• Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Roblox is a platform like Steam. If you don’t want your kids to spend money on games, don’t give them a credit card.

    • peoplebeproblems@midwest.social
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      2 months ago

      Me too.

      I was actually impressed by how easy it was. He still complains about it, but there are no meltdowns and no “I’m the only kid.”

      Basically “you take their work, you get all the money and maybe give them a little. But the ones getting very little are the kids. The ones you enjoy playing the games of . That’s the same as stealing.”

      • brsrklf@jlai.lu
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        2 months ago

        A good deal of people making games experiences on Roblox are minors. They’re being promised revenues, but of course they’re paid with bogus money that they’re encouraged to spend back on the platform, since cashing back is subject to an absolutely ridiculous rate, and to a minimum amount. Only the very few at the top can pretend to get anything back as real money. But all of the games, even the ones that never makes a cent for their creators, are the content Roblox milks indefinitely.

        Roblox development is a jungle, completely unregulated and managed outside of the platform by design, since they want to deny all responsibility for any of that shit. They kill the platform forums so dev teams are being formed outside, on discords and stuff. Teams with minors working with adults. Yes, there were cases of exploitation, and worse.

        • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Jesus christ. Here I was imagining something like vortex mods or steam workshop, didn’t realize modding was incentivized beyond creative passion.

  • Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    My daughter went through a phase where she REALLY wanted to play Roblox. Probably word of mouth from school. I’m not THAT old (only mid 30’s) but I didn’t really understand the concept of Roblox or how you buy more games. That probably led to me telling her no. Glad I stuck to my gut.

  • B0NK3RS@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    You’d be surprised (or not) how many parents just don’t have a clue. I hope the quote and headline but plastered everywhere though so it might get through to some.

    • SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Or how many parents just kinda suck.

      Joined a random game of Helldivers recently. Two guys and a kid are playing, one is the dad. I’m the random on the team.

      Cool. Kinda wholesome at first. Kid is easily under 10 though and it’s the highest difficulty and you can tell that when things pick up they have no clue what’s going on.

      Totally cool. Part of what makes the game great is a little co op goes a long way and dying isn’t really serious. And they got that, there was light hearted team killing, everyone seems focused on the most important aspect of the game: having fun.

      But when the dad died and gets stuck spectating his kid, he keeps calling him a retard when he’s not understanding some gameplay mechanic.

      • peoplebeproblems@midwest.social
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        2 months ago

        Ugh.

        Like the whole point of having fun with Helldivers is the absolute bullshit you wade through and how all you can do is laugh sometimes.

        Squishing bugs and blowing up scary looking robots should be relaxing and funny.

        • SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          The dad wasn’t really tilted, I got the sense that he’s always this apologetic about his son being “a little retarded.”

  • Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org
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    2 months ago

    I’ve never let my kids play and luckily my kid’s friend’s dad also understands games and does research for things we don’t know and we stuck together on this decision and on fortnight for our kids that are too young for it.

    It also helps that I’m staunchly against micro transactions and lecture my kids about how spending real money on a skin is stupid every chance I get.

    • slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org
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      2 months ago

      I’ll never forget a post that i read here where someone told the story about he and his cousins got like 50 dollar steam gift cards. The older ones said that it’s a good idea to buy cs2 crates or some shit. And they burned through all their money in minutes with nothing to show for.

      • Maestro@fedia.io
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        2 months ago

        My nephew did the same. 25 buck PlayStation card, spent on some FOMO skin sale.

    • Redredme@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Although i think you’re right, you too where once a kid.

      And. Tell me. What did you do with your money back then? Everything you bought was well thought out? You still use day to day everything you bought back then? Or where you just a child and did you buy candy, fireworks, some comics, that game console you sold 2 years later for not even half the price, that cheap rc car which broke after 1 day?

      Its a slippery slope. Just because something doesn’t have value to you does not mean the same applies to someone else.

      Stuff like this can give kids a certain social standing in the brutal world of the classroom. That’s something to consider also, group pressure, wanting to fit in. The need to be part of the group.

      Allowance is a learning experience. My son did the same, for years bought only fortnite skins with his allowance. Like you i warned him against it. But i never forbid it. He’s 14 now and regrets it.

      He doesn’t buy fortnite skins anymore. That’s the end goal, isn’t it? To learn and move on?

      • Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org
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        2 months ago

        I’m not discounting that kids are kids and are still learning impulse control, but I’m trying to teach them good spending habits or at least consider the value of what they are spending money on before they buy. When I was a kid I didn’t have much money so I did carefully consider purchases ( to an annoying degree sometimes my wife says still). I haven’t forbidden them from buying anything, within reason, but they mostly have my frugality. I’m sure this is a journey lots of parents are on.

    • HurlingDurling@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Any game that is online (ie. Fortnight, Roblox, Minecraft servers) are not, never where, and never will be safe for kids to play.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        That’s why I set up a local Minecraft server. My kids can play together as much as they want, and I’m happy to open it up to their friends if they get the Java version.

      • dontbelasagne@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        apart from the littlebigplanet servers. Man I played that all the time as a kid with my friends. The nature of the game (creating levels and the ablity to share creations and give them to other people) made it one of the most wholesome gaming communities I’ve been in. I made genuine friends in that community. But it wasn’t the money maker Sony wanted so they canned it. I genuinely can’t think of one person that had a bad experience in that community.

        • brsrklf@jlai.lu
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          2 months ago

          I’ve only experienced LBP3 (which I understand was probably not the best part of the series) and found it just okay…

          However Dreams is the one I wish Sony didn’t abandon.

          • dontbelasagne@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Fair enough. LBP3 they switched to a different developer team and they didn’t do the best job. But man, the LBP 2 days are genuinely some of my favourite childhood memories. It was the most wholesome and fun time I’ve ever had. I think that if it wasn’t a sony exclusive, it would have beat out minecraft for best selling game.

            There’s apparently a spiritual successor to LBP coming out called restitched and it’s on my wishlist and I think the game can make it big.