Whenever Roblox comes up on HN I am compelled to take the opportunity to try and remind people that Roblox is not safe for children. Yes, you may have parental controls, watch every single moment of your kids' gameplay, and have kids that immediately log of at the first sign of sexual content. This comment is not for you.<p>If however, you think that Roblox is a bit creepy, weird, and not appropriate for your kids, then keep them as far away as possible - your instinct is right (it is probably worse than that). Roblox may not be a "paedophile hellscape" (I think that it is), but it is definitely an onramp for sexual exploitation. There are paedophile rings that target certain types of people and behaviours and groom them. My daughter was caught up in such a ring (12 y/o UK. Ring traced to Indonesia). Nothing in Roblox addresses (or can even) the underlying mechanics and social engineering that is going on. The linked OP contains a lot of related links and material. Go and read it.<p>My previous post on the subject <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32015542">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32015542</a>
"In addition to inflating the reported number of “people” on its platform, we also suspect Roblox massively inflates a second key metric, “engagement hours”."<p>Well maybe, but I have absolutely no doubt the engagement hours are still massive. Roblox is one of the main online destinations for kids these days, above even minecraft servers it seems.<p>The "paedophile hellscape" seems like a short-seller slur to me. No doubt there is some element of this on such a big platform, but it seems vastly overblown to me. I have yet to see anything really suspicious, with kids of my own, and also using roblox/roblox studio in coding clubs.<p>The payout % for creators, well that could be labelled a hellscape perhaps...
The pedophile stuff is one thing, but the lying to investors stuff is what I think is most likely to actually have an effect on the company. Pretty egregious stuff on both fronts, regardless.
I am absolutely against the whole "oh won't somebody please think of the children!?" mentality... But the Roblox situation is simply "oh won't somebody please think!?".<p>This is either:<p>the Nazi bar problem brought to its logical conclusion.<p>Greed and ignorance.<p>Or somebody high up in the company is really into this stuff...<p>Or something else I can't even fathom.