Keep Kids Off Roblox If You're Worried, Its CEO Tells Parents (bbc.com) 70
Parents who are worried about their children being on Roblox should not let them use it, the chief executive of the gigantic gaming platform has said. From a report: The site, which is the most popular in the UK among young gamers aged eight to 12, has been dogged by claims of some children being exposed to explicit or harmful content through its games, alongside multiple reported allegations of bullying and grooming.
But its co-founder and CEO Dave Baszucki insisted that the company is vigilant in protecting its users and pointed out that "tens of millions" of people have "amazing experiences" on the site. When asked what his message is to parents who don't want their children on the platform, Mr Baszucki said: "My first message would be, if you're not comfortable, don't let your kids be on Roblox." [...] "That sounds a little counter-intuitive, but I would always trust parents to make their own decisions," he told BBC News in an exclusive interview.
But its co-founder and CEO Dave Baszucki insisted that the company is vigilant in protecting its users and pointed out that "tens of millions" of people have "amazing experiences" on the site. When asked what his message is to parents who don't want their children on the platform, Mr Baszucki said: "My first message would be, if you're not comfortable, don't let your kids be on Roblox." [...] "That sounds a little counter-intuitive, but I would always trust parents to make their own decisions," he told BBC News in an exclusive interview.
Dear parents, (Score:5, Insightful)
Parenting is an actual verb. Just a reminder.
Oh, and "verbs" are 'action' words. It means that something is done. Hence, it's something that has to be done. Awarding your kids with the constant feeling that they have some new shit to entertain them isn't parenting.
Re: Dear parents, (Score:2)
Re: Dear parents, (Score:1)
"Cue". Why is this so difficult to get right?
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Maybe there are so many arguments made over and over again he's had to arrange them in a queue? ;-)
Re: Dear parents, (Score:2)
Because falling education standards caused by something, perhaps deliberately.
Re:Dear incels (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're worried about your kids getting mugged in the alley, don't let your kids go into the alley.
Yes, we try to keep muggers out of the alley too. But even if we remove 100% of the muggers that still won't take away your worry. What will take away your worry is if you don't let your kids go into the alley.
Re: Dear incels (Score:2)
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So it's more like if a woman has a bodyguard and for some reason the bodyguard is like "Even though I'm still on the clock, I'm going to drop you off in this bad neighborhood to take your nightly walk alone. It'll be fine - trust me, I'm your bodyguard, so I know." People would rightfully blame the bodyguard if something happened to the woman.
And you wouldn't let your daughter grow into a woman with zero str
Re: & don't wear that if you don't want to be (Score:2, Offtopic)
"Not many parents have the luxury of making up problems these days."
Except conservatives apparently, they will believe any bullshit they are told to, like schools doing transition surgeries on children when they can't in fact even afford paper and teachers have to purchase and donate supplies.
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A crime is a crime, and is the criminals fault, but a some point its not societies job to protect you from every possible crime. Just like saying lock your house, sure just because a house is not locked doesn't mean a thief has a right to steal from your home, but its still good advice. And if you can't be bothered locking your door then what do you want society to do about it, post a police officer outside your house 24/7? Same with rape sure no one should rape you, no matter what you are wearing even if y
Re:Dear incels (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're worried about your kids getting mugged in the alley, don't let your kids go into the alley
Or, don't build a neighborhood that's designed for use by children that has dangerous alleys everywhere.
People have made similar arguments about every safety and health risk in the world. E.g.: don't want to die in a fiery car crash? Drive safely. But that claim - that crashes are primarily caused by people driving dangerously - is factually incorrect (most are caused by dangerous vehicles, dangerous road conditions, or other external factors, such as weather, *other* drivers, or alcohol) and IGNORES the fact that changes to vehicle design and roads would make driving MUCH MUCH safer for everyone.
It's the same point about Roblox. The inherent design of the product makes it possible - even easy - for criminal behavior to occur. But instead of fixing those features (much like car manufacturers refuse to fix dangerous vehicle designs), they are blaming the users.
It's the playbook for peddlers of dangerous products 101.
