Roblox Is Cracking Down On Games That Reward Kids For Doomscrolling

Roblox is restricting games that reward younger players for endlessly consuming autoplaying media feeds. The new restrictions are specifically targeting Roblox experiences like "Steal an Egg," which encouraged players to watch TikTok-style clips for in-game benefits. "Roblox's official alert does not expressly mention SAE, but the new policy is most certainly targeting the viral game first and foremost," reports TechSpot. From the report: The company said games that reward ongoing media consumption are now unavailable to players with a Roblox Kids (ages 5 to 8) or Roblox Select (ages 9 to 15) account. The policy will affect games designed to combine media feeds, autoplay, infinite scrolling, and systems that reward players for doomscrolling through TikTok videos of questionable value.

"Steal an Egg" fits perfectly into this new category. The game tasks players with raising eggs, but they can also steal eggs from other NPCs. Players are incentivized to increase their characters' speed either by spending in-game currency (Robux) or by watching a video feed on a virtual treadmill. "Steal an Egg" was recently removed from Roblox but is now back in the store without its troublesome video-feed feature.

[...] Roblox also highlights that the new anti-doomscrolling restriction does not apply to the rewarded video ads feature, which rewards players for watching a short clip but does not include autoplay or other infinite-scroll-like design choices.

I remember anti-drug ads in the 80's

[OrangeTide]

I remember the anti-drug ads where some shady drug dealer would approach an 8 year old to sell him or her some pills or a baggie of powder. And the kids would just say "NO!" and run away.

I often wondered how that could be a viable business model for a drug dealer. I mean little kids aren't really looking for drugs and they don't have much money.
But the clever tech bros figured it out. They figured out how to make a profit being a shady dude hooking kids on crack. It turns out it wasn't a problem with the image or ethics, it was simply the wrong product!

Re:

[Valgrus Thunderaxe]

Yeah. This wasn't thought through. Where is a toddler getting money to buy cocaine?

Re:I remember anti-drug ads in the 80's

[taustin]

For a drug dealer, getting a kid hooked on drugs is creating a customer. For a tech bro, getting a kid hooked on doom scrolling is creating a product.

Re:

[_merlin]

The implication is that the "pusher" sells heavily-discounted drugs to the kids, or gives them free samples, to get them addicted. Then they need to steal money to buy more drugs to feed their habit. I'm not sure this was ever a real thing, but that's the narrative the ads were playing on.

Re: I remember anti-drug ads in the 80's

[drinkypoo]

Sure, just not many 8 year olds are customers. It's teenagers.

Re:

[allo]

Some apps target 8 year olds who got their parents phone and don't understand why it is bad to click the "purchase for $20" button.

Re:

[Dirk Becher]

They need to remake that Marshall Brave Starr episode so the kid dies from doomscrolling. That will set them straight!

Re:

[dinfinity]

But the clever tech bros figured it out.

Honest question: Do you think there are women involved in these schemes?

Re:

[OrangeTide]

Crack open a history book, pick any century in the last 5000 years, its not hard to find women who support a patriarchy, some did so quite zealously.

Re:

[dinfinity]

Patriarchy? What does that have to do with anything?

This is about bad greedy people profiting off the vulnerabilities of humans and civilizations. There are lot of women in studies like psychology and marketing, so it is an interesting question whether they also participate in the aforementioned behavior (in which case we need a better term than the gender-specific "tech bro") or whether they somehow act more morally in these spaces (and then following that why and how we can structure society so that every

This is actually depressingly clever

[rsilvergun]

You can take real eyeballs and put them on people's tick tock videos and you can easily monetize that because there's so many scams and social media influencers trying to make money there. Plus I bet you can show them literally anything without any age restrictions because the feeds would run with the application's account. You might even get ad revenue from it. Although there's usually very little money to be made doing that the real money on video platforms is either patreon or scams.

Because stealing cars and murdering people is fine

[greytree]

So now we don't want anyone to watch videos of people dancing and putting on makeup, but spending hours playing GTA 6, stealing cars and murdering people, is fine ?

