An 11 year old is having trouble earning a living as an independent game developer?
Roblox faces criticism for 'exploiting' young game developers
101–110 of 227 posts
Re: Roblox faces criticism for 'exploiting' young game developers
#102See Carmack's rebuttal: https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1428483898896535562 > I have been impressed by the number of real world economic and business issues that Roblox is exposing my younger son to, both in the experiences and the larger ecosystem. There is a lot of thinking in terms of effort, reward, and risk. "You seem to be ignoring the thesis of the video. For the vast majority of their creators, their…
Carmack being a prolific game developer doesn't mean that he has special insight into any other issue, like corporations economically exploiting children. He may have a point, but him being 'legendary' doesn't make his arguments any better (or worse).
I think him being a father gives him special insight into that issue. Most fathers are keenly aware when their children are being taken advantage of.
Most parents on this HN thread seem to agree.
Re: Roblox faces criticism for 'exploiting' young game developers
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of these kids are just sharing games with their friends... like posting a video to youtube. Free content maybe, but not free labor exactly IMO.
It's labor regardless of how much money you make off of it, though I think maybe you mean that they're little games that aren't the result of much effort?
Is YouTube getting free labor when I upload a video?
I feel like the exchange there is not about labor...
Re: Roblox faces criticism for 'exploiting' young game developers
#104>Second, there’s the matter of how extensively Robux (Roblox’s in-app currency) are used to navigate the creator economy. Roblox creators are paid first by receiving a cut of Robux that comes from the sale, which they can use to purchase other Roblox experiences, in-game assets, cosmetics, etc. That means once a developer enters the Robux economy, their money is all spent inside the Roblox system until they’re able t…
> But to withdraw it, they need to have raked in roughly $1,000 worth of Robux
You can thank modern accrual accounting for this.
Roblox will be allowed to move money from liability to revenue based on a schedule using some sort of historical trends supporting the method. The higher the threshold, the higher their liability but also the more money that goes back to them long-term.
Re: Roblox faces criticism for 'exploiting' young game developers
#105See Carmack's rebuttal: https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1428483898896535562 > I have been impressed by the number of real world economic and business issues that Roblox is exposing my younger son to, both in the experiences and the larger ecosystem. There is a lot of thinking in terms of effort, reward, and risk. "You seem to be ignoring the thesis of the video. For the vast majority of their creators, their…
> If the most legendary game developer of all time thinks Roblox is fine, are you sure he's mistaken?
Isn't this an argument from authority? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority
Furthermore, the video made the argument that Roblox tries to mislead kids into thinking they can make money. In other words, an individual might be wrong in thinking the opportunities are worth investing time in due to the manipulative practices of Roblox.
Re: Roblox faces criticism for 'exploiting' young game developers
#106This probably is exploitative at some level. Although for my son, he has made a handful of very low budget games. And he's gotten paid in Robux for them. He was actually pleasantly surprised when he got his first payout. Probably the equivalent of a few dollars.
While he can't cash out his Robux, it turns out not to be so bad for him since he likes Robux. On his last birthday his biggest as was for Robux.
As far as gaming development platforms, it is probably the best I've used. I'm not a pro game developer, so I've used simple stuff like Unity. But I have found Roblox to be a really easy platform to get started with.
Re: Roblox faces criticism for 'exploiting' young game developers
#107they should all go to sandbox.
https://www.sandbox.game/en/
Play, Create, Own, and Govern a virtual world made by players
Re: Roblox faces criticism for 'exploiting' young game developers
#108>Second, there’s the matter of how extensively Robux (Roblox’s in-app currency) are used to navigate the creator economy. Roblox creators are paid first by receiving a cut of Robux that comes from the sale, which they can use to purchase other Roblox experiences, in-game assets, cosmetics, etc. That means once a developer enters the Robux economy, their money is all spent inside the Roblox system until they’re able t…
> But to withdraw it, they need to have raked in roughly $1,000 worth of Robux. It's even worse than that. They sell robux at one rate and cash them out for developers at a very different rate. That $1,000 worth of Robux becomes $350 when you go to extract it. So they're taking cuts twice, once on the actual sale and again whenever you try to turn it into real money instead of their scrip.
That is insane. How are they even getting away with such a scheme? Did they start out at a 1:1 ratio and change it once network effects and lock-in happened.
Re: Roblox faces criticism for 'exploiting' young game developers
#109See Carmack's rebuttal: https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1428483898896535562 > I have been impressed by the number of real world economic and business issues that Roblox is exposing my younger son to, both in the experiences and the larger ecosystem. There is a lot of thinking in terms of effort, reward, and risk. "You seem to be ignoring the thesis of the video. For the vast majority of their creators, their…
> If the most legendary game developer of all time thinks Roblox is fine, are you sure he's mistaken? Isn't this an argument from authority? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority Furthermore, the video made the argument that Roblox tries to mislead kids into thinking they can make money. In other words, an individual might be wrong in thinking the opportunities are worth investing time in due to the m…
It is. And you're right to be skeptical of such arguments.
But such arguments also happen all the time. For example, if you join a company as a junior developer, most people would trust an existing senior developer.
I was about to write "I think it's fine to mislead kids into thinking they can make money." Then I reconsidered.
After reconsidering, I think it's fine to mislead kids into thinking they can make money. Lemonade stands and lawnmowing for neighbors are examples of this. They may make a little bit, but unless they're exceptionally lucky, no one would be under any illusions that it would become their full time profession.
Re: Roblox faces criticism for 'exploiting' young game developers
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But to withdraw it, they need to have raked in roughly $1,000 worth of Robux. It's even worse than that. They sell robux at one rate and cash them out for developers at a very different rate. That $1,000 worth of Robux becomes $350 when you go to extract it. So they're taking cuts twice, once on the actual sale and again whenever you try to turn it into real money instead of their scrip.
That is insane. How are they even getting away with such a scheme? Did they start out at a 1:1 ratio and change it once network effects and lock-in happened.
They get away with it because it's all kids that doesn't know any better.