What is the darkness of “Roblox” with over 100 million monthly active users?



Roblox is a multiplayer online game that allows users to create their own games and play with other users. More than half of children under the age of 16 are playing in the United States, and as of August 2019, Roblox boasts an amazing popularity with over 100 million monthly active users , online business magazine Fast Company summarized I am.

Sex, lies, and video games: Inside Roblox's war on porn
https://www.fastcompany.com/90539906/sex-lies-and-video-games-inside-roblox-war-on-porn

In 2012, a player called 'Dazzely' who was 11 years old at that time was playing Roblox. It seems that Mr. Dazzely was playing various 'games created by players' such as obstacle running and car racing existing on Roblox, using an avatar that can be created for free. In the first place, Roblox developers envision Roblox as a digital playground where children can freely create games, avatars, buildings, landscapes, etc.For that reason, anyone can create original games on Roblox We are creating Roblox Studio , a free software that enables you to do this.

What Will You Build-ROBLOX-YouTube


Dazzely, who has been playing Roblox since the age of 11, converted the in-game currency Robux to cash by selling items that can be used in Roblox from around 2013 and creating and selling avatars. I will do it. Around this time, more and more people are starting to earn cash with Roblox.

Roblox has evolved into a huge game with more than 150 million monthly active users at the time of article creation. According to data from research firms, sales of mobile version Roblox in the first half of 2020 was more than $ 490 million (about 52 billion yen), and user developers who develop games on Roblox (mostly from the late teens to 20 It is estimated that the first half of the 1st generation) earned more than 250 million dollars (about 26 billion yen) through accessing the created game. Furthermore, the enterprise value of the developer of Roblox is estimated to be about 4 billion dollars (about 420 billion yen), and you can see how Roblox has grown into a game loved all over the world.

Dazzely, who was 19 years old in 2020, is working as a 'wide show reporter' in Roblox, which is growing rapidly. Dazzely tells the story of what happened in Roblox as a movie on the YouTube channel, and the number of YouTube channel subscribers is over 53,000 at the time of article creation. Roblox, who was worried about Dazzely's activities, suspended Dazzely's account and reported his YouTube channel for copyright violation, so the movie on the channel is almost unpublished at the time of article creation and it is in a situation that can not be played.

Dazzely-YouTube



Dazzely started working as a wide show reporter after being linked to a game called 'The Condo' that he received in a direct message via Discord in 2017. When Dazzely clicked on the link, he saw a few condominiums , a simple kitchen, and a small condo with a backyard and pool. It seems that he felt that it was a space inside Roblox, but there was a strange scene where there were many naked avatars in the living room of the condominium. Since the avatars were naked and repeated sexual words, Dazzely thought that 'Roblox's child safety filter was hacked' and immediately started recording the game screen. When he posted the recorded footage with narration, he received an unexpected response, and then he started working as a reporter to animate the events in Roblox.

There is a lot of sexual content that violates official guidelines, such as 'The Condo' that Dazzely encountered, which has been officially deleted and re-appeared on Roblox in another form. I am repeating.



Roblox co-developers and CEO of the developer, David Baszucki, describes Roblox as 'a new category for human joint experience and freedom' and 'a fusion of video games and social media.' .. 'We have a unique opportunity to become a shepherd on such a platform,' Baszucki said.

'Running Roblox means overseeing a world full of children,' as Fast Company points out, since Roblox is a child-centric game, it further enhances security and helps players Some say that we should improve safety. Roblox doesn't reveal the age of the players, but says, 'At least half of American children under the age of 16 are playing with Roblox.' A survey conducted in December 2017 by digital market research firm ComScore also found that children ages 5-9 were the longest-used platform on their PCs, Roblox. It should be noted that YouTube is the platform that children aged 9 to 18 have been using for the longest time on their PC, indicating that Roblox is particularly favored by younger age groups.

Roblox can be a great opportunity for children to learn social rules and teamwork online. 'We want to give our children the opportunity to play freely. With Roblox, they can get together, set their own rules, and go wherever they want to play together,' said Baszucki. You can also build games together and build stages together to deepen your learning experience together,' Roblox emphasized as a valuable platform for children. ..



But, as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have learned, maintaining control of a growing platform is not easy. Roblox will celebrate its 16th anniversary in September 2020, but as one person says, 'Roblox is a place I learned to hack,' as a teenage player turned into an uncontrollable mob for the platform. Some point out that

'Teenagers hack for identity, fame, and respect, and they have infinite time to hack,' said Quinn Wilton, who himself learned about hacking on Roblox. I'm talking.

As mentioned above, the fact that many children play Roblox as a breeding ground for sexual content and hacking means that Roblox has a big problem to solve. Among the games created by users in Roblox, there are not only games that include sexual content but also games that simulate sexual activity, and many children are affected by it.

Meanwhile, Roblox's developers have been praising some of their advocates for their commitment to protecting users. Roblox has strict rules and bullying, harassment, discrimination, excessive violence etc. are thoroughly excluded in the game, so such things are hardly seen. In addition, parental control functions are firmly present, such as players under 13 years old need parental approval to receive direct messages from friends.

To maintain these, Roblox uses software filters to censor in-game chats and uses AI to monitor player activity 24/7. In addition, we have censored in-game content by using a moderator unit with over 1,600 human resources. 'Roblox is a leader in the industry,' said law enforcement's praise for Roblox's multi-layered security approach and Steven Grocki, head of the U.S. Department of Justice's child exploitation and obscenity division. ..

According to the Fast Company, Roblox is having a hard time dealing with some users and has had a long-standing technical battle. In particular, sharing content via an external platform such as Discord makes it easier for users to communicate with each other using text, voice, and movies, making it difficult to protect users. Roblox says that it will report malicious users and content by enthusiastically working with other platforms, and will accelerate efforts to protect users in cooperation with external tools, but Fast The Company says that it is 'depending on the external platform' whether 'appropriate action' can be taken, and whether the proper cooperation can be obtained is the key to protecting Roblox.



in Video,   Game, Posted by logu_ii