Roblox looks back on turbulent days and weeks. First, Turkey blocked access to the popular but problematic gaming platform. Then, a new player record followed last weekend. And now #SaveRoblox is suddenly trending on X.
What is happening at Roblox right now? It all started with a report on August 7, 2024, that Turkey decided to block the popular gaming platform. This is a necessary measure to ensure the protection of children, according to an official statement (via reuters.com).
Despite this setback, the Roblox officials celebrated a new player record on August 17, 2024. 10,208,350 players were reportedly online on the platform at the same time, according to romonitorstats.com. This has never happened before. By comparison, the popular battle royale shooter Fortnite had a peak of 2,567,277 concurrent players on the same day.
Following the record, the next bad news came this week. Roblox has now reportedly started to block numerous problematic games specifically in the South Korean region – including many popular (and supposedly harmless) games like “Brookhaven RP” (via roblox.com). The result: Suddenly #SaveRoblox trended on X, with over 171,000 posts.
This trailer presents the virtual universe of Roblox:
Dangerous Wild West instead of a virtual playground for kids
What is the reason for the blocks? In the past, Roblox has repeatedly come under the spotlight of authorities because not all games available there are as child-friendly as they should be considering their target audience. Or would you find it acceptable if your child reenacts real-life shooting sprees?
There have also been reports of child abuse and even lawsuits from parents against Roblox. MyMMO recently reported on a particularly serious case: In Roblox, a player is unmasked as a pedophile, yet he remains free and abducts a 15-year-old.
In 2023 alone, Roblox reportedly reported more than 13,000 incidents to the “National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.” 24 offenders were reportedly arrested for child abuse (via gamesindustry.biz). And this on a platform that attracts more than 70 million players daily, about 40 percent of whom are said to be under 13 years old.
All of this is already bad enough. On top of that, there are further accusations. The Roblox management is said to systematically exploit the private developers of the countless games and pay them poorly. Additionally, the way the avatar shop and some game systems work is said to warm kids up to gambling systems at an early age.
How can the situation improve? Roblox has been around for over 20 years, and during this time, the game building system has become one of the most popular and successful gaming platforms ever.
However, the developers have struggled for many years to effectively moderate the large number of players and games in a timely and child-friendly manner and to establish measures that sustainably protect minors from abuse and toxic or concerning content.
That not only individual games slip through the cracks becomes clear when you search for something like the “Public Bathroom Simulator” in Roblox and sift through the numerous results. It is therefore not surprising that many posts on X with #SaveRoblox demand significantly improved moderation and welcome the bans imposed by Turkey until that happens.
By the way, Roblox responded promptly to the bans by countries. In their response to Turkey, they stated:
On August 7, we learned that Roblox was blocked in Turkey, and we are currently working with local authorities to resolve the issue. We are aware that millions of people use our platform in Turkey every day, including a vibrant community of developers whose businesses are built on Roblox.
We are committed to doing everything in our power to ensure the safety of our community, and we share the commitment of policymakers worldwide to protect children.
via corp.roblox.com
Roblox is supported by Latte Softwares, which uses its security net to detect users of cheats and bots. This week, numerous accounts were caught that will receive a ban during the next wave. Until then, these accounts have been renamed to “Latte_ImACheater.” Over the past 21 years, Roblox has produced many such concerning or bizarre reports. Here’s another one from June 2024: There is now an IKEA in Roblox that is hiring employees and paying a real hourly wage.
