Notes

Topic : games
Magazines name: Roblox
Art 1: A million and a half children in the UK are regular users of the creative gaming platform. What is its appeal – and is it safe?

Stuart Dredge
@stuartdredge
Sat 28 Sep 2019 16.30 BST
40
Roblox may not be as famous a children’s game as Fortnite or Minecraft, but it recently announced that it has more than 100 million active monthly players.

It has flown more under the media radar than those rivals, leaving parents whose children are now asking to play it (or playing it without asking) in need of a primer.

What is Roblox?
It’s not a single game, but rather a collection of more than 50m games, all created by its community of players. The simplest comparison is to YouTube: a huge library of “user-generated content”, but in this case the content is games rather than videos.

Children (and adults) download the Roblox application for computers, games consoles, smartphones or tablets and use it to browse and play its catalogue of games. Social features are also key to its appeal, including the ability to add friends and chat to them while playing.

Roblox isn’t a new thing: it officially launched in 2006, and has been growing steadily ever since.

How many children play it?
Roblox doesn’t split its 100 million figure between children and adults, though it does say that 40% of them are women and girls.

In the UK alone, there are around 1.5 million children playing Roblox, according to research firm Kids Insights. Its data, based on an annual survey of 20,000 British children, suggests that 24% of 10- to 12-year-olds here are on Roblox – more than on TikTok (13%) and Snapchat (20%) and nearly as popular as Instagram (25%).

The company adds that 19% of seven-to-nine-year-olds in the UK are playing Roblox, some way behind YouTube (43%) but ahead of TV brands like CBBC (11%), Nickelodeon (10%) and Cartoon Network (8%).

Work at a Pizza Place by Dued1 – teams of players fill orders and earn credits to buy home furnishings.
Work at a Pizza Place by Dued1 – teams of players fill orders and earn credits to buy home furnishings. Photograph: Roblox
Why is Roblox popular?
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“We’re not a company that does a lot of marketing. The No 1 way that someone finds out about our platform is they get invited to play by a friend. And the second way is they’ll watch people playing on YouTube,” says Roblox’s chief business officer Craig Donato. “So it’s very much an organic phenomenon.”

He also suggests that one reason for Roblox’s popularity is its emphasis on “unstructured play” in an era when many children are more restricted in their physical-world activities than previous generations were.

“When I came home from school, I’d get on my bike, go out in the woods, do pick-up baseball. But we live in a world today where it’s hard for kids to go out and have unstructured play with their friends,” he says. “Most of the experiences on our platform aren’t just about the object to win. It’s an experience you have with other people: a shared experience.”

How do people make games for it?
Anyone can make a game (or “experience” – they can simply be virtual spaces) for Roblox by downloading its separate Roblox Studio software. The company says that it has more than 2 million “creators” – so around 2% of its players – with the most popular games being played by up to 100,000 people simultaneously.

For many children, creating a simple game or virtual room where they can hang out with friends is the limit of their ambitions, but others build bigger, more complex games, and even start to make money through taking a cut of in-game purchases using Roblox’s virtual currency, Robux. The company expects to pay out more than $100m in 2019 alone to them.

“We have these teams forming businesses, and making millions of dollars a year,” says Donato. Roblox is keen to foster this community: in 2018 it launched its own curriculum, available under a Creative Commons licence, for educators to use. Donato says it reached more than 500,000 children in its first year.

Are people really making businesses out of this?
They are. Josh Wood is one of the British Roblox game-makers. He’s 18 now, but discovered Roblox in 2013, and started to make his own games for it a year later.

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“From there I continued to learn and collaborate with other people on projects until I released my most successful game to date, Game Dev Life, which has so far had over a million play sessions,” he says.

Wood has now set up his own company to make games for Roblox, hiring other developers, artists and testers, and even launching a line of toys based on Game Dev Life, in partnership with Roblox.

“With the money from my games I have been able to pay for my university education, and continue to reinvest in my business,” he says.

Another young British developer working on Roblox games is Abbie Leigh. Now aged 19, she started playing Roblox in 2011, but took the leap into development in 2017, initially creating assets for other people’s games. She’s currently working on three games, including her own sports-themed title, and hopes to make a full-time career out of freelance development.

“It never feels like a job, which of course is the best part. I enjoy building and do so in my free time, and I’m simply rewarded when it comes to doing what I love.”

