You would be surprised to know that Roblox has more than 100 million active monthly users. Yet, it is not as well known as other children’s games such as Mario, Fortnite, and Minecraft.
It has sailed under the public radar more often than its competitors mentioned above for a multitude of reasons.
Many concerned parents whose children are playing/wanting to play Roblox are in need of a quick start guide. In this article, you will get to know about the various aspects of Roblox.
About Roblox
To make things simple, Roblox is the youtube of video games. Roblox has a collection of over 50 million games created by its community of players. People can download the Roblox application on smartphones, tablets, computers, and game consoles. It allows players to program games and play games created by other users.
It’s popular mainly due to its social features. The social features include adding other players to friends and chatting with them during online play. Roblox has been around for a significant amount of time and has been gradually expanding since its launch in 2006.
How many children play it?
There are more than 100 million players, but there is no information regarding how many players are children. According to the polling company Kids Insights, there are about 1.5 million children in the UK who play Roblox.
According to its numbers, based on an annual survey of 20,000 British children, 24 percent of 10- to 12-year-olds in the UK play Roblox. Also, 19% of seven-to-nine-year-olds in the UK play Roblox.
Reasons for Roblox’s success
Roblox does not do much advertising. People get invited by other people, or people watch others play on YouTube and discover about Roblox. It’s a natural occurrence. Roblox focuses on “unstructured play” at a time when many children’s physical-world experiences are more limited than previous generations.
The majority of the interactions on Roblox aren’t solely about the objective to be completed. It is the sharing of mutual bonds with other people. Hence, the success of Roblox.
How are games created for it?
By using the Roblox Studio software, anybody can create a game for Roblox. According to Roblox, there are more than 2 million creators (roughly 2% of its player base).
Many children’s goals are limited to building a basic game or virtual room where they can hang out with friends. But others create larger, more complicated games and even start earning money by taking a share of in-game transactions.
Roblox is eager to promote this game development culture. In 2018 it released its own curriculum for educators to use under a Creative Commons license.
Are people making a living out of this?
You would be surprised to know that people are making a living out of this, a lot more than you would imagine. Roblox shelled out more than $100 million to the game creators in 2019.
Josh Wood, 18, from the UK is a Roblox game-maker since 2014, a year after he joined Roblox. He kept learning and working on projects with others. Game Dev Life is his most successful game to date, with over one million play sessions. Wood has now founded his own company to create Roblox games, employing other artists, developers, and testers.
Abbie Leigh, 19, also from the UK, started playing in 2011 and moved on to game development in 2017. She is currently developing three games, one of which is her own sports-themed game, and plans to make freelance production her full-time career.
How friendly is Roblox for children?
Roblox has gained coverage in the mass media, mostly for the wrong reasons. In 2017 for allegations of adults trying to groom children on the platform. In June 2018, simulated sexual harassment occurred where a seven-year-old player’s avatar was assaulted by two male avatars whose players had hacked the game’s code to display lewd imagery.
According to the company, it has been working hard to deal with wrongdoers and remove any vulnerabilities in its website. Roblox says that they really begin with the safety of their players as their top priority. Roblox said that they are continually updating their resources and exploring opportunities to enhance them.
How can parents keep informed about it?
Roblox has also launched a part of its website named “For Parents.” It outlines its protection tools such as algorithms that block swear words and names and addresses in text chats. It also has a reporting mechanism for offensive talk or content. There is also an algorithm that detects whether or not the avatars of the players have dressed appropriately.
The company is determined to ensure that parents see the good aspects of the games that children create on Roblox. They are referencing a game created by a youth whose father had recently died as an example. He developed a game about balancing mental stability and mental fitness as a journey for other young people dealing with similar problems.
