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Roblox hits 100M monthly active users, bigger than Minecraft

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Re: Roblox hits 100M monthly active users, bigger than Minecraft

#71

Post by thethirdone »

erklik wrote: post #46
ghostcluster wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like this type of brain-dead simple feature -- frictionless joining of gameplay servers from a friends list -- would be something Mojang should consider adding to up their engagement. Minecraft is interesting because, according to Google Trends, it had finally been slowly dying out in terms of search volume for years.. ( https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=minecraf... )... until a few weeks ago!…

Minecraft as a game has never progressed from where it started. There is nothing new in it (new items, new structures etc don't count, they provide the same experience, just colored differently) while a game like Terreria is done so well with fantastically structured gameplay and progression. After you've gotten to a certain level in Minecraft, the game becomes pointless.

> Minecraft as a game has never progressed from where it started. ... Terreria is done so well with fantastically structured gameplay and progression.

I would say minecraft has progressed much more than Terraria. Minecraft started as a building only game. It then added survival elements and redstone which add two entirely new ways to play.

I didn't play Terraria in its early days, but it seems like the content added is in the form of new items, bosses and areas rather than entirely new concepts.

Re: Roblox hits 100M monthly active users, bigger than Minecraft

#72

Post by fencepost »

integrii wrote: post #29

Both of my kids played a lot of Roblox until we banned it. They easily became obsessed and were violent when removed, even with a tightly controlled schedule. They would try to connect to offer WiFi networks to get access and would steal our phones to get access. We ended up having to detox them like it was a drug. Beyond that we found that the openly mod-able nature of the game allowed some remarkably disgusting 3D…

I used to play some Minecraft on servers, and while most players are great you end up with a few toxic ones. A lot of how this is handled comes down to who's running the server and how they handle administration and policies. No clue how Roblox works and whether it has the same kind of independent server community.

Still I made it a point to make it clear that I was not a kid and there was no way I was getting into non-group chats with anyone. The only people I ever ended up on any kind of chat with (Skype, then Discord) were the relatively tight group that I was playing with, most of whom were college-age or a bit older. We pretty much dominated that server until most of us lost interest and drifted away due to the real world.

Re: Roblox hits 100M monthly active users, bigger than Minecraft

#73

Post by mastazi »

xrd wrote: post #51

I'm reading all the threads here and wonder: is there a similar type of game that is safe for kids to use? I'd love to have the collaborating with other kids to build things, but I'm deeply concerned about the predatory aspects other parents are describing here. Is there an open source version of Roblox or Minecraft that you can run on your own server and only invite known people (neighbors, friends, etc.) to play on…

Minecraft:

You can run a Minecraft server on your own hardware (for free) [1], or pay for "Minecraft Realms" which is a cloud based server managed directly by Mojang [2]. There are also 3rd party hosting offerings [3]. It should also be mentioned that the Minecraft client has an "Open to LAN" button so you can play over LAN without even running any Minecraft server.

Roblox:

You can create your own game using Roblox Studio[4] and make it private (for free) or you can pay for a VIP Server [5] which allows you to play participating games on a private server.

Minetest:

There is also an open source Minecraft-like game called Minetest [6], it is possible to run a Minetest server on your own hardware[7].

[1] https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server/

[2] https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/realms/

[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/1vawah/whats_the...

[4] https://www.roblox.com/create

[5] https://developer.roblox.com/en-us/articles/Creating-a-VIP-S...

[6] https://www.minetest.net/

[7] https://wiki.minetest.net/Setting_up_a_server

Re: Roblox hits 100M monthly active users, bigger than Minecraft

#74

Post by mhh__ »

kimberlythomp99 wrote: post #34
integrii wrote: post #29

Both of my kids played a lot of Roblox until we banned it. They easily became obsessed and were violent when removed, even with a tightly controlled schedule. They would try to connect to offer WiFi networks to get access and would steal our phones to get access. We ended up having to detox them like it was a drug. Beyond that we found that the openly mod-able nature of the game allowed some remarkably disgusting 3D…

Video games can have a very similar reaction on the brain as drugs in the release of dopamine. This is my biggest fear raising my kids in this technology driven age.

As do food, love, sex etc.

Some video games are worse than others but I think the video games themselves are more of a symptom than a root cause.