Game Dev Life by DoubleJGames. Players must try to build a successful game.
Game Dev Life by DoubleJGames. Players must try to build a successful game. Photograph: Roblox
Is Roblox safe for children?
When Roblox has made headlines in the mainstream media, they have often been negative: from reports of adults trying to groom children on the platform in 2017 to, most infamously, a virtual sexual assault in June 2018, when a seven-year old player’s avatar was attacked by two male avatars, whose players had hacked the game’s code to show explicit imagery.

The following month, the Sun published an investigation claiming that Roblox was “a haven for roleplaying as jihadis, Nazi leaders and Ku Klux Klan members”. The company says that it has been working hard to tackle wrongdoers and fix any loopholes in its platform.

“We’re not defensive if things have ever gone wrong. We hold our hands up and say, ‘This is what we’ve done to fix it, and this is what we’re doing to make sure it never happens again,’” says Laura Higgins, a British child-safety veteran hired by Roblox in January 2019 as its ‘director of digital civility’. Her job is to learn from those problems and prevent activities that could harm young players.

“We really do start with safety as our No 1 priority. We acknowledge that we have younger players, so you have to be as ahead of the game as possible in terms of safety,” she says.

“It’s an age-old thing: if people have bad intentions towards children, they’re going to gravitate towards where the children are. We’re constantly reviewing the tools that we have, and looking at ways to improve them.”

How can parents keep informed about it?
Another measure taken by Roblox is to launch a section of its website called For Parents, which explains its safety tools – from algorithms blocking swearwords and names and addresses in text chats, to its reporting system for inappropriate chat or content. There’s even an algorithm detecting whether players’ avatars are wearing “appropriate attire”.

Higgins admits that parents can get “very frustrated” when there’s a horror story around safety on a children’s platform like Roblox: “You think, how hard can it be? [to stop these things happening],” she says. “And it’s very hard, is the answer. When things go wrong, it’s because somebody is trying very hard to break your systems.”

She’s keen to make sure that parents also see the positive side of the games that children are creating on Roblox, citing the example of a game made by a teenager whose father had recently died.

“He developed a game around managing mental wellbeing, mental health, as a journey for other young people experiencing those kinds of issues,” she says. “It was an amazing outlet for him, but it also helped many young people who played it, and were able to explore their emotions.”

That’s an aspect also highlighted by developer Abbie Leigh. “I absolutely love the developer community as a whole. We all stick together, support each other’s creations and help each other when we need it the most,” she says. “From feedback on games, to personal issues.” https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/sep/28/roblox-guide-children-gaming-platform-developer-minecraft-fortnite







Art 2: Released in 2006, Roblox grew from obscurity into a gaming juggernaut, culminating in a multi-billion-dollar public stock offering — and controversy about its monetization model that relies on children. Here's what you need to know about the game.
Roblox is a video game and creation platform available on most mobile devices, consoles, and PCs. Players choose from experiences built by developers and can use in-app purchases for in-game content and other perks.

Due to the platform's cutesy design and the freedoms it provides to players, Roblox has become a standout hit among children. The pandemic only spurred its growth as adults sought alternate incomes in development and children were stuck at home playing games. These forces combined to create the giant that Roblox is today.

What makes Roblox unique is its proprietary development platform. Rather than letting players build levels within the game, creators must use a discrete development tool on Mac or PC. Once content is submitted to Roblox it can be monetized in various ways.

A different game company called Media Molecule is known for pioneering "player creation" with its Little Big Planet series, but creators couldn't monetize content. Roblox has a similar approach, but experiences can only be built in development software, not in the game itself. Roblox also lacks a central storyline for players and focuses on the experiences constructed by developers.

Roblox: the video game
Roblox isn't a traditional video game — it's a platform that hosts experiences built by developers using a dedicated game engine. When players open Roblox, they are greeted with a page of "experiences" or minigames that you can select to play.

Developers for the Roblox platform can design experiences and charge money for content
Developers for the Roblox platform can design experiences and charge money for content
The game has attracted young children due to its popularity on YouTube. Influencers who target younger audiences discovered that many of the minigames' colorful and cutesy nature in Roblox would attract viewers. This then leads to influencers hiring development teams to create minigames and content that can be monetized.

After a viewer sees the game on YouTube, they are usually invited to download the game via a pop-up ad. The excitement of playing something they saw someone else playing and the game's cute nature will win many kids over quickly.

