I banned my kid from Roblox.... what next?

As we all know, Roblox is garbage tier gameplay structured around psychological cues to get children to fill an endless pit with fake money bought with real money.

So I banned my kid from it. He used it a little bit socially with a few friends of his. What online or local multiplayer games should I help him to replace it with? (He’s 10, so please don’t recommend Diablo 4 or anything else that has quite that much gore)

He and his friends have an Xbox Series X|S at home.

Edit: keep your judgemental shit out of here. His whole social group (5 kids he knows from school) got banned on the same day. Me and the other parents are trying to be nice and replace it with better quality games so it isn’t just a punishment.

Edit2: Thanks guys. I got him Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge

parpol,

To be honest, you’re probably better off letting your kid play whatever game they like, including garbage like roblox or diablo 4. Just make it very clear that no money will be spent on any microtransactions whatsoever and feed them the idea that spending real money is cheating.

Omega_Haxors, (edited )

On one hand it can be damaging to take away opportunities from kids, on the other hand roblox is massive groomer haven; I genuinely don’t think the kinds of connections they would make there would be worth the long term harm that may result for being involved in that shit.

Ultimately I think you did the right thing by banning it. You’re locking out like a 10th of their social life but those aren’t contacts they want.

WetBeardHairs,

Yeah we’re giving him and his friends alternative multiplayer games to have fun on with each other. It’s not like we’re killing his social circle - we’re just upgrading the forum.

XTL,

Do you know any of the friends’ parents? Maybe you can all gather some ideas together and have a more uniform policy on what’s banned and what might be fun alternatives.

WetBeardHairs,

That’s 100% the plan. The robloxocalypse occured as a joint venture between myself and the other parents.

parpol,

I can almost guarantee that banning the game will draw them towards playing it even more, and kids have all the time in the world to do so.

tacosanonymous,

I agree with this. Roblox is huge and often how kids of an age socialize/play. Teach them why mtx aren’t okay, and protect yourself from having to pay.

Get them into some irl stuff too. DND group, sports, book clubs, etc.

CrypticCoffee, (edited )

Try Minetest - www.minetest.net

It’s a FOSS voxel engine, so they can play multiplayer with their friends for free. MineClone2 is a Minecraft clone on Minetest, so even if their friends don’t have Minecraft, they can still play with friends.

For paid games, consider indie games, as they’re less likely to be micro-transaction bullshit. Raft, Stardew Valley, Two Point Hospital are good options. Not so much multiplayer, but Stardew supports it. Multiplayer wise, maybe Among Us if the parents are comfortable with that.

robot_dog_with_gun,

give him an apple 2 and make him learn how to use a command line

WetBeardHairs,

Not until after he can patch RCT1’s assembly

Tathas,

Pshtt, not until he dies of dysentery once or twice.

Nomad,

Space engineers. Great game for cooperation amd if they work well enough they can get a working spaceship going together and explore the universe.

FigMcLargeHuge,

Who the hell would downvote this suggestion??? Space Engineers is a great game.

NateSwift,

Is it on xbox?

FigMcLargeHuge,

Not a clue. I have it on steam.

EnderMB,

Given that you’ve got some great answers already, there seems to be very few guides on how to deal with this sort of shit as a parent.

Gaming today is very different to what we grew up with, particularly microtransactions, and I think a lot of people would be surprised at how many kids spend insane amounts of money on things like FUT packs, VBucks, etc. Much of this is down to peer pressure, so saying shit like “my kid will never pay money on microtransactions” is wishful thinking.

TORFdot0,

Kids also have different attitudes on what constitutes value to them. So while parents see robux as total ripoff, kids don’t have the experience of playing a game and receiving the whole thing and not being expected to pay real money to skip the hard parts.

Kids aren’t the only ones who waste their money on frivolous gaming transactions though. Millions of adults by battlepasses for games or we wouldn’t have that crap in games either.

WetBeardHairs,

Yeah that’s why I let my kid do specific chores to earn money for mtx. So he has his dripfeed to support whatever costumes or other mtx he sees - but not enough to get truly addicted. Plus I have been very forward with him that the money he spends on mtx is literally worthless the moment he buys it - so I give him normal allowance at a higher rate than his small mtx earnings. My goal is to balance it out so he can have non-standard skins and not feel made fun of for it, but also not grow psychologically dependent on them like some kids.

Scary_le_Poo,
@Scary_le_Poo@beehaw.org avatar

Maybe introduce him to Beyond All Reason? It’s an RTS in the vein of Total Annihilation. Free and open source and very good looking.

WetBeardHairs,

Beyond All Reason

That game looks awesome. I need to check it out.

GrayBackgroundMusic,

fill an endless pit with fake money bought with real money.

Honest question, if the money is the issue, then why not let him play the free stuff and not spend money on it?