Re: Roblox hits 100M monthly active users, bigger than Minecraft

#75

Post by mhh__ »

xrd wrote: post #51

I'm reading all the threads here and wonder: is there a similar type of game that is safe for kids to use? I'd love to have the collaborating with other kids to build things, but I'm deeply concerned about the predatory aspects other parents are describing here. Is there an open source version of Roblox or Minecraft that you can run on your own server and only invite known people (neighbors, friends, etc.) to play on…

You can get a free Minecraft server online fairly easily, with whitelisting.

Re: Roblox hits 100M monthly active users, bigger than Minecraft

#76

Post by skwog »

As a Roblox programmer (Builder’s Club) scripting a game, the draw of addressing this huge user base by way of simply coding Lua scripts to release a product that invites In App Purchase is downright tempting!

Then you discover the apparently wide spread client side hacking (speed, teleport, aim bots... you name it) and content theft (models, geometry, Localscripts) and pervasive scam attempts so frequently reported. But that’s the internet, and the cost of doing business, right?

After some success (proof of concept stage) building an unreleased game, I started to notice pitfalls and inconsistencies in the developer docs, including lack of documentation for methods and properties specifically out as recommended or best practice approaches.

Chunks of the docs would suddenly disappear for days or weeks with no notice and no explanation and may or may not reappear after some time. Didn’t see any change logs that I could find.

And then one day this summer I could not access the developer docs site at all, from any of my devices on different ISP connections. After proding around, I realized this was only occurring on Safari (Mac and iOS). Too many redirects (for Tracking)! Apparently Safari had gained additional privacy checking after an update.

Got me thinking, if it’s the case that Apple effectively doesn’t trust the techniques used by Roblox to add tracking to their developer documentation site, is this effort something I want to continue pursuing?

Which segues to the question:

Given the active user base and gross cash flow of Roblox, how do you now frame the new ARKit, RealityKit, Composer, and SwiftUI announcements from WWDC?

Re: Roblox hits 100M monthly active users, bigger than Minecraft

#77

Post by shultays »

rdtsc wrote: post #69
ekc wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>They easily became obsessed and were violent when removed, even with a tightly controlled schedule. They would try to connect to offer WiFi networks to get access and would steal our phones to get access. Is that not a sign of bad parenting?

> Is that not a sign of bad parenting? That seems a bit harsh. OP shared a story about their family, it doesn't seem fair to accuse them of bad parenting just based on that story. They said they banned the game, to resolve the problem. That's a sign of good parenting perhaps. But without context it's hard to say. > They would try to connect to offer WiFi networks to get access and would steal our phones to get access…

Wouldn't say too harsh. You can't really explain kids why their most favorite thing ever is not a good thing for them, I can't see any other other than banning. And it looks like the correct decision if what op says is true (kids are highly addicted and gets aggravated over it. and it has scammers and sexual predators)

Re: Roblox hits 100M monthly active users, bigger than Minecraft

#78

Post by mmanfrin »

orliesaurus wrote: post #53

Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft are the new social networks right? Well when I was 15 and we used to play Counter Strike and Quake 3 the "social network" was hanging out on servers with maps just chatting and walking around the map aimlessly or just hanging out on IRC. So I can totally relate to how kids nowadays are going back to this sorta hangout. Text only can be boring (kinda like IRC for many people who couldn't to…

> Well when I was 15 and we used to play Counter Strike and Quake 3 the "social network" was hanging out on servers with maps just chatting and walking around the map aimlessly or just hanging out on IRC

I miss this terribly. I remember hanging out in a set of TF2 servers, playing Spy and contributing nothing to the team other than taking out engies, and listening to the regulars chat on alltalk.

Re: Roblox hits 100M monthly active users, bigger than Minecraft

#79

Post by techntoke »

mastazi wrote: post #15
t0astbread wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how it compares but Minetest is always a thing

Thank you for mentioning Minetest, I didn't know it existed!

I tried it, but unfortunately it is no where close to Minecraft. Crafting items is a pain from what I can tell, unless I'm just not recognizing some shortcuts.

Re: Roblox hits 100M monthly active users, bigger than Minecraft

#80

Post by mstade »

orliesaurus wrote: post #53

Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft are the new social networks right? Well when I was 15 and we used to play Counter Strike and Quake 3 the "social network" was hanging out on servers with maps just chatting and walking around the map aimlessly or just hanging out on IRC. So I can totally relate to how kids nowadays are going back to this sorta hangout. Text only can be boring (kinda like IRC for many people who couldn't to…

Oh yeah, we'd spend hours in Quake – 1, 2, and 3 – just doing rocket jumps and other acrobatics to see who could do the most insane stunts. Good times!
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