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

BaroqueInMind,
@BaroqueInMind@kbin.social avatar

The next step is becoming a better parent. That's a shit move and you can't stop your kid from playing it behind your back. You simply taught them to find and learn new ways to gaslight and evade you in order to keep playing with their friends.

I guarantee your parents did the same shit to you, and you perpetuate that toxicity.

Nougat,

Says the person with no kids.

BaroqueInMind,
@BaroqueInMind@kbin.social avatar

How many kids do you have?

Nougat,

Three more than you.

BaroqueInMind,
@BaroqueInMind@kbin.social avatar

How old are they?

Nougat,

Why?

BaroqueInMind,
@BaroqueInMind@kbin.social avatar

Wondering what kind of parent you may be. Read through your post history and you sound sane and competent up until approximately minutes ago.

Nougat,

I am large, I contain multitudes.

Chozo,

You sound like exactly the kind of kid who needed his Xbox taken away.

datendefekt,
@datendefekt@lemmy.ml avatar

Gaslighting, toxicity, oh come on. I’m supposed to expect my kid to lie to me?

Just giving my kids into the embrace of peer pressure isn’t love, it’s evading confrontation. Give them a place of trust and understanding, with clear rules they can understand and follow. If my kids are getting their way bending and evading the rules we set, then it’s way too late.

We often say yes, but sometimes we have to say no, and our kids are fine with that.

Grebgreb,
@Grebgreb@hexbear.net avatar

Minecraft

sooper_dooper_roofer,

everybody should play minecraft

GarbageShoot,

Minecraft seems like the obvious choice for kids who liked Roblox. Terraria is another. If they can only play on a server that one of them hosts, then no need to worry about outside users.

Good on you and the other parents for getting that shit out of there, kids don’t need addiction machines trying to pressure them into spending money.

danileonis,
@danileonis@lemmy.ml avatar

Oh, I’m sure we’re all great parents here. I applaud you for admitting a mistake and having the humility to ask for advice, both excellent parenting skills in my opinion.

I believe the answer is always culture. Once better videogames are discovered it’s likely that they will hardly go back to the bad ones (so that the problem of prohibitionism - which is only a temporary solution - can be solved).

Saff,

I dunno if you want him playing a true mmo at that age, but old school RuneScape is currently as popular as ever. Specifically old school though, RS3 has the same sort of problems with micro transactions etc.

can,

The answer is whatever his friends are playing.

WetBeardHairs,

Coincidentally they got banned from Roblox at the same time! One of them dumped $50 in an afternoon on the game then had the audacity to ask for more money. So his whole social circle got booted from that cesspit on the same day. Me and their parents are trying to find good substitutes.

can,

This is some good context. I’m not too familiar with roblox but I understand it’s more of a platform than a single game. How are they accessing microtransactions? If that can’t be prevented than that’s a bigger problem.

WetBeardHairs,

From my understanding, that kid was given an apple giftcard so it didnt actually hit his parent’s credit cards. I monitor my kid’s microtransactions and I give him opportunities to earn money he can use for microtransactions of his choosings.

schmidtster,

Wait so you let them use the money how they wanted and now you’re mad at them for spending it how they wanted and how you told them…?

That’s a fucked up lesson and a half, you clearly didn’t learn your lesson and are now teaching the kid they will be punished for following instructions.

Well fucking done.

WetBeardHairs,

My kid didn’t do the microtransaction fuckup. He just got addicted to a shitty game that me and his friends’ parents also hated. One of his friends burnt a pile of cash which instigated all of us saying that it is time to end it. I mentioned this several times now in the thread.

schmidtster,

Yeah you mentioned the kid spent their gift card how they wanted with permission from their parents, and you do the same thing, and is now being punished for it. Thats shitty parenting, you’re not banning them because they spent a little money.

This was just the excuse you needed, be a better parent and don’t make up shit.

WetBeardHairs,

deleted_by_moderator

    •
    schmidtster,

    You started you post off just making fun of the game, we know your biased intent here.

    You said a kid blew a gift card, and you let your kid spent money on microtransactions already. This is called a parallel, you don’t seem to comprehend you let your kid already do this as well…. What difference does the game make? You already let it happen, fornite, Roblox, Minecraft no difference. Yet you took offense to one single game.

