I was vaguely aware that shit like this happened in these game but reading the exact mechanisms was gut wrenching.
The c-suite for this game should be summarily executed.
Ah, they use political propaganda too. One of the most popular games incited a "bias" (best way to say that as manufacturing consent doesn't particularly fit) in one of their most popular games by removing all pay to win features and currency as well as related options and gave everyone equal payments in "worthless currency" and called it socialism.
The game is Bloxburg, I believe. They released popular character items (or sponsored, can't remember) with "We want anti-communism". Reminder that they are imprinting this on young children and have levers/mechanisms in public schools.
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I remember the bloxblurg schtick, the kids who paid for it started building gated communities after the game became free
Removing pay to win is nothin but a good thing. Fuck gambling, fuck whales, and fuck pay to win.
I totally agree. The shitty thing is that they did it only to make kids want it again and drive home a political point and then reinstated it.
Straight up political influencing on kids.
It's a plague. So many of my students play it, and it's very hard to compete with it in terms of appealing to young children. Their business model for content makes Roblox a theme park of free games for kids who don't need to go to mum and dad for money or installation permission every time they want to try something new.
I honestly feel like this sort of thing will continue to happen so long as children want to play online and with each other, since moderating is expensive (and therefore not prioritized) and curtailimg completely the ability to communicate gets rid of a big reason kids like playing it.
That one QAA ep about the Roblox right was nuts. I grew up on Halo 2/3, Team Fortress 2, and Garry’s Mod so my brain is straight boiled but it’s not quite anything on this level.
Not prioritizing moderation and not locking down chat for anyone under a certain age is inexcusable. But when I see articles like this and see the law enforcement interviews I can't help but smell a planted article to push for pulling back section 230 protections.
What that won't do is hold big companies truly accountable. What it will do is push piracy, anti-imperialism, anti-racism, anti-zionism, anything that goes against the mainstream narrative and could get companies even conceivably in trouble for hosting it (and I'm not talking just about reddit type hosting in that they provide the code, front-end, etc but any type of hosting including companies that host this lemmy instance) will lead to massive crack-downs on anything outside the mainstream. Which means us. Which means anti-imperialist speech, which means speech against the genocide of Palestinians, etc. Meanwhile take-downs for violent rhetoric from the reactionaries will as usually be untouched or left up a suspiciously long time before being pulled down.
Companies will pre-censor because right now they only get in trouble for not acting in a reasonable timeframe upon notice, if you lose that there is a strong incentive to vet and hit anything that anyone, even a bunch of online Nazi goons crying about commies who are terrorists without further evidence as reason to just stop doing business with that person or group and deplatform them immediately. The powerful will get a second chance and appeal, the powerless will be given the finger.
The problem as usual is capitalism and capitalists and their corporations. The solution as usual under capital we're told we should believe and accept is strip everyone of their rights, further entrench the security state, pass enabling laws to allow better suppression of content that the state finds harmful and after a short period of success basically ignore the original stated reason for passing such things.
Capitalism cannot handle keeping kids safe. Capitalism is a pedophilia loving, pedophile enabling system.
There seems to be a huge lack of parents taking responsibility for keeping an eye on their kids or teaching them online safety.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-roblox-exploits-children-w-quintin-smith/id1507621076?i=1000547080283
Tech Won't Save Us did a great episode about Roblox as a digital sweatshop.
can i suggest amanita design games, like all of it. they make amazing games which can be played and enjoyed by any age group. so far we have played machinarium, chuchel, samorost 3 and creaks. they're all greaat.
i know they're not online multiplayer games but any kid will love their games.
Their games are great but honestly the lack of good games for children is not the problem here. I don't know what the cause behind it is but games like Roblox and Fortnite have spread bubonic plague in the collective consciousness of children. I wish there was some research or investigation into it because it is not just because these games are "good" or "fun". Their marketing budgets going in tens of millions of dollars but there must be other reasons too.
It's not that simple, but the crux of it is that it's a type of gambling. You get given a huge community catering to different interests with relative anonymity at a young age. The institutions and programs of this community constantly demand their own scrip and offers that scrip via paid membership per month as well as benefits in the community. You play games that can offer more of that scrip; while sinking your scrip deeper into those games that give diminishing returns. (Sometimes you get lucky or others are generous) It's no different than any brutally predatory pay2win game except it has a sort of Second Life twist to it in the case of Roblox.
Friendships are harder and harder for the young. Those disenfranchised seek easy companionships in these online communities. A perfect ground for predators of all sorts; including the Roblox team itself at certain points.
damn I remember when machinarium came out; I picked it up on a whim and ended up loving it
