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Roblox shares plummet 18% as child safety measures weigh on bookings

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Re: Roblox shares plummet 18% as child safety measures weigh on bookings

#91

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Insanity wrote: post #88
enceladus06 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but an 18yo can also buy a gun, get drafted into the military, and produce OF/porn. But no alcohol.

That’s just a US quirk. In many countries you can buy alcohol when you’re 18+. It’s odd that you can do everything but drink. Like you can go to work, drive home to your wife and kids, but can’t have a beer lol.

> That’s just a US quirk

My understanding is it’s because of car culture. Drunk-driving deaths drove up the drinking age [1].

[1] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Why-Is-the-US-Drinking-Age-...

Re: Roblox shares plummet 18% as child safety measures weigh on bookings

#92

Post by jredwards »

jjmarr wrote: post #31

The "child safety measures" was dividing the playerbase into age groups and banning almost all communication between them. The age groups are under 9, 9–12, 13–15, 16–17, 18–20, and 21+. Users only speak to other players ±1 age group, so 18-20 can speak to 16-17 or 21+. The problem is almost every game on Roblox is social and the matchmaking isn't mature enough to ensure players in a lobby can all communicate. My fav…

> But these measures were implemented poorly and needed to be paired with matchmaking to not destroy the platform.

As a parent, my experience in discussion with other parents is: "Don't ever let your child onto Roblox, it is utterly toxic and should be avoided at all costs."

From that perspective, I think most parents view the destruction of the platform as neutral to positive, and it suggests that the status quo would destroy the platform anyway.

Re: Roblox shares plummet 18% as child safety measures weigh on bookings

#93

Post by darth_avocado »

gizmondo wrote: post #20
darth_avocado wrote: post #7

Investors are hilarious. What’s better: more investment in child safety measures so that a company remains a long term product that parents allow their children on, or no safety measures to increase profit so that parents stop letting their kids be on the platform, thereby killing long term viability of the product? Quarterly thinking is the bane of the health of corporate America.

So are you buying Roblox hand over fist? Didn't think so. It's easy to talk big, it's hard to beat the supposedly stupid, myopic market.

Actually, myopic market has provided me plenty of opportunities and has served as a great wealth building force for myself.

But setting that aside, my perspective was mostly around capital allocation from investors. Yes on a personal level you can make more money by investing companies, hollowing them out for profit, and fleeing before the company fails, like a lot of PE does. But that isn’t necessarily a good thing for the company or for the investor themselves on a long enough time horizon.

Re: Roblox shares plummet 18% as child safety measures weigh on bookings

#94

Post by [deleted] »

jjmarr wrote: post #31

The "child safety measures" was dividing the playerbase into age groups and banning almost all communication between them. The age groups are under 9, 9–12, 13–15, 16–17, 18–20, and 21+. Users only speak to other players ±1 age group, so 18-20 can speak to 16-17 or 21+. The problem is almost every game on Roblox is social and the matchmaking isn't mature enough to ensure players in a lobby can all communicate. My fav…

[deleted]

Re: Roblox shares plummet 18% as child safety measures weigh on bookings

#95

Post by phatfish »

xp84 wrote: post #84
ryandrake wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Roblox is absolutely torching their platform, in many ways besides matchmaking and the age verification. Ask any kid who's grown up with the game. Players are leaving in droves and Roblox has become quite un-cool in the last six or so months.

As someone who dislikes predator havens that are combined with addictive dark patterns honed to maximize children begging parents for Robux (or just stealing parents’ credit cards to get it) I couldn’t be happier to see Roblox collapse. I’m sure what replaces it will be even worse though. :/

> I’m sure what replaces it will be even worse though. :/

Hopefully not, it feels like regulation is catching up with the child exploitation. Once the giant platforms are dismantled and can no longer bully governments it will be easier to keep the smaller ones in check.

And no, "dark web Roblox" isn't going to be a replacement. Not matter how much the existing exploiters try to make it a scare tactic.

Re: Roblox shares plummet 18% as child safety measures weigh on bookings

#96

Post by philipallstar »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #85
Fokamul wrote: post #16

Roblox is open buffet for pedos for YEARS. These corporations don't give a sh... Only thing you can do is to petition your lawmakers to ban whole platform. Safety measures will always be a joke. Open chat/voice chat, "Hi, connect to my discord" -> all safety measures bypassed. But at the end of the day, this a parenting problem.

It's a parenting problem and parents say they need help so... what next? HN tends to say nah, SOL, parent harder, never pass any laws you have no power because of privacy (money) or something.

It's not harder though. You have to do things to get your kid on Roblox. You have to do nothing to not get your kid on Roblox.

Re: Roblox shares plummet 18% as child safety measures weigh on bookings

#97

Post by philipallstar »

tailscaler2026 wrote: post #53
lostlogin wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have a look how Nintendo do it. Their communications between players was (is?) very limited.

Yeah Nintendo is the same as Disney Toontown 20 years ago. It makes it basically impossible to form social bonds. My bigger point is there are increasingly very few spaces for teenagers to socialize and interact (and at least in the US, very few offline), and what sort of long-term ramifications this is going to have. If the net outcome of this is kids return to playing outside and unfettered access to parks and neig…

What's heavily locked down?

Re: Roblox shares plummet 18% as child safety measures weigh on bookings

#98

Post by lostapathy »

jjmarr wrote: post #58
vintermann wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like a really counterproductive system. Usually in age verification, you prove that you're over a certain age. 9 year olds don't have very many ways to prove that they're 9 years old. What's stopping the creeps from pretending to be younger than they are?

They automatically assign you to an age group based on AI/guessing/face verification. If you've been assigned to an incorrect group, you need to do KYC verification with ID.

My 9 year old got verified as 21+ somehow. He obviously doesn’t have a photo id, so there is no way to verify him as a child. Support refused to help. The whole system is insane.

Re: Roblox shares plummet 18% as child safety measures weigh on bookings

#99

Post by [deleted] »

hluska wrote: post #64
jjmarr wrote: post #31

The "child safety measures" was dividing the playerbase into age groups and banning almost all communication between them. The age groups are under 9, 9–12, 13–15, 16–17, 18–20, and 21+. Users only speak to other players ±1 age group, so 18-20 can speak to 16-17 or 21+. The problem is almost every game on Roblox is social and the matchmaking isn't mature enough to ensure players in a lobby can all communicate. My fav…

Or perhaps you’ve aged out of a game that is primarily meant to be a place for children. The child safety measures make things more difficult for you because nobody wants you there. And it seems to be working as designed. Maybe it’s time to find a new game that’s more for your age group.

[deleted]
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