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.