I have a young, female family member who was preyed on through Roblox. Discord is the next place they take you to and sink their claws in.
Can someone give me the out-of-the-loop on Roblox?
I understand that it’s an online gaming platform where there have been accusations of things being unsafe for kids. While bad, this is something that has happened before. Anything specific here that this is in the news so much, or just that it’s the biggest most current example?
The company was recently sued for creating a platform using almost exclusively child labor
The problem is while their target audience is kids, it is heavily monetized and created a market and economy around child created content. It is also impossible to moderate and became a cesspool of predators.
The game itself is comprised of an infinite number of mini games you can try, most of them created by children. Some of them are of a sexual nature and not safe for kids. This makes it really easy for a predator to set up environments where they can groom children.
The players can buy robux with real money and spend this to advertise the games they create, or buy customization items or game passes. They also earn robux when people play their games to incentivize them to create more content. Because of this the company is being sued for essentially child labor, where all their profits revolve around child created games
When I was younger I would also play modded games and create content. I dont think there’s anything wrong with that. But the fact that the game monetized it to such an extent is wrong in my opinion. With the predator problem as well it makes it a really unsafe playform for children. As a parent I would never let my children play this.
Thank you very much! I mentioned it to my oldest son (who is now in his twenties) a couple years ago because my youngest son (who is autistic) seemed like he might be interested in the game. He very emphatically said it wasn’t really what it looked like and that he would not recommend it. I didn’t ask for more details, but I guess I get it!
It’s also used as a recruiting platform by white supremacists.
Jesus. How is this thing still a thing? (I guess that’s also part of the answer to my prior question…)
A complete lack of all moderation, an owner / management team who studiously ignores all the child abuse on their platform because it is profitable to them to ignore it, and a legislative and judicial system that is unwilling to prosecute businesses for anything in general and child abuse in particular.
It’s a perfect microcosm of the American condition, really.
It is also the most popular game ever created, unfortunately. Just one of the user created games on it tops the list for daily active players of any game ever…
How did we go from “Mortal Kombat bad!!!” to “white-supremacist pedophiles are good for business,” in 30 years? I hate this fucking world so much.
Removed by mod
Thank you very much!
It’s gamified social media. Toxic and recommend not letting your kids use this despite strong social pressures.
Roblox needs to dramatically increase moderation, but calling it social media is not true.
It’s a game platform with a chat window in whatever game you are playing like every other online game starting with Doom in 1993.
Doom had chat?
kids didn’t bully eachother for not playing doom
Imagine being exposed as having a predator problem and doing anything but shutting that down.
https://www.roblox.com/games/1043451322/Shower-Simulator
Content Maturity: N/A
