https://www.brianribbon.com/short-takes ... one-thinksAs a teacher of thousands of children over the years, and having been an AF to boys of a variety of ages and across two generations, I am now going to put on my ageing millennial cap and say... Roblox sucks.
Roblox is a disaster for kids... but not in the way everyone thinks
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BLueRibbon
- Posts: 1495
- Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2024 12:03 pm
Roblox is a disaster for kids... but not in the way everyone thinks
Re: Roblox is a disaster for kids... but not in the way everyone thinks
I think the way Roblox games are developed reflects how people are generally willing to accept the exploitation of children as long as it's not sexual.
Games on Roblox are the very definition of predatory. They are often made with reused assets with limited but repetitive goals and objectives, and are filled with FOMO content. Grow a Garden, for example, is a very simple gardening game. However, the rare items are locked behind rng shop content that resets every 5 minutes, and some of the best items are locked behind limited event-based unlocks (which are also often rng). Make no mistake however, you can spend real money to bypass these restrictions, and it's almost a requirement to make any real progress.
This kind of style is prevalent across the whole site. Simple games filled with FOMO content. Rewards locked behind randomization rather than skill based or progression based unlocks.
You'll find the odd person feigning concern over this sort of thing but won't really take significant action to do anything about it. It highlights how society is actually kinda okay with manipulating kids, so long as someone is making money from it, and it doesn't involve any icky acts. They'll lose their mind at some 20 year old developer sleeping with a 16 year old, but won't care one second that this same developer made millions by exploiting kids through his game.
Edit note: Not that I want kids or anything to be banned from these kinds of games. Just pointing out there's a level of exploitation that's seemingly allowed, and Roblox games are an echo of it.
Games on Roblox are the very definition of predatory. They are often made with reused assets with limited but repetitive goals and objectives, and are filled with FOMO content. Grow a Garden, for example, is a very simple gardening game. However, the rare items are locked behind rng shop content that resets every 5 minutes, and some of the best items are locked behind limited event-based unlocks (which are also often rng). Make no mistake however, you can spend real money to bypass these restrictions, and it's almost a requirement to make any real progress.
This kind of style is prevalent across the whole site. Simple games filled with FOMO content. Rewards locked behind randomization rather than skill based or progression based unlocks.
You'll find the odd person feigning concern over this sort of thing but won't really take significant action to do anything about it. It highlights how society is actually kinda okay with manipulating kids, so long as someone is making money from it, and it doesn't involve any icky acts. They'll lose their mind at some 20 year old developer sleeping with a 16 year old, but won't care one second that this same developer made millions by exploiting kids through his game.
Edit note: Not that I want kids or anything to be banned from these kinds of games. Just pointing out there's a level of exploitation that's seemingly allowed, and Roblox games are an echo of it.
Liberate youth
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BLueRibbon
- Posts: 1495
- Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2024 12:03 pm
Re: Roblox is a disaster for kids... but not in the way everyone thinks
Excellent comment, Bookshelf. May I add it to the article?
Re: Roblox is a disaster for kids... but not in the way everyone thinks
Feel freeBLueRibbon wrote: Thu May 28, 2026 12:43 pm Excellent comment, Bookshelf. May I add it to the article?
Liberate youth