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The Roblox Microverse

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Re: The Roblox Microverse

#191

Post by Thorrez »

wnissen wrote: post #149
rkalla wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity (I have 2 that are into it) what did they 'get' by you relenting and allowing them to spend Robux? Is it just cosmetics or are there certain games/modes/experiences that are only available if you pay?

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…

There are some free hairs available:

https://www.roblox.com/catalog?Category=11&Subcategory=20&Cu...

https://www.roblox.com/catalog?Category=4&Subcategory=37&Cur...

Also you can just go bald for a LEGO-like look, which has always been my favorite.

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#192

Post by aidenn0 »

guidoism wrote: post #13

Roblox pisses me off so so much as a parent. There are some good games but it's mostly wading through an ocean of shit. And the vast majority of games that are popular are clickers that incentivize children to pay money to get more for each of their clicks. And it's full of scams. Kids spend $10 for a hat or something in the game and it doesn't end up working in all the games and there's no recourse. It's a true free…

I had never hear of Roblox before today, but this comment makes me want to introduce my kids to it. If they blow all of their savings on it now, when their savings is like $50-$100, the lesson learned could save them blowing thousands of dollars of savings on similar scams later in life.

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#193

Post by djaychela »

Kinrany wrote: post #56
djaychela wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree that the games are mostly crap... I have 4 step kids who game, and 3 do on roblox a lot. Some of the games may be objectively poor, but they enjoy playing in them anyway, and some of them are spectacular. I spent quite a few hours playing with them during the original UK lockdown,which was doubly good as I don't live with them so didn't see them for 3 months. In that time we "did" many things,including "go…

Can you link some examples? It's hard to navigate Roblox without participating in the social network-ish aspects.

"Roblox Ninja Warrior" - this was fun mostly because the kids could do the courses as they are better at moving than I am. However, they'd sometimes fall off, which is funnier.

"Famous Fashion" was funny - a theme is set and you have to dress up your character to suit, and then everyone votes. I thought I'd be bored in 5 minutes, played it for about 90.

"Universal Studios" was the theme park. Amazingly done.

"Pinewood Space Shuttle" was good fun - particularly if you fall off the shuttle while it's in orbit.

"Starcourt Mall" (Stranger Things) was nice to go there, as we've watched the series together.

"Ragdoll Engine" - as the name implies, just mucking about with the physics of your character.

"Epic Minigames" and "Lab Experiment" have small games in them and they were both pretty fun, plus you're playing against other people. I actually won a round, which the kids never expected, so I became a legend. For 38 seconds.

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#194

Post by chett »

alisonkisk wrote: post #161
chett wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had some fun with my son (age 7) writing python to beat one of the "clicking" games. I wrote the code but he thought my clicking app was like magic. https://automatetheboringstuff.com/chapter18/

Does that work on Chromebook?

Seems like you'd have to blaze a trail if it did - "The pyautogui module can send virtual keypresses and mouse clicks to Windows, OS X, and Linux. Depending on which operating system you’re using, you may have to install some other modules (called dependencies) before you can install PyAutoGUI."

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#195

Post by kitd »

rkalla wrote: post #115
kitd wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I made a hard "no Robux" rule I had that to start with, but now he's older and using the platform to interact with his friends (especially during lockdown), we have relented and now use Robux as incentives for doing chores etc.

Out of curiosity (I have 2 that are into it) what did they 'get' by you relenting and allowing them to spend Robux? Is it just cosmetics or are there certain games/modes/experiences that are only available if you pay?

Tbh I'm not 100% sure, but I think a bit of both. Given that for quite some time it was his primary means of communication with some of his friends, it felt unnecessarily restrictive not to let him join in fully with what they were up to.

Obviously any major expense was out of the question and he knows that, but seeing as they "run around" their Roblox worlds just like they might run around a playground or wood, it felt a fair compromise. And he learns about having to work for a reward in the process.

ed: I should say I believe there are public groups on Roblox that you have to pay Robux to join. He's not allowed that.

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#196

Post by rlonn »

MikeUt wrote: post #179
crooked-v wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Which Europe was that, and did you live among humans at the time?

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#197

Post by twic »

deelowe wrote: post #16
webwielder2 wrote: post #8

Totally ignorant perspective with perhaps no basis: Seems like Roblox must be successful despite its games, not because. I'm sure there are gems as there are with any user-generated platform, but surely most of the 18 million games are about what you used to get on Xbox Live Indie Games: sloppy little experiments made by, well, kids.

When I watched my kids play Roblox, I realized it is a social media platform that happens to use games as the medium. Roblox shouldn't be compared to Games Platforms any more so than early YouTube should be compared to Television.

A colleague's kids use Fortnite this way. It's a place to hang out where you can also do stuff.

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#198

Post by twic »

> Step 0 — Pre-Internet: The primary way to distribute video games was on consoles, which were controlled by the console makers; computer gaming was more open, but still required significant distribution capabilities. This was the newspaper era of video game publishing.

Makes you think - what if someone had figured out a way to run games on PCs? Or even on those 8-bit micros we all had back in the day.

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#199

Post by sjg007 »

wnissen wrote: post #149
rkalla wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity (I have 2 that are into it) what did they 'get' by you relenting and allowing them to spend Robux? Is it just cosmetics or are there certain games/modes/experiences that are only available if you pay?

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…

You can also pay for a private server too with robux. My kids earn robux if they do chores or read a book etc... Right now it is a good positive reinforcement reward system.

Re: The Roblox Microverse

#200

Post by sjg007 »

SteveCoast wrote: post #156
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…

I've noticed the $0 thing too, plus the enormous amounts of "stolen" IP in the games - assets, music, entire games...

The remixing makes it fun. There is a lot of creativity inside roblox and extends into youtube too.
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