Keep Kids Off Roblox If You're Worried, Its CEO Tells Parents (bbc.com) 38
Parents who are worried about their children being on Roblox should not let them use it, the chief executive of the gigantic gaming platform has said. From a report: The site, which is the most popular in the UK among young gamers aged eight to 12, has been dogged by claims of some children being exposed to explicit or harmful content through its games, alongside multiple reported allegations of bullying and grooming.
But its co-founder and CEO Dave Baszucki insisted that the company is vigilant in protecting its users and pointed out that "tens of millions" of people have "amazing experiences" on the site. When asked what his message is to parents who don't want their children on the platform, Mr Baszucki said: "My first message would be, if you're not comfortable, don't let your kids be on Roblox." [...] "That sounds a little counter-intuitive, but I would always trust parents to make their own decisions," he told BBC News in an exclusive interview.
But its co-founder and CEO Dave Baszucki insisted that the company is vigilant in protecting its users and pointed out that "tens of millions" of people have "amazing experiences" on the site. When asked what his message is to parents who don't want their children on the platform, Mr Baszucki said: "My first message would be, if you're not comfortable, don't let your kids be on Roblox." [...] "That sounds a little counter-intuitive, but I would always trust parents to make their own decisions," he told BBC News in an exclusive interview.
Dear parents, (Score:5, Insightful)
Parenting is an actual verb. Just a reminder.
Oh, and "verbs" are 'action' words. It means that something is done. Hence, it's something that has to be done. Awarding your kids with the constant feeling that they have some new shit to entertain them isn't parenting.
Re: Dear parents, (Score:2)
Re: Dear parents, (Score:1)
"Cue". Why is this so difficult to get right?
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe there are so many arguments made over and over again he's had to arrange them in a queue? ;-)
Dear incels (Score:2, Interesting)
Parenting is an actual verb. Just a reminder. Oh, and "verbs" are 'action' words. It means that something is done. Hence, it's something that has to be done. Awarding your kids with the constant feeling that they have some new shit to entertain them isn't parenting.
You feel superior now? Good...put those parents in their place. Don't consider the fact that the CEO is talking about predators using the tool to commit literal crimes. If you have confidence you know how to parent or not to, you've clearly either not had kids or were not a very involved parent and let your wife do all the work, so yeah...kindly fuck off. We're not really interested in your judgment and you sound like an asshole and an incel.
Re:Dear incels (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're worried about your kids getting mugged in the alley, don't let your kids go into the alley.
Yes, we try to keep muggers out of the alley too. But even if we remove 100% of the muggers that still won't take away your worry. What will take away your worry is if you don't let your kids go into the alley.
Re: Dear incels (Score:2)
& don't wear that if you don't want to be rape (Score:2, Insightful)
If you're worried about your kids getting mugged in the alley, don't let your kids go into the alley.
Yes, we try to keep muggers out of the alley too. But even if we remove 100% of the muggers that still won't take away your worry. What will take away your worry is if you don't let your kids go into the alley.
The thing people worry about is crimes that happen. Not many parents have the luxury of making up problems these days. If muggings are unheard of, most sane parents would stop worrying about them. Women worry about being raped...outside prison, straight men don't...because it's so improbable. If alley muggings were just as rare, no one would care...same with predators and bullies on Roblox.
What you're saying is adjacent to victim blaming, like blaming a woman for getting raped because she looked too se
Re: & don't wear that if you don't want to be (Score:2)
"Not many parents have the luxury of making up problems these days."
Except conservatives apparently, they will believe any bullshit they are told to, like schools doing transition surgeries on children when they can't in fact even afford paper and teachers have to purchase and donate supplies.
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If you're worried about your kids getting mugged in the alley, don't let your kids go into the alley
Or, don't build a neighborhood that's designed for use by children that has dangerous alleys everywhere.
People have made similar arguments about every safety and health risk in the world. E.g.: don't want to die in a fiery car crash? Drive safely. But that claim - that crashes are primarily caused by people driving dangerously - is factually incorrect (most are caused by dangerous vehicles, dangerous road conditions, or other external factors, such as weather, *other* drivers, or alcohol) and IGNORES the
Re: Dear incels (Score:2)
Most weather-related traffic collisions could be solved by not driving too fast for conditions. Can't blame the rain when you failed to slow down for it.
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What if we ban the existence of open alleys just to be safe? Mandate that property owners close them off or fence them off with a locked gate. Trouble is if we don't: our kids might disobey our orders and go into the alleyways anyways. Your worry cannot ever be entirely eliminated, so long as alleyways accessible to our kids are allowed to exist.
Re: (Score:1)
Fuck off yourself.
If I'm worried about my kids being exposed to XYZ, guess what? It's my job as a fucking parent to make sure the kids aren't exposed to XYZ.