Re: Dear incels (Score:3)
Most weather-related traffic collisions could be solved by not driving too fast for conditions. Can't blame the rain when you failed to slow down for it.
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Most weather-related traffic collisions could be solved by not driving too fast for conditions
Exactly, my point is that you cannot blame drivers for changing weather conditions. BUT, you can ensure vehicles have tires that are safe for driving on wet roads & snow, you can build roads that are safer for weather conditions (that have safe guardrails that minimize the harm of your car slipping on the road), you can put more lights on the road so it is easier to see in bad conditions, you can close roads when conditions become dangerous. Most drivers are really bad at estimating their ability to dri
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Alcohol is not an external factor to the 'drive safely' advice. Pure and simple - if you drink, don't drive.
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Alcohol is not an external factor to the 'drive safely' advice
It is external because I can't control what other drivers have put in their bodies.
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Then it falls under 'other drivers'.
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What if we ban the existence of open alleys just to be safe? Mandate that property owners close them off or fence them off with a locked gate. Trouble is if we don't: our kids might disobey our orders and go into the alleyways anyways. Your worry cannot ever be entirely eliminated, so long as alleyways accessible to our kids are allowed to exist.
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it after all if you cant take responsibility for them without mandating every one else has to help
No.. Even when you do take responsibility you do still need help from the rest of your community.
Come on? You never heard the proverb It takes a village to raise a child [wikipedia.org].
A child's parent has more responsibility than anyone else, but you still have 30 to 40% of responsibility which goes to society and the local community around you. Your schools and churches, neighbors, etc.
You can't raise kids if the town
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I pay my taxes beyond that you should not expect me to lift a finger to aid you or your child
Well most of this duty belongs to the community as a whole, So of course paying taxes is most of the minimum you are required to do. You are still also required to abide by any extra restrictions or obligations the community decides on.
For example; A common one is you may get a lower speed limit while driving in your neighborhood in the interests of protecting kids at play at home or in school zones from acci
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So this is a little different (Score:3)
If you have someone that you know is taking advantage of children and children's inability to think critically and reason then traditionally we would regulate that instead of just saying fuck it if the parents can't handle it those kids are just screwed.
Even if you are the kind of libertarian fuckwad that is perfectly
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Fuck off yourself.
If I'm worried about my kids being exposed to XYZ, guess what? It's my job as a fucking parent to make sure the kids aren't exposed to XYZ.
No, it's NOT Glock's job to make sure I don't leave my gun where the kids can access it. It's also not the ammo manufacturers job to make sure the gun isn't loaded when it's left out where kids can get it.
It's MY JOB AS A PARENT to make sure I don't leave loaded guns laying around if I'm worried the kids don't know enough to leave them the fuck alone.
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While this is true, if Glock made a gun specifically for kids, advertised to kids, and there were relatively easy ways for kids to get it without their parents being involved, and kids kept getting into horrific accidents as a result, you'd expect at least more of a response than "If you don't want your kids using it, don't use it"?
Now, is Roblox that bad? No... but you brought up guns. It not a great analogy.
Roblox does seem to be primarily aimed at kids from what I see - I mean, I'm sure there are some ad
Re: Dear incels (Score:4, Funny)
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Ok yes but the challenge here is our children also have their own society, they want to be participant in. It is hard being the only kid not doing something. It is tough being parent and forcing your kid to miss out on interacting with their peers because of a vague threat you can't really identify. It isn't as hard to say 'no you can't ride the motorcycle; you are to small, its dangerous and you could be seriously injured' A child can understand that, and the other parents are also not allowing their 10
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Correct. It's your child. It's your responsibility. Be an actual parent, you lazy arse.
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Whatever.. I would have forbade my kids from Roblox anyways. It has a longstanding reputation of not only being unsafe but being ridiculed as a game by the community. Plenty of entertainment that does not involve connecting to the internet or streaming services. They'll be watching endless VHS recordings and old DVD recorder replays of late 1990s up to year 2010 shows complete with commercials which are hopefully entirely products that don't exist anymore, since the ads will be more than 30 yea
I don't think we should leave parents on their own (Score:2)
Society and the our expectations for people and children have vastly increased. You're not really going to be a useful and productive member of society until your mid-20s these days. You're just not. Not relative to the
Kill the heathen! (Score:3)
HOW DARE HE! Parents should not have to be responsible for their children!
Honestly, I agree with the him. But deep down, I know that he's going to be burned at the stake for daring to tell parents that it's OK to say no to your children if you feel something isn't appropriate for them. While that used to be considered parenting 101, it's now considered aberrant and horrible advice. And while he even stated it in a very reasonable and logical way, I expect him and his company to suffer for having said it. Current society does not look favorably on folks telling parents that they should parent.
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Re: Kill the heathen! (Score:2)
The lawsuits come from the same parents that he's addressing, and the lawsuits cost money. A CBA might well support his statement.
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Look, I don't let my kid play Roblox. I understand why it's bad for kids and am perfectly capable of acting on my own in that regard.
That said, this fucker is saying this to cover for the fact that his company knowingly and intentionally markets exploitive business models at children. Young children. There's no regulation around purposefully addictive design decisions, and there's no regulation around marketing video games to children, and there's relatively little regulation around selling worthless bit
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Look, I don't let my kid play Roblox. I understand why it's bad for kids and am perfectly capable of acting on my own in that regard.
That said, this fucker is saying this to cover for the fact that his company knowingly and intentionally markets exploitive business models at children. Young children. There's no regulation around purposefully addictive design decisions, and there's no regulation around marketing video games to children, and there's relatively little regulation around selling worthless bits on a server to people, but there's definitely something fucky about the intersection of those 3 things that maybe ought to be regulated.
Can't disagree with any of that at all, and it fits for both modern video gaming and social media focused on kids. That said, there's nothing at all wrong with even a completely degenerate business asshole stating, "Parents are welcome to parent."
Re: Kill the heathen! (Score:2)
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Honestly, I agree with the him.
I don't. Parents and the rest of society share responsibility. Parents are responsible for raising their children, and society is responsible for regulating money grubbers who will make it completely impossible for parents if it'll make a buck.
The idea that everything lies on parents and very rich corporations with vastly more resources should be able to do whateverthefucktheywant is not one I agree with.
While that used to be considered parenting 101, it's now considered aber
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Yes and no (Score:4, Insightful)
I agree parents should be involved with and decide what their kids do. I also think it is funny that the guy who "makes crack for kids" tells parents "tell you kids not to smoke the crack"
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He barely stopped himself before saying "and good luck keeping them from playing Roblox." Kind of like with smoking crack, if it were freely available wherever kids spend most of their time.
There's a flaw in his intuition. (Score:1)
Roblox monetizes free child labor (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't get me wrong, I do this. I do the common sense things and I am not really upset at Roblox. I take responsibility for my kids.
However, just because I recognize it's my job to protect my kids from shitty exploitative businesses doesn't mean I like it or that it's so heavily marketed at children. It reminds me of those scam claw machines in arcades...you know they're a scam and rigged....you tell your kids...and then you're the asshole ruining their day and dealing with their tears. No parent likes those claw machines....but they're irresistible to young hopeful minds and make your day shitty. Like any parent with common sense, I protect my children from scams, but...I still wish they'd shut down and when the CEO says...if you don't want your child molested, don't use our platform...he's "kinda" right, but also a massive asshole and I his financial ruin can't come soon enough.
Roblox is like a Payday loan company...a cancer to society that exploits people and the world would be a much better place if they reformed or just shut down. However, we just have to go on with life and minimize harm.
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Your comment is misleading, because Roblox themselves don't make any of these games with popups and cash grabs.. they are made BY OTHERS, often by young adults. The popups are how they monetize the game, they try to get kids to buy items and experiences in-game with Robux. But no one is forced to play the games, if the popups were too bad the kids would not play it.
