This story has been bubbling on the side for some time it involves a lot of complex topics. The best run-down I've seen is from "Legal Eagle"

But I'm just glad that Ro Khanna is taking it seriously. Because most people are just rolling their eyes because ... well it's *roblox*

For young people following this issue it's very important and they are deeply upset and legitimately in many ways.

It sounds like a circus of an issue but I think ignoring it could be a mistake.

That said. Where does this all end? Very little about Roblox makes it sound like the kind of place where young people can be safe and have fun online. I've brought this up before, but for all of the laws passed to "protect children" and all of the energy spent talking about online safety no one seems sincerely invested in making healthy online spaces.

I think that's because the only way to do that is with *human* moderation.

That said. Where does this all end? Very little about Roblox makes it sound like the kind of place where young people can be safe and have fun online. I've brought this up before, but for all of the laws passed to "protect children" and all of the energy spent talking about online safety no one seems sincerely invested in making healthy online spaces.

I think that's because the only way to do that is with *human* moderation.

@futurebird oh no what's exploding with roblox now?

The endless churn of microtransactions?

The unsustainable cycle of milking underage devs for the next slop hit?

The total lack of functional moderation that lets the worst people run around unchecked?

People Make Games have done some really good journalism on those points, but I would believe it if a brand new horror has emerged on every parent's least favorite FNAF Clone Marketplace.

@ephesossh

Basically a young man, who grew up using roblox was frustrated because there are a LOT of people joking about being child predators on there as well as actual child predators. The joking 4chan like atmosphere enables these things by making it totally unclear to a child what is "normal" It would be easy for a child to think that such things are edgy and cool and some kids have been lured, hurt in real life.

So this young man starts running pedo stings. To catch the people doing it.

@ephesossh

Of course such stings are touchy things, and roblox hates it. They ban him and all of this kids fans ... who see him as the only person who cares about the problem (and they might be right about that) are furious.

This is what I mean about it being messy.

Another messy ugly online space is kick.

It's wild to me that tiktok gets attention but kick, roblox are just somehow fine.

And roblox is worse because it's "made for kids" which means that parents let their guard down more.

Is the user-made Roblox game "too sexual" for teens? Was a user being exploitative? These aren't things you can solve with an automated filter or AI. It takes real time and attention of adults who can make level headed calls about where the line is in each case.

It also takes effort spent to model good community norms.

Instead a lot of young people have been left unsupervised in a fake online casino where "success" is earning a fake currency by making shock content.

@futurebird on the one hand, I applaud this young proto-Batman, but yes it's criminal that the situation came to that at all.

I constantly warn other parents, set a hard boundary with your kids about that garbage platform. Nothing good comes from it, unless you're a stockholder.

@ephesossh

It makes me really sad because the internet can be a magical fun place for young people. And it is understandable that kids would be excited to make games for each other and have a popular game that thousands of people play and talk about. Or even just be on the leader board as the winner of some online gaming contest.

But the space is under-moderated so of course some of these young people have tried to fix it by doing the moderation themselves.

@futurebird The way you describe it made something click for me that hadn't before...

There's this whole mythos around Gen X as latchkey kids who ferally roamed their world. That's been online spaces for those that came after for a number of reasons.

But, the problem is the same as it was then in terms of people who are supposed to be responsible for children being too overworked or too unengaged and offloading kids into environments they play in and others exploit them in.

Is the user-made Roblox game "too sexual" for teens? Was a user being exploitative? These aren't things you can solve with an automated filter or AI. It takes real time and attention of adults who can make level headed calls about where the line is in each case.

It also takes effort spent to model good community norms.

Instead a lot of young people have been left unsupervised in a fake online casino where "success" is earning a fake currency by making shock content.

@clarablackink @futurebird as a parent, it’s tough. You can’t push against stuff too much, for risk of driving their interest into it sky high. You also can’t watch them all the time… it’s just not healthy for them or you. You have to arm them against exploitation as best you can. None of it is easy.

@futurebird My daughter (10) was playing a game on Roblox called something like “Harbor East” which mostly involved criminal rampaging and shooting. We had a talk about it and she stopped playing that particular game and went back to her fashion contest game (which is also a bit problematic, IMO). I think it’s only a matter of time before I ban the whole thing in our house. I don’t know what in particular inspired your thread, but that platform makes me quite nervous as the parent of a rather precious child.

@remote_orb @futurebird I think most of the kids that are successfully targeted tend to lack this type of parenting.

You shouldn't have to watch them all the time or control their behavior. This issue is bigger than individual parenting. We need real communities and accountability for companies (and individual bad actors).

Instead you're mostly abandoned to whatever you as a parent can muster for the duration of your time as one. And, it shouldn't be that way.

Is the user-made Roblox game "too sexual" for teens? Was a user being exploitative? These aren't things you can solve with an automated filter or AI. It takes real time and attention of adults who can make level headed calls about where the line is in each case.

It also takes effort spent to model good community norms.

Instead a lot of young people have been left unsupervised in a fake online casino where "success" is earning a fake currency by making shock content.

@futurebird in my experience the only way to have such online spaces is publically owned funded and operated- human moderation is hard, and costs too much money for anyone to “invest” in it- there’s no profit in it, i think, and so i feel like that’s why it’s not getting done, why club penguin and toon town got shut down.

@bri_seven

I have this crazy notion that managing online spaces should be something kids do in school just like school newspapers and school bake sales. It would mean intentionally creating safe and fun opportunities for young people to learn about how to participate and manage this kind of communication. Just like with face to face communication.

Instead school newspapers are dying with many other extracurricular activities. Because it means investing in human intelligence.

@bri_seven

The young people who are best equipped to be safe online are also those equipped to be safe offline. And, this is becoming an issue of class. Which is very depressing.

The less money you have the more your life is saturated with ads, full of compromises. To have some fun playing a game for a bit you risk getting a computer virus, identity theft or your kids could get exposed to professional creeps.

Roblox thrives because it's cheap and, for some, the only option.

@ephesossh

Then there is the role of discord in making some of these problems worse.

I shudder to think about what is happening in secret discords at any moment. The privacy of these online spaces can make them very dangerous.