No, it's NOT Glock's job to make sure I don't leave my gun where the kids can access it. It's also not the ammo manufacturers job to make sure the gun isn't loaded when it's left out where kids can get it.
It's MY JOB AS A PARENT to make sure I don't leave loaded guns laying around if I'm worried the kids don't know enough to leave them the fuck alone.
Re: (Score:1)
Ok, but lets look at how big tech and most of the companies these online platforms work.
How would you feel about Glock, if they specifically designed their guns in some way to make it impossible to use a trigger lock?
What if they started making guns with disposable magazines that you could only insert once, and were destroyed if you removed them?
How would you feel if Glock started signed a deal with Disney to silkscreen Frozen characters on the grips and ran ads during Saturday morning cartoons?
That is wher
Re: (Score:2)
While this is true, if Glock made a gun specifically for kids, advertised to kids, and there were relatively easy ways for kids to get it without their parents being involved, and kids kept getting into horrific accidents as a result, you'd expect at least more of a response than "If you don't want your kids using it, don't use it"?
Now, is Roblox that bad? No... but you brought up guns. It not a great analogy.
Roblox does seem to be primarily aimed at kids from what I see - I mean, I'm sure there are some ad
Re: Dear incels (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Ok yes but the challenge here is our children also have their own society, they want to be participant in. It is hard being the only kid not doing something. It is tough being parent and forcing your kid to miss out on interacting with their peers because of a vague threat you can't really identify. It isn't as hard to say 'no you can't ride the motorcycle; you are to small, its dangerous and you could be seriously injured' A child can understand that, and the other parents are also not allowing their 10
Re:Dear parents, (Score:4, Insightful)
Correct. It's your child. It's your responsibility. Be an actual parent, you lazy arse.
Re: (Score:2)
Whatever.. I would have forbade my kids from Roblox anyways. It has a longstanding reputation of not only being unsafe but being ridiculed as a game by the community. Plenty of entertainment that does not involve connecting to the internet or streaming services. They'll be watching endless VHS recordings and old DVD recorder replays of late 1990s up to year 2010 shows complete with commercials which are hopefully entirely products that don't exist anymore, since the ads will be more than 30 yea
Kill the heathen! (Score:2)
HOW DARE HE! Parents should not have to be responsible for their children!
Honestly, I agree with the him. But deep down, I know that he's going to be burned at the stake for daring to tell parents that it's OK to say no to your children if you feel something isn't appropriate for them. While that used to be considered parenting 101, it's now considered aberrant and horrible advice. And while he even stated it in a very reasonable and logical way, I expect him and his company to suffer for having said it. Cu
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Kill the heathen! (Score:2)
The lawsuits come from the same parents that he's addressing, and the lawsuits cost money. A CBA might well support his statement.
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Look, I don't let my kid play Roblox. I understand why it's bad for kids and am perfectly capable of acting on my own in that regard.
That said, this fucker is saying this to cover for the fact that his company knowingly and intentionally markets exploitive business models at children. Young children. There's no regulation around purposefully addictive design decisions, and there's no regulation around marketing video games to children, and there's relatively little regulation around selling worthless bit
Re: Kill the heathen! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Honestly, I agree with the him.
I don't. Parents and the rest of society share responsibility. Parents are responsible for raising their children, and society is responsible for regulating money grubbers who will make it completely impossible for parents if it'll make a buck.
The idea that everything lies on parents and very rich corporations with vastly more resources should be able to do whateverthefucktheywant is not one I agree with.
While that used to be considered parenting 101, it's now considered aber
Yes and no (Score:3)
I agree parents should be involved with and decide what their kids do. I also think it is funny that the guy who "makes crack for kids" tells parents "tell you kids not to smoke the crack"
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Re: (Score:2)
He barely stopped himself before saying "and good luck keeping them from playing Roblox." Kind of like with smoking crack, if it were freely available wherever kids spend most of their time.
There's a flaw in his intuition. (Score:1)
Roblox monetizes free child labor (Score:2)
Parenthood aside (Score:2)
I think it's a legit concern .... (Score:2)
I don't know how many of the people reading/posting here actually have kids? But I have a daughter who is now a young adult, but is very familiar with Roblox -- as it was one of the games she played online often, along with Minecraft and some WoW.
She's the one who became seriously concerned about their platform and how many of the players on it are just sexual predators or out to bully and harass other people on it.
It's not that anyone sane really expects a service like this to babysit 10 million or more us
Yeah I did (Score:2)
I took my kid off of Roblox after I noticed what a shitshow that is in terms of moderation.
However, at some point when Roblox is profiting off of crimes that they know are happening on their platform... at some point they are a criminal organization themselves?
Hope he gets arrested.