This simple cycle of using social media to promote specific minigames and content has been very lucrative for the platform. So lucrative that the Roblox company has begun publicly trading stock.

What are Robux?
Roblox earns its money and pays developers using an in-app purchase system for currency. The currency used in Roblox is called "Robux." Many games and apps use this form of in-app purchase to give users currency they can spend in bulk without authenticating real payments every time.

The problem with in-app purchases in Roblox is it has multiple levels. You need the Robux currency to purchase items and accessories within the game, but you'll also exchange Robux for other in-game currencies.

That means when playing a minigame, you could earn "dollars" by performing tasks like in any other video game. If a user wants to buy special content or more "dollars" within a minigame like "Adopt Me," then they'll have to spend Robux to do so.

The exchange rate for Robux is simple — divide by 100 to get the equivalent dollar amount. While this math is easy for adults, it obfuscates the value of items from children.

There is a monthly subscription that adds 450 Robux every month for $4.99. There are more economical ways to get Robux, like buying them directly from the website or getting gift cards from Amazon.

What is the Roblox Catalog
This is the default screen in the avatar builder, pushing obscenely priced content
This is the default screen in the avatar builder, pushing obscenely priced content
The catalog is where any user-facing item, accessory, or customization option is sold. In the avatar menu, the catalog consists of things like hair, clothing, or faces. There can be in-game sale systems built by the developer or an isolated catalog of items built just for certain minigames.

Developers using the proprietary development software on Mac or Windows can customize and upload items that can be sold for Robux. Roblox players cannot create levels or content in the game but can buy and resell items from the catalog as long as they are listed as limited items.

There are systems in place for users to check on an item's price history if sold by a player. This will allow users to avoid price gouging, which is rampant on the catalog.

Players and children may not recognize this distinction or understand the value of an item. Parents need to be aware of the in-app purchase system and ensure that purchases cannot be made without a passcode. Children left unattended with Roblox can quickly spend hundreds of dollars that may not be refundable.

How to exchange Robux for real money
Premium Roblox subscribers can convert Robux into real money when certain conditions are met.

Be a member of Roblox Premium
Have a minimum of 100,000 Robux earned by the account
Be 13 or older
Once a member meets the requirements, they can apply for the Developer Exchange Program. Upon approval, the account holder can request a Robux cash out once a month at the current market rate of exchange.

This means a developer or player must make at least $1,000 selling items in the catalog or via minigames before gaining the ability to cash out. Players seeking a quick cash grab will upload a simple smiley face and charge hundreds of dollars for its use. It is unknown how effective this method is, but parents should warn their children of the scams.

Possible Roblox App Store violations
Roblox frequently recommends objects worth well over what can be bought with in-app purchase
Roblox frequently recommends objects worth well over what can be bought with in-app purchase
The screenshot above is from one of the most popular Roblox mini-games — Adopt Me. The highest purchase is so high that the in-app purchase system doesn't offer enough Robux to cover it. The pop-up pushes users to visit the official website to purchase more Robux, a clear violation of Apple's in-app purchase policy.

Developers are not allowed to mention external purchase options or direct users to websites. This has caused issues with apps like Fortnite and Hey in the past.

Robux are similar to the V-Bucks used in Fortnite. As long as you purchase in-game currency from external retailers like Amazon, the game doesn't have to pay Apple.

Roblox isn't immune from price gouging and scams and little seems to be done about it. The recommended tab shows multiple products with prices well over hundreds of dollars. Apple has run into similar issues on the App Store, like one developer charging $999 for an app called "I'm Rich" that did nothing.

Moderation and oversight
Since Roblox is heavily used by children, it has several systems to keep things safe. For example, the avatar creation tool prevents lewd objects from being submitted or inappropriate attire from being worn.

Systems like these are fully automated and aren't perfect — so players will have to report anything that slips through. For example, reports of "fascist playgrounds" and "virtual strip clubs" suggest that Roblox doesn't always catch, or understand, what should or shouldn't be allowed.

Live chat and IAP combine to make any parent worry
Live chat and in-app purchases combined can make any parent worry
When examining another player's profile, there will be a "report concern" button. This lets parents or players report any weird behavior, inappropriate messages, or other problems.

The game features live chats when in a minigame and private chats between players. There are filters to prevent sensitive content from being shared, like phone numbers, and cussing is not allowed. However, there is nothing to prevent players from sharing user names to other chat apps or meeting up on Discord.

