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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

#51

Post by dylan604 »

fragmede wrote: post #41
hrimfaxi wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our parents had problems figuring out how to program the time on the VCR. Technology advances faster than parents can keep up. If someone was selling drugs on the street on the way to school, would we be blaming parents who let their kids walk to school that they should parent better, or would we deal with the drug dealer?

If we think a drug dealer on the way to school is a good analogy, I have to ask; many someones went into a school with guns and shot children. How did we deal with that?

> How did we deal with that?

We haven't. It keeps happening. Now what?

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

#52

Post by api »

I’ve come to see this as a general rule: trash maximizes engagement.

By trash I basically mean either porn or gambling. By porn I don’t just mean the sexual kind but also political rage porn, etc. By gambling I mean anything that exploits the kinds of dopamine hooks that a slot machine exploits. There are many variations of these things but those are the basic forms.

Those are the kinds of things you get if you optimize for engagement.

You also get more predators and trolls because those are the kinds of people who create the most engaging content.

This isn’t new. It’s been known since mass media was invented. “If it bleeds it leads,” the P.T. Barnum principle of “any publicity is good publicity,” and so on.

What I think is new is the degree of individualized hyper optimization two way digital platforms allow. They let us turn this so far up that apps on a little pocket computer can start rivaling cigarettes for addictive qualities and psychological harm.

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

#53

Post by recursive »

tjungblut wrote: post #15

I'll probably get DV to oblivion for this, but I have to constantly wonder where those parents come from that need to forbid their children to roam freely on the internet. Didn't they grow up in an age unrestricted web either? By now we must have two generations of unhinged children grown up with unsafe World of Warcraft, MSN, Whatsapp and ICQ. Oh and the p0rn... I mean, seriously, do you guys have nothing else to do…

The internet used to be that forest on the edge of town. Once in a while you might find some drug paraphernalia there. Now it's the Las Vegas strip with billboards for hookers and blow.

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

#54

Post by iteria »

tjungblut wrote: post #15

I'll probably get DV to oblivion for this, but I have to constantly wonder where those parents come from that need to forbid their children to roam freely on the internet. Didn't they grow up in an age unrestricted web either? By now we must have two generations of unhinged children grown up with unsafe World of Warcraft, MSN, Whatsapp and ICQ. Oh and the p0rn... I mean, seriously, do you guys have nothing else to do…

Here's the thing, my parents did forbid me: by denying me access. Kids have way, way more access to the internet than I ever did. When I was a kid, the only computer was in a communal area ans needed explicit permission by virtue of mandating that no one be using the phone. And then when I was older and we had broadband, it was still banned by virtue that my parents didn't think it was great for me to spend all my time on the computer.

My kid on the other hand, has orders of magnitude more exposure to the internet than I did. And it's far more private. Any chat I had with anyone was viewable by my parents by simply walking into the room. My kid has a private device she has 24/7 access too. The calculus is so much different and I say this as someone who is fairly lax in home much screen time my kid has and what she is allowed to view.

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

#55

Post by Spivak »

acedTrex wrote: post #39
bmurphy1976 wrote: post #6

It's a nightmare managing all this stuff. Roblox, Minecraft, Meta Quest services, Fortnite, the list goes on and on. These companies are not helping us either. Thankfully my son and his friends have somehow iterated away from Fortnite. It's no longer cool so they just stopped playing it. That's one less thing I have to worry about.

Whats wrong with Minecraft, that seems like an odd inclusion in the list?

There is Minecraft the standalone game that you play either by yourself or on a private server with friends you know IRL. That's totally fine.

Then there is the wider Minecraft community based on a constellation of public and semi-public servers. This is a lot more like Roblox.

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

#56

Post by nsilvestri »

wslh wrote: post #11

I want to share a small story a close friend told me. His son is eleven. Every Saturday he goes to tennis class. He's good at it, sure, but the important part is that he loves it. One Saturday, though, he refused to go. Why? Because there was a special Roblox event happening at the same time. His father tried reasoning with him, the kid, agrees, a bit reluctantly. But when the father walks into the bar, he sees a doz…

How dare this child be excited for a special event in his game!

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

#57

Post by dave_sid »

worldsavior wrote: post #40
bmurphy1976 wrote: post #6

It's a nightmare managing all this stuff. Roblox, Minecraft, Meta Quest services, Fortnite, the list goes on and on. These companies are not helping us either. Thankfully my son and his friends have somehow iterated away from Fortnite. It's no longer cool so they just stopped playing it. That's one less thing I have to worry about.

Thankfully? Why don't you just forbid him to play Fortnite? Sounds like your son doesn't listen to you, and that's a problem.

Victorian Dad is on HN

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

#58

Post by mock-possum »

acedTrex wrote: post #39
bmurphy1976 wrote: post #6

It's a nightmare managing all this stuff. Roblox, Minecraft, Meta Quest services, Fortnite, the list goes on and on. These companies are not helping us either. Thankfully my son and his friends have somehow iterated away from Fortnite. It's no longer cool so they just stopped playing it. That's one less thing I have to worry about.

Whats wrong with Minecraft, that seems like an odd inclusion in the list?

just another surface for predators to access underage targets. I guess one thing with Minecraft specifically is there’s a veneer of positive / educational content to smuggle that access beneath - schools have lessons that include Minecraft play, you don’t get that with Fortnite or Roblox, so it seems more ‘innocent.’

Fortnite is about killing eachother, Roblox is about literally anything, Minecraft is about… well, mining and crafting, mostly.

But really, with mods, it can be just as ‘anything’ as Roblox, only with possibly less scrutiny.

Idk. I love Minecraft, for the record. It’s just the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the popular online game that provides access to kids gets the creeps.

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

#59

Post by api »

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-...

I do legit wonder about K abuse in this whole crowd.

Anyone hear any excerpts from Thiel’s Antichrist lectures? I’ve never been on the same page as him politically but this wasn’t “wow I really disagree” material. This was “are you… okay, man?” material. It was just askew and bizarre. I’m not a big Thunberg fan either but I cannot replicate the thought process that would lead to mentioning her as a potential Antichrist prototype. And that wasn’t even the weirdest thing, just the easiest to explain.

One thing I learned way back in college: if someone seems like they are on drugs, they may be on drugs.

Either that or these guys are in some weird echo chambers.

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

#60

Post by wslh »

smelendez wrote: post #36
wslh wrote: post #11

I want to share a small story a close friend told me. His son is eleven. Every Saturday he goes to tennis class. He's good at it, sure, but the important part is that he loves it. One Saturday, though, he refused to go. Why? Because there was a special Roblox event happening at the same time. His father tried reasoning with him, the kid, agrees, a bit reluctantly. But when the father walks into the bar, he sees a doz…

Adults definitely do this too. I bet adult tennis instructors get a lot of cancellations on Super Bowl Sunday. In certain circles, you're going to have a hard time scheduling a screen-free dinner party on Oscar night, or opposite the finale of a hit TV show.

Isn't it obvious that you mention discrete events when, now, depending on the number of apps and online presence there is a virtually continuous set of events?
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