cloud folder. A simple incident log can use columns for date, service, account, behavior, evidence filename, and report number. Note whether the contact was public or private and whether personal information was requested or disclosed.
Do not fabricate or enhance a screenshot. If a recording includes unrelated private conversations, keep the original secure and share only the portion needed with the reporting service or authority. Check the service’s instructions for accepted file types and size limits; if an upload is unavailable, describe the evidence and retain it for follow-up.
Do not redistribute abusive material
Do not forward bullying messages to friends, post them publicly, or create a callout thread. Redistribution can expose private information, spread sexual or violent material, and make moderation harder. Share copies only with a trusted adult, the relevant service, or an appropriate authority. StopBullying.gov says, “When cyberbullying happens, it is important to document and report the behavior so it can be addressed.”
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Blocking prevents an account from contacting you through the service when the feature works as designed. Muting silences voice or text from that account without necessarily preventing other interactions. Use both when available, then review who can contact or find you. If blocking causes you to lose access to a message, save the evidence first when doing so is safe.
| Control | What it changes | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Mute | Stops or hides voice and text from a player for you. | Use immediately during a match when you need quiet without leaving the session. |
| Block | Restricts direct contact, invitations, or other interactions from an account, subject to the service’s rules. | Use after saving evidence or whenever continued contact is distressing or unsafe. |
| Chat permissions | May disable chat entirely or allow communication only with friends. | Use for younger players, repeated harassment, or periods when chat is not needed. |
| Friend and invitation settings | Limits who can send friend requests, party invitations, or join sessions. | Use when unwanted contact arrives through new accounts or repeated invitations. |
| Profile visibility | Reduces who can see your activity, friends, location-like details, or other profile information. | Use when someone is collecting details about you or moving between accounts. |
Names and locations of these controls vary by game, console, account type, and age setting. Look in the game’s Safety, Privacy, Communication, Parental Controls, or Account menus and confirm the current instructions in the service’s help center. eSafety Commissioner guidance notes that gaming controls can include turning off chat, limiting communication to friends, muting, blocking, and reporting.
Some games have separate controls for text chat, voice chat, direct messages, party invitations, and joining a session. Turning off one channel may not stop contact through another. After changing settings, test them with a trusted friend or review the account’s preview options. If a child uses several games or a separate voice-chat app, repeat the review in each service.
Protect information that seems harmless
Do not share your full name, school, address, phone number, email address, routine, live location, passwords, recovery codes, or identifiable photographs. Small details can be combined to identify you. The FTC warns that a request to move a gaming conversation to another platform may signal an attempt to establish a personal connection. Keep conversations about gameplay, and treat pressure to use a private messaging app as a warning sign.
Never send a password, one-time code, or recovery link to someone who claims to be a moderator. Use the service’s official app or website to verify account notices. If you already shared information, continue with the account-protection and adult-support steps below rather than trying to bargain with the person who requested it.
4. Report the specific behavior in every place it occurred
Blocking protects your account but does not tell a moderator what happened. Submit a report using the game’s report function, then report the same conduct on the platform hosting the account or communication. If the contact happened in a separate chat app, file a report there as well. A report to one service does not automatically reach the others.
Choose the most specific report path
- Open the message, voice-chat record, profile, match, or piece of content connected to the incident.
- Select Report, Safety, or a comparable option and choose the closest category, such as harassment, threats, hate, sexual content, or sharing personal information.
- Attach the relevant screenshot or recording and provide dates, times, and a concise description. State what the person did, not just that you dislike the account.
- Record the confirmation number, email, or status page so a trusted adult can follow up if necessary.
- Repeat the process on the console or platform account and on any third-party service used for the contact.
Reporting a profile alone may not show moderators the offending message. Roblox’s published guidance distinguishes in-experience from out-of-experience violations and advises reporting the specific chat, private message, experience, or content. Its support instructions explain that a profile-only report may not give moderators enough context. Roblox’s interface and parental controls change, so use its current reporting and blocking help pages rather than relying on an old menu path.
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When a form asks for a category, choose the behavior that best matches the evidence. If several rules were broken, describe each briefly and identify the most urgent one. Do not exaggerate, guess at the person’s identity, or submit another user’s private information unless the service specifically requests it for safety review.
Set realistic expectations
A report asks the service to review a possible rule violation; it does not guarantee a warning, suspension, removal, or response time. Moderators may limit what they disclose for privacy reasons. Keep your own evidence and continue using blocking and privacy controls while the review is pending. Do not submit repeated reports that add no new information, but provide new evidence if the behavior continues or escalates.
5. Escalate serious conduct
Some behavior goes beyond ordinary game moderation. StopBullying.gov, a U.S. federal resource last reviewed December 11, 2024, advises contacting law enforcement for threats of violence, stalking, hate crimes, or sexually explicit material involving a child. These categories and reporting routes are not universal legal definitions, so readers elsewhere should use local emergency services, police, child-protection agencies, or an online-safety regulator as appropriate.
Threats or imminent physical danger
Call local emergency services when a threat appears immediate or specific. Preserve the message, account details, and time. Do not warn the sender that you are contacting authorities, meet them, or attempt to investigate their identity yourself. If the threat is not immediate, ask a trusted adult or local police service how to submit the evidence and whether additional protective steps apply.
Stalking or repeated unwanted contact
Keep a dated log of each incident, including new accounts used after blocking. Ask local police or a specialist support service which evidence and protection options apply in your jurisdiction. Repeated contact across games, social networks, email, or phone can be relevant even when each individual message appears minor. Tell the reporting service that the contact continued after blocking and include the related case numbers.