There have been reports of child predators taking advantage of this, for example, by getting young players interested in a new world they are developing. Once the child moves the conversation to a third-party chat client, all protections disappear.

Reportedly, Roblox does little to protect users beyond banning an offending account, but the offender can make a new account and continue abuse without issue. Being banned doesn't prevent monetization either, since the abuser can transfer their developed games to other players before an imminent ban. Therefore, there is no consequence for abusive behavior.

Parents can restrict access to certain parts of the game using the security settings. In-game chat can be disabled, and parents can hide other profile information from here.

Beyond the game there lies an entirely different world populated by the developers themselves. These developers can be anyone over the age of 13 and tend to occupy spaces beyond Roblox for communication and coordination, often in Discord.

If your child decides to develop for Roblox to try and earn money, they may be recruited by a small team. These teams are often run by other children or young adults, and Roblox takes no responsibility for what transpires between these individuals. It is up to the parents to provide oversight and ensure their child is being treated fairly and being paid properly — if money is involved.

Roblox: the content platform
While building minigames and content is limited to developers, there's very little overhead to becoming a developer. All you need is a Mac or PC to install the free developer tool called Roblox Studio.

Roblox requires you to be over 13 years old to monetize content for the platform. Some level of competency is required to design and upload avatar items, and fundamental programming skills are needed to make minigames. The programming language used for Roblox Studio is called Lua 5.1.

Once you've uploaded something to the platform, even a simple shirt, you can monetize it, but you must have a premium subscription to do so. Once the object is sold from the catalog, the developer will take a cut of the revenue in Robux.

This game has its own in-game currency purchased with Robux.
This game has its own in-game currency purchased with Robux.
Social media influencers can take advantage of the Roblox platform since there are no restrictions against self-promotion. The minigame menus and launch screen can feature links to a creator's YouTube or other accounts. That means influencers can monetize via in-app purchases and sponsored ad viewership on YouTube.

As the platform has grown, so has the size of development studios making Roblox experiences. These large studios can have dozens of people working on one mini-game as a full-time job, and earn enough to live on. However, Roblox doesn't take any responsibility for how these studios operate or pay their developers.

Since the game is meant to attract children to code experiences, this often leads to teams of children working together to try and compete with the large studio. Some reports suggest that some development teams are taking advantage of the child developers by not paying them well, if at all. And since none of this is regulated by Roblox, your child may find themselves being bullied into performing demanding development work for little to no compensation.

Roblox: the company
Roblox was established in 2004 and has seen many iterations since. After a few bursts in popularity, it now boasts 9.5 million developers, 24 million experiences, and $761 million paid to the community devs.

The platform is available in 180 countries in 11 different languages. Roblox claims to have 32 million average daily active users.

The vertical integration of development, monetization, and social media influence has made Roblox a multi-billion dollar company. It went public on March 10, 2021, with a net worth of $45 billion.

Investors hope that Roblox can continue to grow after the pandemic ends
Investors hope that Roblox can continue to grow after the pandemic ends
Roblox will continue to grow as investors throw money at it and stock prices surge. As social media influencers saturate the experiences with YouTube links and in-app items, the game's revenue streams will grow.

That being said, children are fickle and can move on to the next popular thing without notice. Investors also need to consider that a lot of recent growth was brought on by the pandemic, which will soon be over. Roblox will need to prove it can grow in a post-pandemic world if it wants continued investment in the game.

As long as kids are interested, however, parents need to pay attention to the game. Set up parental controls within iOS to block in-app purchases, turn off in-game chat, and ensure the games your child is interested in aren't off-color or filled with rude players.

If your child is interested in developing Roblox experiences, discuss the issues with child labor, how income is earned, and what their goals are before they begin. Be sure to check in with them, and keep track of who they work with and if real money becomes involved.

Reports suggest that players and developers tend to keep quiet about issues due to internal politics. If a user is outed as a "snitch" or their reputation is tarnished, they may never be able to join a team or create one themselves in the future.

Payment controversy
In August 2021, Roblox came under fire for how it handled developers who made experiences for the game. A lengthy investigation posted to YouTube on August 19 by People Make games accused Roblox of being exploitative of developers in the system.

While Roblox offers developers the potential to earn revenue, in a similar way to Apple's App Store, the situation is much tougher for those creating Roblox experiences and expecting to get paid.