WetBeardHairs,

I’m crumudgeony enough to remember when buying a game was buying a game. I disliked it when mobile games slowly changed into monitization via microtransactions. Heck, I remember buying games for full price and then they got changed to ftp overnight with mtx. That kind of stuff drove me nuts and I am firmly anti-mtx. That said, I let my kid earn money he can use on mtx for cosmetics and stuff on Fortnite. But it is a dedicated pool of money for mtx, his actual money kept separate so he can buy ice cream or save for bigger purchases without worry. Roblox on the other hand, is a company that exploits children for their labor to create the games and it hires psychologists to ensure kids dump as much money into it as possible all while having no moderation. Roblox is awful. Microtransactions in children’s games are harmful and exploitive. I’m letting my kid get a drip feed so he can get the little benefit from having non-stock costumes in fortnite while also having the learning experience that in games with mtx, you can never have enough - without him becoming a whale.

rubikcuber, (edited )
@rubikcuber@feddit.uk avatar

I’ve recently banned my kid from playing it too. I had only just unlocked it for the first time. I had previously blocked it because it was, IMHO, terrible. As a professional gamedev I find it offensively bad. But I relented, because lots of his friends were playing it. However, and this may be the experiences he was playing, it seems to be almost exclusively training kids up for gambling. Pretty much everything is dopamine based rewards. It’s like a casino. It’s worst than I ever imagined. I’m this close to banning online play in Minecraft because he is similarly gravitating to the same sort of experiences. In our case it’s not about money, he hasn’t spent a cent on these things. But the content is very problematic, I have concerns that it is encouraging developing minds that gambling is the norm.

WetBeardHairs,

I’m not a gamedev, but I do software development and you really echo my distaste for roblox very succinctly.

BleatingZombie,

It’s also just an extremely dangerous platform. They have a stock market, game mode development with children employing children (clearly neither one understands employment laws), and unsurprisingly a ton of pedophiles

unreasonabro,

why let your child play shit games

why not teach your child what good gaming can be

why just not care what your child spends his time doing

good grief

Coskii, (edited )
@Coskii@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

It would be helpful to understand what types of games the kid was playing in the first place to suggest alternatives. I ripped this answer from quora on how to see which games within roblox your child was playing

  • Game History: Roblox used to have a “Game History” feature that allowed users to view a list of recently played games. This feature showed the last few games you played, but it was limited in terms of historical data. It’s worth checking if this feature is still available in your account settings.
  • Roblox Account Activity: You can check your Roblox account’s activity feed, which may show some information about recent game interactions and achievements. However, this feed typically doesn’t display a comprehensive game history.
  • Roblox API: Some third-party websites and tools may offer services that attempt to retrieve and display more extensive game history data by accessing Roblox’s API. Be cautious when using third-party services and make sure they are reputable and secure.

I went looking for any kind of account tracker and to no one’s surprise they are mostly about account value from items, not so much about worlds/experiences they have been on.

Most of the responses I’ve seen on here are just suggesting games which may or may not be to your kids looking purely based on those games being generally accepted as good.

jack,

If you’re that kind of person, throw away the Xbox too, pure garbage. Everyone deserves the open environment of a PC where one can tinker and learn about the system, maybe even make some mods for games.

danque,
@danque@lemmy.world avatar

I haven’t seen the latest Roblox but when I was a kid 15 years ago it was great! Played lots of gamemodes with people. Has it really become that bad?

Coskii,
@Coskii@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

The method to it’s madness is fairly underhanded to adults, much more so for its’ intended audience.

I wish I could find the video that did a basic deep dive on all (negative) aspects of the roblox community, from the robux, to the game makers potential for being exploited, and the oddly nft/stock market of cosmetics which are a massive fomo money sink. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t aimed at children, but because it is, that only makes the handful of bad/fringe cases even more unsettling.

It’s no big secret that kids are dumb enough to try and get robux for free from almost any link saying they can online. But the incentive is there for them to try.

Removing roblox from a kids library is a good thing for peace of mind. Plus there are plenty of other games out there to play with friends and depending on how they spent their time on roblox, it likely wouldn’t be terribly hard to match to another game within whatever genre they were playing.

sooper_dooper_roofer,

I don’t think there’s a problem with restricting internet access for your kids, especially if you can get other parents (of your kids friends) to do it too

AlexWIWA,

Self hosted Minecraft server for socializing. Mod the shit out of it

Factorio if you want your kid to have a severe addiction.

Red Alert 2 because I want the world to play it.

Ace Combat because it’s hype and plays well with a controller.

Bloons tower defense

GreenEnigma,

Factorio teaches programming?

Lazz45,

You can learn to create logic circuits in order to aid automation

YtA4QCam2A9j7EfTgHrH,

I’m a professional programmer and factorio scratches the same itch as designing systems.

It teaches you about constraints, modular design, pub sub architectures, input output flow, etc.

AlexWIWA,

Not really. It will feel like programming if you already know how to program, but I don’t think it will teach you programming anymore than any other problem solving activity.

alekwithak,

I’m putting up a minecraft server for my kid and her friends, but I don’t really play myself other than than. Few creative builds so I’m curious if you could please expand for me what exactly you mean when you say to mod the shit out of it. Is it enough to create rules or am I going to have to actively moderate their play?

AlexWIWA, (edited )

Mod as in install mods that modify the game. My favorite is the map and waypoint mod that adds basically Google maps to Minecraft.

Or the Create mod.

I’d also install the automatic world backup mod so if someone ever griefs the server you can just roll it back

Renacles,

I haven’t seen Splatoon being recommended here, it’s a ton of fun and has no micrograms actions. You can but your kid a Switch for cheap nowadays.

SPRUNT,

No Man’s Sky is fantastic now.

jackpot,
@jackpot@lemmy.ml avatar

your edit shouldnt be so aggressive, no one knew that and as we didnt know it wasnt judgemental to be mad

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