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Roblox is a problem but it's a symptom of something worse

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Re: Roblox is a problem but it's a symptom of something worse

#311

Post by xg15 »

RyanHamilton wrote: post #267

This is a sympton of something worse. The bigger issue: Roblox isn’t the real problem, it’s filling the gap left by the disappearance of unstructured, unsupervised play in the physical world. Kids used to build worlds, take risks, and form friendships outdoors. Now many have no safe places to roam, no peers outside scheduled activities, and no cultural permission to be on their own. So they do all that in Roblox inst…

That sounds like a cheap attempt to deflect from tech's responsibility in that matter.

Decades ago, kids might have met in unsafe areas as well: maybe hang out in an abandoned building or whatever. But there wasn't yet a trillion dollar business deliberately creating abandoned buildings to hang out in.

Re: Roblox is a problem but it's a symptom of something worse

#312

Post by LtWorf »

jasonfarnon wrote: post #289
Etheryte wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an easy argument to make, but I don't think it actually applies in any way. Roblox is just as popular in countries where these things have not disappeared.

What countries do you have in mind?

sweden

Re: Roblox is a problem but it's a symptom of something worse

#313

Post by yieldcrv »

ngriffiths wrote: post #86
geephroh wrote: post #46

If you haven't listened to the interview[1], it's is absolutely bananas. Baszucki might want to think about dialing back on the ketamine a bit. 1. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/podcasts/hardfork-roblox-...

Am I the only one who was really underwhelmed? I saw that it was supposedly a very tense trainwreck situation and sure, it gets sarcastic and stuff, but most of it was Interviewer: "so I heard you were/are doing a bad job with moderation" CEO: repeats banal PR talking point for the 10th time Repeat. I mean, at no point did the CEO say anything interesting about the moderation problem or what they are doing. The inter…

"I thought we were going to be talking about something else, but I want to talk about anything you guys want"

doesn't talk about the thing they want

It is redundant and I don't think it is a trainwreck either

Re: Roblox is a problem but it's a symptom of something worse

#314

Post by defrost »

watwut wrote: post #305
RyanHamilton wrote: post #267

This is a sympton of something worse. The bigger issue: Roblox isn’t the real problem, it’s filling the gap left by the disappearance of unstructured, unsupervised play in the physical world. Kids used to build worlds, take risks, and form friendships outdoors. Now many have no safe places to roam, no peers outside scheduled activities, and no cultural permission to be on their own. So they do all that in Roblox inst…

Kids do not want to go outside. Even if parents want it and push for it, youtube, whatsapp, roblox, fortnite, whatever they have from steam is much more fun.

More accurately the kids you're aware of don't want to.

Where I am kids seem to love the outside, they're all over the plygrounds, they like driving quad bikes and tractors, they prefer to fly drones IRL under the sky than inside on a screen, they're still playing football and netball. Hitting a target at a thousand yards is still more fun IRL than not.

Our grandkids and their generation started welding, carpentry, glassblowing, metal casting etc. from five or so onwards, most are 13 to 16 now, still being forced to use paper maps to navigate, but allowed to collect track data on GPS recorders and overlay tat on GIS maps at night, etc.

Takes a bit of effort, the connection between real world interaction and reward has to be maintained, winding back network access to a quiet minimum helps.

Some will gravitate toward woodchopping for content rather than twitch streaming running about a virtual world.

Re: Roblox is a problem but it's a symptom of something worse

#315

Post by ch2026 »

crazydoggers wrote: post #287
ch2026 wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> admitting to contacting several kids a day for a year. Have you ever played online games? "Contacting several kids a day" is how internet chat works. I'm sure if it was up to you kids would only be able to play single player games and stay inside, god forbid they get struck by lightning or eaten by a polar bear. What do you want gaming to do? Have a checkbox where you swear you're not a pedophile or something? That…

Maybe watch the video. He wasn’t just chatting with them he was sexually abusing them online. He was using Roblox because they made it easy for him. Watch the video. Your hand waving away is the type of behavior that is complicit in allowing this type of abuse to continue. And this isn’t just about parents. In one breath you’ll complain about helicopter parents and the next you’ll say it’s the parent’s responsibility…

> is complicit in allowing this type of abuse to continue.

I'm complicit? Get fucked you piece of shit.

Re: Roblox is a problem but it's a symptom of something worse

#316

Post by endgame »

renjimen wrote: post #278
pupppet wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy this. Roblox like most games these days employ dark patterns to keep kids hooked, the real world can't compete with the online casino. We had Nintendo, but those games had an ending. Today's online games don't end.

It's both disappearing opportunities for physical play AND addictive platforms

And one feeds the other, in that it's hard to raise a kid who can play constructively outdoors if all of his friends are hooked on Roblox.

Re: Roblox is a problem but it's a symptom of something worse

#318

Post by zahlman »

roadside_picnic wrote: post #149
dimal wrote: post #90

Hmm. This was on the front page, generating lots of discussion. Now it’s hidden. What’s up HN? How is this not a relevant article here?

HN is heavily biased towards silencing any content that makes any subset of its readership uncomfortable. This policy exists under the mistaken (I hope) assumption that silence is not fundamentally biased, which is usually not the case. Posts about climate change, Israel/Palestine, uncomfortable concerns about the state of the industry etc will very often disappear quickly once they hit the home page. Of course silen…

> HN is heavily biased towards silencing any content that

... violates the guidelines, in particular:

> Be kind. Don't be snarky.

> Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

> Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.

> Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. It tramples curiosity.

> Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data.

Re: Roblox is a problem but it's a symptom of something worse

#319

Post by pupppet »

bradlys wrote: post #304
pupppet wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy this. Roblox like most games these days employ dark patterns to keep kids hooked, the real world can't compete with the online casino. We had Nintendo, but those games had an ending. Today's online games don't end.

As if arcade games weren’t money hungry and painfully punishing purely to get more quarters out of children.

Arcades got you out of the house, they had a communal aspect to them, you played games together. Those quarters were well spent!
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