Part of the problem is how Roblox focuses payouts based on Robux, the in-game currency, rather than cash. This leads to the situation of developers being able to immediately spend their earnings within Roblox itself, so the earned funds never leave the platform.

Users earn very little when they cash out Robux
Users earn very little when they cash out Robux
The concept is likened to the company scrip used by mining firms in the 19th century, which would see mine operators provide a scrip to employees that could be paid at the company store, instead of currency. Workers would be warned off from any potential scrip-to-currency exchanges due to exchange fees taking some of the value away, leaving them with buying items from the company itself.

Along with in-game items, the currency is also usable to pay for advertising within the game. This service, again, is operated by Roblox itself.

In terms of how much Roblox pays out, developers earn just 35% of the value of Robux from a transaction, with it keeping 65%. By contrast, Apple takes its 30% fee at most, as does Steam, Microsoft's Xbox platform, and Sony, while Epic and Microsoft Windows game sales involve a 12% fee.

Roblox's own developer pages cites the high number of individual fees that are taken out as a cost of the transaction and operating the platform. This includes a 24% cut to app stores like Apple's own.

Unusually, one chart from June 2021 had Roblox saying it took a 26% share for itself, separate from the 9% it takes for "platform investment" and 14% for "platform hosting and support." In total, Roblox takes up to 49% of the value of a Robux transaction for itself.

The black market exists to avoid paying Roblox its fees
The black market exists to avoid paying Roblox its fees
Of course, the small amount of money earned from performing transactions and Robux exchanges on Roblox itself led to black markets being formed. Players, again often children, are guided to illegal websites that exist outside of the Roblox company's sight. Here they can put expensive items up for sale for much cheaper, thanks to lack of fees.

Users can also use the black markets to exchange Robux for cash or other items, again avoiding the requirements set by the company. It has been reported that these black markets have operated without interference for years. Allegedly, this is due to the fact that the Roblox economy relies heavily on these back-alley dealings.

Even though Roblox has been made aware of such illegal transactions, the only action the company allegedly takes is banning offending users. People Make Games reached out for comment from the company and didn't receive a direct answer to their inquiries.

Roblox is a publicly-traded company worth roughly $55 billion on the stock market, which is the same valuation given to Nintendo.

Updated on December 15, 2021 with information from People Make Games follow-up video.

Roblox currently makes substantial losses:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/roblox-doesnt-make-a-profit-right-now-but-ceo-is-optimistic-about-the-future/1100-6488683/

"Roblox brings in a lot of revenue, as the company made $923.9 million in 2020 (+82%), with active daily users climbing to an astonishing 32.6 million. However, Roblox Corp. does not make any money. The company posted a loss of $253.3 million in 2020, which was significantly worse than its loss of $71 million the year before."

Investors will be hoping that eventually they will grow/maintain their users the same way Minecraft has and lower their costs. Their biggest costs are paying developers to build for the platform and infrastructure:

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/video-games/roblox-embraced-indie-game-makers-become-30-billion-company-rcna385

"Roblox said in the latest update to its prospectus that it paid developers $328.7 million last year, up almost 200 percent from 2019. That far outpaced the company’s sales growth of 82 percent last year, when it booked $923.9 million in total revenue.
Roblox’s second-biggest expense, behind developer fees, is infrastructure, privacy and safety. Those costs jumped 69 percent last year to $264.2 million."

Because they have in-game chat and it involves kids, they have around 1,000 admins to check everything is ok for the millions of users. Some developers are making a lot of money building games on the platform, the couple mentioned in that article made $49k in a month. They were kids who started playing on the platform when they were younger and turned into developers, like these:

https://venturebeat.com/2017/07/21/the-deanbeat-robloxs-kid-developers-make-enough-robucks-to-pay-for-college/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8953063/Identical-twins-20-make-100-000-year-video-games.html

This is the kind of thing Apple Arcade could use but ideally much better quality than this:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNk6ITsIzWE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcXF-6V9p6I

These videos look crazy and they have millions of views. Kids are playing these games for hours and watching videos of other people playing on Youtube. It looks like a terrible game to play but I guess the creativity and social aspect of it is appealing to kids like the World of Warcraft MMO style gaming and Minecraft building.

It might never make a profit but early investors and founders will as well as the game developers and Youtubers and their stock price will be as meaningful as most of the other zero-profit companies that crop up these days.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/03/19/what-is-roblox---everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-latest-craze




Art 3: