The shadiest game in the world
Why you should read about Roblox, especially if you are a parent
Howdy again everyone,
Over the weekend, I released a new article for the Federalist. At their mutual request, I covered the game Roblox, mostly known to kids ages 9 to 15 and their parents. It turns out Roblox is the most populous game globally, depending on the day of the week, with sometimes over 40 million teens logging into the "Metaverse."
My experience with Roblox, previous to writing the piece, was limited. When I served my LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) mission, every time I went to the local public library, there would be a dozen tweens playing an ugly Minecraft clone that I was blithely told was not Minecraft but, in fact, Roblox.
Now usually, a game of that popularity, with a $49 billion market cap on the NY Stock Exchange, would mean the game's developers would be meticulous in making sure everything was on the up and up. When Minecraft got purchased by Microsoft, many of the eccentricities business-wise disappeared, similar story with PUBG Battlegrounds and the cultural powerhouse Fortnite, owned by Epic Games. But that didn't happen at the Roblox Corporation. Instead, the corporation decided to lean more heavily on microtransactions and soak their players and developers for money. That is interesting, from both a game development standpoint and a business one as well.
It is also remarkable how little of a cultural footprint Roblox has considering its legions of pubescent child players. Fortnite attracted around 10 million players a day in 2019, and the game was featured in Avengers: EndGame. Fortnite has four times that many players, and the best they can do is a concert with Lil Nas X. Two-thirds of children in North America and Europe are playing this game. Very few adults, even parents, are aware of it.
Performing the research for this game took much longer than I anticipated. The subtleties and internecine nature of Roblox and its community are quite varied and hard to pin down. So besides research, I also exposed myself to as much Roblox video content I could handle; drank down by talking to players, and finished off with conversations from local parents. What came from that homework is a strong impression that Roblox is a very unethical platform run by a shady company. The Roblox Corporation is likely responsible for more damage to young children and its child labor force than we adults currently understand.
So please, I encourage you all to read the piece. If you are a parent, perhaps consider if Roblox is suitable for your family. And if it is, please for heaven’s sake, be careful with whom you share your wallet and credit cards.