Shocking short seller report on Roblox describes it as a "hellscape for children"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re concerned I think you can create your own Roblox server that is a closed universe. My college student hosted one when she was in ES and into MS — it was by invite only and if kids were obnoxious, she suspended their privileges.

My older teens still play Roblox but by the time kids are older teens, they really need to know how to deal with the awful parts of the internet. I agree you should proceed with great caution for younger teens or tweens. It’s not just Roblox. You literally cannot conceive of, much less block. all the ways your kid can access dangerous people or content on the internet. At some point you need to teach them the street smarts to block that stuff themselves.

As an aside, one of the things I found most amusing with that Massachusetts guy leaking state secrets in the internet — he was in a gaming room with young teens and kept trying to get them into radical politics. But the 13 year old boys really just wanted gaming tips and kept telling him the political stuff was boring. For the most part, most teens are trying to avoid those adult weirdos online — most teens just want to play games with their friends.

True, but Roblox is worse because it targets younger kids and is less well supervised. It is indeed a grooming paradise and it is crazy parents don’t see that.

I disagree. The parents who are afraid of Roblox just haven't looked at what young kids are doing on Discord or Snapchat.

Are there parents actually checked out enough to allow discord or Snapchat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids love Roblox but it’s only on one device in our home which I have complete control over and I’ve disabled all chatting. I let them play for 20-30 minutes at a time.

+1 My kids can't add anyone without my permission and chat is disabled. That said, there are some games I don't love (with violence) but then I remember I used to play duck hunt and later, Wolfenstein.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re concerned I think you can create your own Roblox server that is a closed universe. My college student hosted one when she was in ES and into MS — it was by invite only and if kids were obnoxious, she suspended their privileges.

My older teens still play Roblox but by the time kids are older teens, they really need to know how to deal with the awful parts of the internet. I agree you should proceed with great caution for younger teens or tweens. It’s not just Roblox. You literally cannot conceive of, much less block. all the ways your kid can access dangerous people or content on the internet. At some point you need to teach them the street smarts to block that stuff themselves.

As an aside, one of the things I found most amusing with that Massachusetts guy leaking state secrets in the internet — he was in a gaming room with young teens and kept trying to get them into radical politics. But the 13 year old boys really just wanted gaming tips and kept telling him the political stuff was boring. For the most part, most teens are trying to avoid those adult weirdos online — most teens just want to play games with their friends.

True, but Roblox is worse because it targets younger kids and is less well supervised. It is indeed a grooming paradise and it is crazy parents don’t see that.

I disagree. The parents who are afraid of Roblox just haven't looked at what young kids are doing on Discord or Snapchat.

Are there parents actually checked out enough to allow discord or Snapchat?

Do you live here? There are parents that give their kids phones at 11 years old and shrug their shoulders at kids watching porn. Snapchat is nothing to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re concerned I think you can create your own Roblox server that is a closed universe. My college student hosted one when she was in ES and into MS — it was by invite only and if kids were obnoxious, she suspended their privileges.

My older teens still play Roblox but by the time kids are older teens, they really need to know how to deal with the awful parts of the internet. I agree you should proceed with great caution for younger teens or tweens. It’s not just Roblox. You literally cannot conceive of, much less block. all the ways your kid can access dangerous people or content on the internet. At some point you need to teach them the street smarts to block that stuff themselves.

As an aside, one of the things I found most amusing with that Massachusetts guy leaking state secrets in the internet — he was in a gaming room with young teens and kept trying to get them into radical politics. But the 13 year old boys really just wanted gaming tips and kept telling him the political stuff was boring. For the most part, most teens are trying to avoid those adult weirdos online — most teens just want to play games with their friends.

True, but Roblox is worse because it targets younger kids and is less well supervised. It is indeed a grooming paradise and it is crazy parents don’t see that.

I disagree. The parents who are afraid of Roblox just haven't looked at what young kids are doing on Discord or Snapchat.

Are there parents actually checked out enough to allow discord or Snapchat?

Do you live here? There are parents that give their kids phones at 11 years old and shrug their shoulders at kids watching porn. Snapchat is nothing to them.

You’re so full of shit

[Anonymous]

We don't allow Roblox in our household - but our rationale was more about the content. When my kids tried it out many many years ago, I was disturbed by the graphic, killing games geared toward my sons and the inane, beauty-type stuff geared toward my daughter.

My children still regularly ask for it, since all their friends play, but we've not given in.

And yet, I read the Hindenburg thing as a very self-serving piece for their stock market interests (and seriously question why that's legal).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids love Roblox but it’s only on one device in our home which I have complete control over and I’ve disabled all chatting. I let them play for 20-30 minutes at a time.

+1 My kids can't add anyone without my permission and chat is disabled. That said, there are some games I don't love (with violence) but then I remember I used to play duck hunt and later, Wolfenstein.

Come on. Duck Hunt is nothing like some of the games on Roblox, where I have literally seen characters ripping off limbs and heads of other human characters.

[Anonymous]

Duck hunt good one!

[Anonymous]

Not to be a snob, but the kids playing Roblox are the ones who don't have a traditional gaming console like Xbox, Nintendo or Play Station. My kids say Roblox is for dorks whose parents won't let them play real video games. But real video games do not have any mechanism to interface with pedos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't allow Roblox in our household - but our rationale was more about the content. When my kids tried it out many many years ago, I was disturbed by the graphic, killing games geared toward my sons and the inane, beauty-type stuff geared toward my daughter.

My children still regularly ask for it, since all their friends play, but we've not given in.

And yet, I read the Hindenburg thing as a very self-serving piece for their stock market interests (and seriously question why that's legal).

It's not illegal to tell the truth about something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to be a snob, but the kids playing Roblox are the ones who don't have a traditional gaming console like Xbox, Nintendo or Play Station. My kids say Roblox is for dorks whose parents won't let them play real video games. But real video games do not have any mechanism to interface with pedos.

Not true in our circles...we have an expensive VR headset, Nintendo, etc...but our kids play Roblox because all their friends do... most of the time its private servers with groups of their friends. The girls don't play any games with violence- more role play type stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to be a snob, but the kids playing Roblox are the ones who don't have a traditional gaming console like Xbox, Nintendo or Play Station. My kids say Roblox is for dorks whose parents won't let them play real video games. But real video games do not have any mechanism to interface with pedos.

Uhm...yes, they do. In fact, I would be more wary about that. Kids all the time are putting on a headset to play Fortnite or Rocket League with their friends on their Xboxes, Switches, and Play Stations. Who's policing who joins that chat? Both in voice and text?