Roblox Is Exploiting Young Game Creators, Investigation Finds

The People Make Games channel published a video investigation on YouTube, analyzing the relationship between young game creators in Roblox and the developer, Roblox Corporation. In this video, Quintin Smith details the platform's business model and explains how the company is financially exploiting minors, including children.

• How to play Roblox [Beginners Guide]
• How to avoid unwanted purchases on Roblox

Game makers can profit from microtransactions

Roblox is a gaming platform that has more than 200 million monthly active users, most of which are children. These titles are created and published by the users themselves, who can even earn money by including microtransactions paid for with Robux, the service's virtual currency.

Making money producing games is a common dream, and Roblox appears as a viable option for that. The problem is that to have the least financial return with the creations on the platform, it is necessary to stand out among the more than 20 million games published. As Smith points out in the video, this is extremely difficult.

If the game is successful, the creator will still have one more hurdle: getting people to spend Robux on microtransactions. According to Smith, however, users can only convert the digital currency into real money from 100 Robux, the equivalent of US$ 1.

This minimum amount is quite high, making life difficult for developers thinking about achieving this “goal”. Also, to convert Robux into real money, creators need to pay a monthly subscription of $5.

Smith also explains in the video that Roblox Corporation buys the virtual currency at a different rate than it is sold – that is, players spend $1 to purchase 100 Robux, but the game’s creator only receives $350 in the game. exchange.

Roblox Payment Strategy Is Illegal In Real Life

If the developer doesn't reach the 100 Robux mark, he gets the virtual currency stuck in the account, being able to use the feature only to buy items within Roblox. This, combined with the lack of regulation in the technology sector, means that creators are subjected to practices that are illegal today.

In the video, Smith compared this method to a strategy used in the past by mining companies in the US, which paid employees with coins that could only be used in stores inside factories. It was also possible to exchange the coins for dollars, but, as in Roblox, the exchange put workers at a financial disadvantage.

With this, Roblox Corporation ensures that the money received from the sale of Robux does not leave the company's wallet so easily. In North American mining companies, this strategy was also used to inhibit layoffs, because, when leaving their jobs, workers automatically went into misery because they did not have dollars saved.

In Roblox, users feel obligated to keep developing games until they reach the goal, even without receiving real money for doing so. During the investigation, Smith interviewed an 11-year-old who dreamed of making a living as a creator on Roblox, but failed.

“Even though Roblox encourages you to create games, the likelihood of you making a successful game is basically zero. You always compete with people who already have a lot of money,” said the boy. This is because it is possible to apply money in the form of Robux to games to increase their popularity.

Kids are running out of time to create addictive games

There's another way to make money on Roblox besides microtransactions with Robux: some games are exclusive to subscribers to the platform's premium service — the one that costs $5 a month — and Roblox Corporation pays the creators of those games according to time. spent by users within the game.

So, instead of valuing the most creative and fun games, the company encourages the creation of addictive games, with casino mechanics most of the time. As already discussed in relation to loot boxes, systems that rely on luck and children don't mix as they lack self-control.

As a result, young game creators on Roblox are already experiencing burnouts and crunches without even finishing their studies. To avoid this, it is necessary to regulate these new working relationships based on more traditional activities. Only in this way should video game companies stop exploiting minors.

The full investigation can be seen in the People Make Games video: