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The Roblox Microverse

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Re: The Roblox Microverse

#171

Post by xen2xen1 »

mmkos wrote: post #52
juskrey wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My daughter have asked me several times if I can spend at least something because other children somehow see she is not a paying user and segregate on that basis

Wow, if it's true then that's such a vile design, particularly for a game designed for children. However, I'm more inclined to believe that it's just something your daughter may have said to convince you to buy something.

No evil intent is needed. You think an 8 year old won't point out that they're "better" all on their own just because they have something another child hasn't?

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#172

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

inthewoods wrote: post #155
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #95

> In short, Roblox isn’t a game at all: it is world in which one of the things you can do is play games, with a persistent identity, persistent set of friends, persistent money, all disconnected from the device that you use to access the world. That is the transformational change. Second Life, The Sims Online. We’ve been here before. Those platforms didn’t nail it like Roblox, but Roblox did not transform anything.

Honest question (not a gamer) - did any of those platforms allow 3rd parties to develop games on their platforms?

Second Life

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#173

Post by mastazi »

alisonkisk wrote: post #160
wnissen wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of it is relatively benign cosmetic items for your avatar, like Fortnite. There is definitely a stigma associated with having "bacon hair" which is the default. Or the ability to play on a server with just your friends. Other times it is a shortcut to stuff that you could get by grinding. $5 gets you twice the XP (experience points) so you can unlock new weapons, levels, etc. Individual games sometimes take this…

Stigma? For not spending money? For me that's an instant cancel of the account and introduce my kid to a better class of friendsm

I'm over 40 and stigma for not spending money was also a thing when I was a kid. I still remember discussions about who had the trendiest school backpack. I'm not saying that it's a good thing, just noticing that it would still be there even if you took a "no videogames" stance.

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#174

Post by mastazi »

alisonkisk wrote: post #159
unfocused wrote: post #144

Interesting. I just talked to the experts - my 7 year old and 9 year old. They play Roblox sitting side by side on the couch, right beside me. They spend $0 and I just asked them, are you looking to buy anything, and they said "No" you don't need to, but they do know a kid who has spent $100 and is addicted to it (their words, not mine...could be exagerated). Then again, the 9 year old also has a steam account, and t…

Isn't "playing roblox" like "playing iPhone"? It's not a game, it's a whole platform/ecosystem.

> It's not a game, it's a whole platform/ecosystem.

It is and it isn't, that's one of the points the linked article is trying to make, yes, it's an ecosystem but, at the same time, it's highly consistent because many aspects such as assets/mechanics/moderation/currency etc. are consistent across all games. In fact they are so consistent that you can immediately identify a game as being a "Roblox game" in the same way that Skyblock or Bed Wars[1] are clearly "Minecraft games" (I made this comparison because most people think of Minecraft as a single game, not as an ecosystem).

[1] In case you don't know what those are, they are "minigames" that run on modified Minecraft servers, many features of "vanilla Minecraft" are retained but the game mechanics are modified heavily, here is a link with more info: https://hypixel.net/play/#games

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#175

Post by an_opabinia »

vidarh wrote: post #121
an_opabinia wrote: post #10

Roblox games are really clunky to make on PCs, let alone phones. You'll never be able to make one on a phone. It's crazy clunky. A third person character running around with virtual joysticks: so clunky. Roblox has been around longer than smartphones have, it has always been a port, much like Minecraft. Which sure, kids play. Roblox is probably setting back the arrival of the metaverse, not advancing it. Whatever tha…

We have Disney+ and Roblox, and my son has hardly any interest in Disney+. It wasn't because of him we got Disney+. Meanwhile my sons pocket money gets split between V-bucks for Fortnite and Robux, because that is what he wants to spend money on. He could've funded that Disney+ subscription several times over with what he spends on Robux. I think the things he buys are idiotic, but here's the thing: Over several year…

I don't know. Roblox isn't like, the Grateful Dead, the Super Mario of our time. It's hard not to sound like an ass, but its games will feel as culturally irrelevant today as all but one or two Warcraft 3 Custom Maps feel today. Trust me, you're not wrong, it's idiotic.

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#176

Post by ManifestTendy »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #135
EamonnMR wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had a professor who held office hours in second life.

I almost worked for a startup whose goal was to offer MS PowerPoint and Excel in Second Life ... for presentations

I'm curious where I too could run into such exciting opportunities

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#177

Post by geomark »

damontal wrote: post #125

If you’re a parent with a kid that plays Roblox make sure you lock your account down. Creating an account in the iOS app doesn’t require an associated email address. If your kid somehow forgets their password you might not be able to reset it without an associated email address. If their account gets stolen which happened to my daughter and you don’t have an associated email address it can be a real headache to unloc…

I'm interested in how you got the account back. My kid lost access to the email address on the account. It wasn't stolen, it was a school email address at an old school. Replies from Roblox support have been very slow and not helpful - just instructions on how to recover using the email on the account (as if they never read the original support request).

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#178

Post by _carbyau_ »

crooked-v wrote: post #168
alisonkisk wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stigma? For not spending money? For me that's an instant cancel of the account and introduce my kid to a better class of friendsm

This may shock you, but kids do exactly the same kind of thing in regards to clothes, food, and even inanities like brands of pens and pencils.

Hell, when it comes to social signalling via "stuff" much of society does this.

Doesn't make it right though.

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#179

Post by MikeUt »

crooked-v wrote: post #168
alisonkisk wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stigma? For not spending money? For me that's an instant cancel of the account and introduce my kid to a better class of friendsm

This may shock you, but kids do exactly the same kind of thing in regards to clothes, food, and even inanities like brands of pens and pencils.

That was not the case during my childhood in Europe.

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#180

Post by _carbyau_ »

xen2xen1 wrote: post #171
mmkos wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, if it's true then that's such a vile design, particularly for a game designed for children. However, I'm more inclined to believe that it's just something your daughter may have said to convince you to buy something.

No evil intent is needed. You think an 8 year old won't point out that they're "better" all on their own just because they have something another child hasn't?

Plenty of adults do this too.

Doesn't make it right though.

iPhone vs Android, Mac vs PC, Car vs Car, sportsballer vs sportsballer... so inane.

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