Nintendo would never turn away money, unless they feel it would damage their reputation as a company you can trust your children with.
If they had believed Roblox was safe, they would have 100% taken that money.
The interview makes me think of Dupont and Tǝflon. "You are giving thousands of people cancer in your community."
"That's alright, think of the millions who love our products."
"Carry on, sir."
There's Doom 3 on the Nintendo Switch... so the lines are a bit blurry.
(But yes I generally agree with your point.)
Especially the whole virtual economy where they profit from children work, without giving anything back, due to how virtual money converts back to real currencies.
If a game provides the ability for kids to build things out of blocks, those same kids will make pornographic images out of those blocks.
Mythic Quest - TTP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_xqyIMwbew
>You give the public a shovel, they dig dicks. You give them a pen, they draw dicks. You give them some clay...
>Definitely going to sculpt dicks.
How anyone on here does not immediately see Roblox for what it is is beyond me. They have to be one of the clearest cases around, and yet their PR apparently is strong enough you believed it was kid-friendly and kid-safe.
Can only add your friends for chat? Is fine.
I feel like this same strategy is sane for adults also. Before the internet, we did fine making friends and playing games with people we actually know. So much of the awfulness of the modern online space comes from anonymous interactions with strangers. I don’t think human social connections are able to scale in the way the internet enables.
I'm not saying it's not fine (depending on the age), but you won't convince me it's safer then playing Sim City 3000. It is inherently less safe.
somebody mentioned nintendo platform, see that for example
And if not, then what even is the value of playing online as opposed to locally with AIs?
If children want to play together with their friends, isn't it much better to spin them a Minecraft server or such for friends they know from real life instead of playing games limiting them by "very narrowly specific interactions" anyway?
> If children want to play together with their friends, isn't it much better to spin them a Minecraft server or such for friends they know from real life instead of playing games limiting them by "very narrowly specific interactions" anyway?
compared to roblox, sure. who would even argue against that?
but there are many games where it really don't matter. it's probably most games... car racing sim... football sim... strategy like civilization...
Wow, runescape, call of duty, battlefield, ... Didn't and don't they still all have basically unrestricted chat? Sure they might not be expressly marketed to kids, but everyone I knew was playing wow and runescape in elementary school with no issues.
That doesn't mean kids don't want to play them. But Roblox is pitching itself as a safe space for kids.
Yeah, no. I have kids and have walked this path over the last few years. Roblox is, as a company, your standard big org. That is, completely amoral, extracting cash in whatever ways are possible, protecting users (kids) only to the minimal extent required by law or perception that might harm business.
Very very little of their user-base are actually making games, and of those, 99.99% are getting nothing for the work they put in. That whole side of things is one part of the scam (exploit the labour of kids with the idea of making it big, but ensure the reward tier is high enough to avoid needing to cash out for nearly everyone). This is the least problematic part though.
Essentially, Roblox is the wild west internet I grew up on in the early 90’s. Sure, your friends are there, but it’s chock full of pedophiles offering candy if you just sign up to this discord channel. Free Robux might be the common lure, but they can be far more sophisticated. The sad fact that most parents don’t like to think about is that the pedo networks are large, sophisticated, and constantly, actively, hunting for any opportunity. Roblox is a platform of choice. The moderation and level of care from this company may as well be non-existent. It’s just enough to convince the public that they are doing the right thing.
Then there is the never ending stream of gambling games. The currency is Roblox, and that can be converted to cold hard cash, so there are infinite games just built around trying to addict kids and use that to extract the almighty Robux. It’s every evil trick you see with mobile game trash, just sometimes more transparent.
All in all, it’s a terrible place, but at first glance, fine. Your kid playing the popular games with their friends; it’s just like Nintendo. But wander off the happy path, just a little, and the monsters are waiting.
But kids love playing them.
Note that whole your comment was about assumption it is education hidden in toy, which is what you want. But, kids often just want a toy.
I have a 12-year-old playing Roblox right now, couldn’t agree less.
Roblox is the 2025 equivalent of AOL chat rooms circa 1998. You should assume that a child playing it will encounter the worst of humanity, and if you aren’t aware of that you’re not paying attention.
To describe this interview as a 'car crash' is almost underselling it. I feel terrified.
Most of all, what are my friends' and relatives' kids getting access to that they don't know about?
[0] Wikipedia says, 'allows users to program and play games created by themselves or other users.' That was the extent of my knowledge. It sounds great: very happy for kids to learn how to build things! Sure, I'd prefer they used Lego, but if they have to use mobiles then something where things are built and created is about as healthy as using mobile apps at a young age can be, right?