I don't see how they are exploiting "child labour", that is a real stretch. Most games that are popular are not the ones made by kids, and the o
All regulated substances are abused by users (Score:2)
Your comment is misleading, because Roblox themselves don't make any of these games with popups and cash grabs.. they are made BY OTHERS, often by young adults. The popups are how they monetize the game, they try to get kids to buy items and experiences in-game with Robux. But no one is forced to play the games, if the popups were too bad the kids would not play it.
I don't see how they are exploiting "child labour", that is a real stretch. Most games that are popular are not the ones made by kids, and the ones that are made by kids, the kids are making money.
Yes, the popups are annoying. Yes, the games suck. But that's the kids fault, really. The kids play the crappy games, they like them, they think they are funny. Who am I to judge, when I was that age I played equally stupid games.
Your point hangs heavily on a technicality. Roblox makes nothing beyond the very admirable Roblox Studio and an otherwise mediocre platform. You are correct. other people make the games...however, all regulated substances are regulated because of 2nd/3rd part abuse. We don't restrict opioids because of Perdue, but because of abusers. We don't restrict firearms to adults because of Smith and Wesson, but because of criminals. We put in guard rails because of dangerous or abused products. Any manufacture
Parenthood aside (Score:2)
I think it's a legit concern .... (Score:3)
I don't know how many of the people reading/posting here actually have kids? But I have a daughter who is now a young adult, but is very familiar with Roblox -- as it was one of the games she played online often, along with Minecraft and some WoW.
She's the one who became seriously concerned about their platform and how many of the players on it are just sexual predators or out to bully and harass other people on it.
It's not that anyone sane really expects a service like this to babysit 10 million or more users and guarantee anything. It's a "numbers game" where for whatever reason(s), the people misusing the service like this are far more prevalent on Roblox than other comparable gaming sites. Maybe Roblox just has a reputation as a "good" site to successfully troll people without getting kicked off and banned too easily? Maybe the pedophiles find more appealing targets there?
Whatever the case is? My daughter won't let her kid ever use Roblox when he gets old enough to play online games, and she's pretty ok with 99% of what's out there.
Roblox is a gaming and social networking (Score:2)
It's a "numbers game" where for whatever reason(s), the people misusing the service like this are far more prevalent on Roblox than other comparable gaming sites. Maybe Roblox just has a reputation as a "good" site to successfully troll people without getting kicked off and banned too easily? Maybe the pedophiles find more appealing targets there?
One reason Roblox is unique is that it caters to girls as much as boys. Also, past massive online games were focused on serious gaming. WoW and Halo multi-player, for example, were very focused on the game itself, b ut many Roblox games are mere hangouts with no real point, but the kids love them for whatever reason. Also, past games were marketed to teens, but Roblox actively markets to small children.
Regarding issues with Roblox, I am less worried about someone molesting my kids and more that my ki
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I am a pretty technically astute parent, who has a 10 year old daughter who plays Roblox quite a bit.
I keep a pretty close eye on it, and she doesn't have an experience like that whatsoever. In fact, she showed me once how easy it is to mute and report bad actors- and she does it all the time. Proud of her.
Yeah I did (Score:1)
I took my kid off of Roblox after I noticed what a shitshow that is in terms of moderation.
However, at some point when Roblox is profiting off of crimes that they know are happening on their platform... at some point they are a criminal organization themselves?
Hope he gets arrested.
Roblox? (Score:2)
Sounds like an Attention Deficit drug.
Especially if parents are told to let their kids 'off' it.
Don't Let Anyone You Care About Use Roblox (Score:2)
Be sure to stay for the after-credits discussion concerning Roblox' exchange rates with real currency.
autolaunch (Score:1)
Keep your kids safe from everything!!! (Score:2)
Keep your kids of Roblox.
Keep your kids out of alleys.
Keep your kids out of normal places that bad actors take advantage of. That would be everywhere they can exist..... The answer isn't to hide the world from your kids. They will find the world when you aren't looking, and the world will find them. Go with them when you can, let them go alone when you can.
My kid has been playing on Roblox for years, and my limited protection has been to disable chat, turn on the age limit restrictions for games - when th