"Doomscrolling" is just the latest thing people want to stop, because, erm, it's bad, mmmkay.

Whether Woke or Red Scare or Missile Gap or BLM or The Internet or Drugs or Fake Nudes or Doomscrolling. People need to look beyond the latest fad of things to be angry about.
Think for your fucking selves.

Re:

[ambrandt12]

"But... think of the kids... who get to inherit the dystopian mess we're leaving them!"
So, they ban this one thing... how long until someone comes up with a way of doing the same thing but in a way that isn't banned?
Don't worry... the kids can still "borrow" mom's credit card to buy Robux so they can buy a new outfit or whatever.

Re:

[thegreatemu]

Ah yes, because spending time interacting with software that is designed to make money by providing an enjoyable experience thereby encouraging purchase (i.e., video games) is completely equivalent to spending time engaging with software that is specifically designed to be addictive (i.e., modern social media). Let's ignore the overwhelming body of evidence that have consistently failed to find any link between violent/criminal behavior in video games to increases in those behaviors in real life. Contrast t

Re:

[greytree]

Social media has good and bad effects on people, like cars, guns and bacon.

But "Ban Doomscrolling !" is the latest fad so "Ban Doomscrolling !" is what we must do... ... until the next fad comes along.

Re:

[thegreatemu]

Doomscrolling is one of the most harmful part of most social media. Just like excessive nitrates are one of the most harmful parts of bacon. Why is reducing or eliminating the bad parts of something while leaving the good parts intact such a bad idea?

Re:

[greytree]

Glad you're so sure about your witchhunts "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0271531715001359?via%3Dihub"

Re:

[thegreatemu]

An interesting read, but the authors' main argument is that, because we ingest lots of nitrates/nitrites in fruits and vegetables and there are health benefits in that context, nitrate additives should be less regulated and even considered as required nutritional intake. They imply that all nitrates consumed are equivalent, but other research does not support it. Much like fructose in fruit has significantly different response than fructose delivered in other ways, nitrate additives are different from natur

Re:

[ambrandt12]

(You just made a bunch of people hungry for bacon with some nitrates added!)

So, they get rid of doomscrolling and leave the rest of Roblox as it is... shortly, someone will come up with a new way to implement the same style thing in a way that isn't banned.
That happens all the time with those MMO games... they ban this one thing, and someone figures out how to do accomplish the same thing in just slightly enough of an alternate way to skirt around that ban.

Re:

[wed128]

Holy false equivalency batman! Leave your moral panic in the '90s where it belongs, we've got a new moral panic now! Can't have kids listening to that heavy metal music or playing Dungeons and Dragons either.

Every study that tries to correlate music or games or movies with violent behavior comes up empty. The negative psychological effects of social media are pretty well understood at this point.

Re:

[greytree]

"My New Moral Panic is righteous but your Old Moral Panic is not."

Social Media Pros:
"
Social Connection & Social Support
Many teens report social connection and support as a benefit of social media.
Around 74% of teens aged 13-17 reported that social media made them feel more connected to their friends.
Many teens report that they use social media to establish new friendships or romantic relationships. Teens also use social media to maintain existing

Re:

[Gideon Fubar]

just out of interest... where does the boundary around "social media" stop?

"other NPCs"

[Arnonyrnous Covvard]

I like that they can steal from "other" NPCs: Nobody's playing. Everybody's just watching videos.

does not apply to the rewarded video ads feature, which rewards players for watching a short clip

Our videos good, their videos bad.

This is a distraction

[memory_register]

Roblox doesn't want to address the grooming, pedophilia, and CSAM networks on their platform so they give you a shiny object - look at us cleaning up doomscrolling! We're so virtuous!

pedos

[awwshit]

> games that reward ongoing media consumption are now unavailable to players with a Roblox Kids (ages 5 to 8) or Roblox Select (ages 9 to 15) account

Roblox wants to make sure those kids can spend more time focusing on the pedos in roblox posing as children.

This will be too little too late to save them from the lawsuits that are coming, same as Facebook.