Since its creation in 2006, Roblox has been designed as a digital playground where children can play and create games on its simple but blocky game engine. As children play on the site, they can attain the main currency of the platform, Robux. through either purchasing some for real money ($1 is 100 Robux) or generating Robux through creating games and selling game passes.
Over the years, Roblox has become one of the most popular gaming sites, with hundreds of millions of children playing Roblox. With its rise in popularity, the platform now expects an average of 70 million users each day. However, despite the large amount of success Roblox receives, it recently faced a large amount of criticism due to the effects the company’s practices have on the exploitation of children’s labor.
Roblox, despite advertising that their users can earn large sums of money through game creation, takes a 30% cut from all Robux received from game passes and then another 65% cut when users try to convert said Robux into money, leading to a total cut of 75.5% (most other game platforms like Steam take 30%). This coupled with the fact that over half of Roblox’s users are under the age of 13, with its core demographic being users between the ages of nine and 15, means that Roblox mainly profits from the work of children.
Over the course of its existence, Roblox has adopted some highly exploitative practices meant to siphon as much money as possible from children. Although this has proven highly profitable for the platform, parents have begun to no longer trust Roblox to be a safe space for their children. Alongside its exploitative practices, bad actors on the platform have been emotionally manipulating children to incline them to spend longer hours developing their games. Which has led to an overall drop in its stock market value.
Game creation in Roblox is no easy task. The average game on the platform requires a group of developers (many of whom are typically underage) to spend 10 to 12 hours every day on weekends programming their game. Creators usually hire devs through either dev forums on Roblox or outside websites like Discord and Reddit.
Since deals between developers and creators are made with no contracts in place and creators receive all of the Robux a game generates, there have been countless instances of devs being cut off from their pay by creators once a game skyrockets in popularity.
Even after the high amount of work hours and the lack of job security, in order for a game on Roblox to even have a chance of being actively played creators are required to advertise said game on the website, with the only way to purchase advertising being a bid battle with Robux.
Clothing on Roblox is usually very sought after by users due to nearly all games using the avatar that users make in the avatar shop. Nearly all clothing costs Robux, but the most sought after type of accessories are the limited clothing pieces. These pieces are originally sold at a set price until their stock runs out, at which point users with Roblox Premium (a subscription service that gives Robux and other perks for $5-20) can sell them or trade them for a price of their choosing.
The constant purchasing and selling of these limited pieces creates a stock market within the platform based on the popularity of certain items. Since there’s a minimum of 30 thousand Robux to cash out, many devs opt to purchase Premium to spend their Robux on limited accessories before reselling for a higher price in an attempt to turn a profit and cash out.
Stock markets within the platform aren’t the only way to Roblox from the speculation of children online, as many games were created to be simulated casinos. Within these casinos players would gamble Robux in an attempt to earn greater amounts. When parents discovered that their children were spending their afternoons gambling online, a lawsuit was filed which led to Roblox being forced to remove all games that featured gambling with any form of currency that could be purchased with money.
Children on the platform are not just financially manipulated, however. Some have also been emotionally manipulated by others to force them into working even longer hours on their games. Although some users have spoken out about their experiences in this matter, many choose not to speak out for fear that it could lead to future issues in the game development industry.
If Roblox hopes to continue to exist in the future, it needs to begin changing its practices and enforcing punishments for bad actors who try to manipulate children. Once they prove to parents that they are once again a safe platform for their kids, its market value could be repaired. However, Until the platform changes, many will continue to prohibit their children from playing on the site.