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Hate-based abuse
Save slurs, threats, symbols, and the context in which they were used. Report the content to the service and ask a trusted adult or local authority about additional routes. A platform’s category labels may differ from your country’s legal terminology, so describe the conduct plainly as well as selecting a category.
Sexual messages or images involving a child
Do not download, forward, or repost the material. Preserve only what is necessary and safe, follow the platform’s child-safety reporting process, and contact local law enforcement or child-protection authorities. If a child is being pressured for images or an adult is contacting them sexually, involve a trusted adult immediately. Do not negotiate with the sender or promise secrecy.
eSafety Commissioner guidance provides separate Australian routes for serious cyberbullying and adult cyber abuse. In other countries, consult the equivalent government online-safety or child-protection authority. A platform report and an outside report serve different purposes; making one does not replace the other when serious conduct is involved.
6. If personal information was requested or shared
First, stop communicating and tell a trusted adult. Change the password for the game account and for any email account used to recover it, using a unique password for each service. Turn on multifactor authentication where available, review logged-in devices and connected apps, and revoke access you do not recognize.
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If a phone number, address, school, or live-location detail was shared, tell the adult what was disclosed and when. Review social-media visibility, remove location metadata from public posts, and ask the platform whether the information can be removed. If payment details or identity documents were exposed, contact the card issuer or relevant institution through an official channel. Watch for follow-up contact using the disclosed details and add each incident to your log.
7. A caregiver’s practical playbook
Start with listening
Thank the child for telling you. Ask open questions: “What happened next?” and “Did the person ask for information or suggest moving to another app?” Avoid taking away the device as the first response; doing so can discourage future reporting and remove access to supportive contacts. Explain that the child is not responsible for another person’s abusive behavior.
Secure the account together
Review chat, direct-message, friend-request, invitation, profile-visibility, and parental-control settings on the child’s account. Explain what each control does and agree on who should be told if contact starts again. On Roblox, parents can report or block a user from a child’s account through parental controls, but the available settings and interface can change. Use the current Roblox help material for the exact route.
Coordinate, do not retaliate
Keep the evidence and report through the proper channels. Do not contact the other child’s family, publish the alleged bully’s identity, or encourage friends to swarm the account. Those actions can escalate risk and may violate platform rules. If schoolmates are involved, share the factual log with the school’s designated safeguarding contact instead of circulating screenshots.
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- Use a unique password and multifactor authentication where the service supports it.
- Set chat and direct messages to off or friends-only when open communication is unnecessary.
- Restrict friend requests, party invitations, and session joins to known people.
- Hide personal profile fields and activity that reveal school, routine, location, or contacts.
- Learn how to mute, block, and report before a problem occurs.
- Keep the game, console, and chat applications updated so safety fixes are installed.
- Agree with children on a simple rule: stop, save, block, tell.
9. Which response fits the situation?
| Situation | Primary action | Additional action |
|---|---|---|
| Insults or disruptive voice chat during one match | Mute, leave or pause, and report the specific chat if available. | Use friends-only chat if the behavior recurs. |
| Repeated messages or invitations from the same account | Save a dated record, then block and report. | Restrict invitations and friend requests; involve a trusted adult for a child. |
| Pressure to move to a private app or share personal details | Stop replying and preserve the request. | Tell a trusted adult, tighten privacy settings, and report the account. |
| Threat of violence, stalking, hate-based threat, or sexual material involving a child | Preserve evidence without redistributing it and report to the service. | Contact emergency, law-enforcement, child-protection, or regulator resources appropriate to your jurisdiction. |
10. What to remember after reporting
Keep the report number and your incident log. Check whether the service offers a status page or follow-up email, but do not assume silence means the report was ignored. If the person returns through another account, document the new incident and add it to the existing report when the service allows. Your priorities remain physical safety, control of your account, and support from a trusted adult or qualified authority—not proving a point to the sender.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I reply to an abusive player to tell them to stop?
Usually no. Stop replying, leave or pause the interaction, save evidence if it is safe, then mute or block the account. A trusted adult can help with reporting without entering a confrontation.
What should I screenshot before blocking someone?
Capture the message or chat, username, profile or user ID, date and time, game or experience, and enough surrounding context to show what happened. Keep the original file and record the report number.
Is muting the same as blocking?
No. Muting hides voice or text from you, while blocking generally restricts direct contact or invitations. Features vary, so use the service’s current help page and apply both when appropriate.
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Do I need to report the profile and the message?
Report the specific message, chat, private message, experience, or content whenever the service offers that option. A profile-only report may not give moderators enough context; Roblox specifically distinguishes in-experience and out-of-experience reports.
What if the person asks me to move to another app?
Treat the request as a warning sign, especially if the person also asks for personal details. Stop the conversation, preserve the request, tell a trusted adult, tighten privacy settings, and report the account on each service involved.
When should online game bullying be reported to police?
Escalate threats of violence, stalking, hate crimes, or sexually explicit material involving a child according to local rules. Call emergency services for immediate danger; otherwise contact local law enforcement, child-protection services, or an online-safety regulator with the evidence.
What should a parent do first?
Listen without blaming, ask what was said and whether information was shared, thank the child for telling you, and secure the account together. Do not retaliate or publish the alleged bully’s identity.
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Not necessarily. A report requests a review and does not guarantee a particular outcome or response time. Keep your own evidence, continue blocking and privacy measures, and add new incidents to the existing report when possible.
The Bottom Line
Stop the contact, save a factual record, mute or block the account, and report the specific content everywhere it appeared. Tell a trusted adult when a child is involved. For imminent danger or serious conduct such as violence threats, stalking, hate crimes, or sexual material involving a child, use the emergency, law-enforcement, child-protection, or regulator route that applies where you live.
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