Online gaming is often built around or greatly supported by communication among players. In-Game chat features allow players to coordinate strategies, socialize, and build communities around shared interests. For adults, these tools may be beneficial at best and harmless at worst. For children, however, the same communication systems can become gateways for manipulation, grooming, and abuse when sexual predators are allowed to operate with little to no oversight.
In-Game Chat: Where Grooming Often Begins
Most online games, including widely used platforms such as Roblox, include built-in chat systems, whether through text, voice, or both.. These chats are often public or semi-public, allowing players to interact with strangers during gameplay. Predators frequently use these spaces as their first point of contact with children.
The grooming process rarely begins with overtly inappropriate behavior, though.
Instead, to begin grooming a child, predators may:
- Engage in normal gameplay conversations
- Offer help, in-game items, or praise
- Identify children who appear lonely or eager for attention
- Gradually move conversations into private chats
Because these interactions initially look like ordinary gaming behavior, they may go unnoticed by moderators, parents, and even the children themselves. Over time, predators can use in-game chat to normalize increasingly personal conversations, laying the groundwork for grooming.
Discord Chats: A Common Next Step
Once initial contact is made, many predators attempt to move children off in-game chat and onto Discord. Discord is widely used by gaming communities and often feels like a natural extension of gameplay, especially when servers are officially connected to a specific game by requesting an invite to the game’s Discord server. Talking with someone on Discord can create an illusion of safety.
On Discord, predators may invite children to:
- Private servers
- Small group chats
- One-on-one direct messages
Spaces on Discord often lack meaningful moderation, especially in private servers. Voice chat, private messages, and file sharing can make it easier for predators to escalate harmful behavior while avoiding detection. Because Discord is so normalized in gaming culture, children may not see these invitations as red flags, particularly if the server appears to be associated with a game they already trust.
Chats on External Apps: Moving Beyond the Game Entirely
In some cases, online predators take grooming even further by encouraging children to communicate through external apps not directly connected to gaming at all.
Common third-party apps that online predators use are:
- Facebook Messenger
- TikTok direct messages
- Snapchat
- Instagram DMs
At this stage, the predator’s goal is often complete isolation. Moving a child to a separate platform reduces oversight and makes it harder for parents or game moderators to intervene.
External apps may allow predators to:
- Communicate at all hours
- Send disappearing messages
- Share images or videos
- Encourage secrecy from parents
Once conversations leave the original gaming platform, companies often claim they are no longer responsible, even though the initial contact and grooming began within their game spaces.
Why Children Are Especially Vulnerable to Grooming Attempts
Children lack the experience to recognize manipulative behavior, especially when it comes from someone who appears friendly, supportive, or knowledgeable about a game they love.
Online predators may try to exploit children in games by:
- Mimicking childlike behavior
- Claiming to be the same age
- Offering validation or emotional support
- Framing inappropriate behavior as normal or “just a joke”
This imbalance of power and awareness is what makes grooming so dangerous. It is also what makes it so inexcusable for game developers to refuse to improve their online safety systems for children.
Responsibilities of Game Developers & Gaming Platforms
Game developers and platform operators profit directly from user engagement, including children’s participation. When companies design systems that allow unrestricted communication, they also assume responsibility for how those systems are used.
Developers and publishers can and should implement safeguards such as:
- Strong moderation and filtering tools
- Limits on private messaging for minors
- Clear reporting and escalation systems
- Monitoring of known grooming patterns
- Warnings or blocks against sharing external contact information
When companies fail to take reasonable steps to protect child users, especially after repeated warnings or documented incidents, they may be placing children at foreseeable risk.
Potential Legal Liability for Failure to Protect Children
Legal claims involving online grooming often focus on whether harm was preventable, yet occurred in an online gaming space, all the same.
Key questions to raise when considering legal action may include:
- Did the company know or should it have known about the risk?
- Were existing safety tools adequate and enforced?
- Did the platform encourage or allow off-platform contact without safeguards?
- Were parents or users misled about the level of safety provided?
When companies market platforms as safe for children but fail to address known dangers, they may be exposed to legal liability for the harm that follows.
Hilliard Law is a nationwide leader in representing parents whose children were harmed due to unsafe online environments. We focus on cases involving online games, chat systems, and related platforms that failed to protect children from predatory behavior that the game developers knew or reasonably should have known about. We help families evaluate whether a company’s design choices, moderation failures, or lack of safeguards contributed to their child’s harm. These cases are about accountability and protecting children in digital spaces that were built for them.
If you believe your child was groomed or harmed by an online predator who used in-game chat, Discord, or external apps to gain access, you deserve answers, and your family deserves justice. Dial (866) 927-3420 now to request an initial case review. We’re here to help.