    The issue here is your parenting, it has nothing to do with the game, you said it yourself lmfao.

    WetBeardHairs,

    deleted_by_moderator

    •
    Kyatto,

    That other commentor is a child or clearly never grew up. The internet is definitely not the same as when I was younger, kids don’t have the understanding of money or knowledge of predatory psychological techniques that are used to make vulnerable people, or children, part ways with what they have earned.

    You sound like a great dad who’s taking an interest and involvement in your kids hobbies and I love that. There needs to be some sort of course, or game would probably be better, designed to teach children about the sort of things we see these days.

    Personally I’m pretty susceptible to that sort of stuff so I use adblock and try to shy away from gacha type things. Microtransactions are hell.

    520,

    Roblox is a money-grubbing cesspit filled with manipulation. Even if you do close off the MTX route, it opens the door for someone to send a virus and say it'll get you free Robux (the Roblox in-game currency)

    xaxl,

    That kid is now known as the kid who got Roblox banned among their group of friends, not a nice thing to known for. This will be seen as a punishment by them regardless of how you frame it especially once the other kids at their school become aware of it.

    Ouch. Good luck navigating this one as your kids get older.

    datendefekt,
    @datendefekt@lemmy.ml avatar

    I’m not so sure about that. My kids had other kids in their class playing Fortnite - in second grade!

    And if my kid were 10 and all his friends were playing Diablo IV or GTA my answer would be a steadfast no.

    popcap200,

    I’m still confused as to why you guys don’t just ban the spending of money on micro transactions and not the game itself? Every game is jam PACKED with mtx these days, from CoD to Fortnite to Forza.

    JamesBean,
    @JamesBean@kbin.social avatar

    Every *multiplayer game

    I play about a hundred games a year, and haven't opened a game with microtransactions in about half a decade.

    Carnelian,

    My squad has been addicted to Phasmophobia since Halloween, no microtransactions in sight!

    WetBeardHairs,

    Lol I think survival horror might be a few years too early for him and his cohorts

    Carnelian,

    It builds character! Lol but, yeah phasmo is too intense for many of my adult friends, even.

    Out of curiosity, do you generally know what he was doing on Roblox? I’ve heard of several horror games being remade within Roblox, such as Iron Lung. I’ve wondered what the limitations are. I definitely remember stumbling into some intense things when I was around that age, but the landscape is so different now

    WetBeardHairs,

    He was wasting time playing shitty games because his other friends played those same shitty games. I was taken aback at how mind numbingly shitty those games were. We were in the same room as an Xbox with gamepass and a Nintendo Switch and he chose to play some seriously bad games instead because his friend was addicted to it. Then he became addicted to it. Luckily, that whole friends group will now have much, much better games to play.

    WetBeardHairs,

    Personally, I want my kid to be able to buy a few things every now and then. Roblox got the axe for multiple reasons - mtx was only one aspect. He gets a vbuck or two with his allowance if he wants to earn them. It helps him get a healthy view of how little mtx are really worth, but a cosmetic here or there is kind of fun.

    popcap200,

    Oh duh. Also, I forgot you said it was because you didn’t feel the gameplay/game itself was quality enough, which is fair enough, but I’m not too familiar with Roblox as I’ve never played it.

    the16bitgamer,

    peer pressure. I fell for it in my TF2 days in high school. A buck there a few bucks there, all for a hat with particle effects that I never got. All because one of my friends I was playing with had one, and I wanted one too.

    I learned a valuable lesson, but I was also 15/16 and had the ability of self reflection (and wanting to get Skyrim for $5 instead of a key). Can’t expect this level of self control from most teenagers, let alone a 10 year old.

    moody,

    Roblox is well-known for predatory practices aimed at children, and predatory behavior from other users who may or may not be looking for children to abuse.

    Banning Roblox entirely seems like a very reasonable thing to do IMO.

    ElusiveClarity,

    My brother and I started playing Grounded together as a way to just chill and catch up throughout the week. We were shocked with how much content was actually in the game. It’s like Valheim mixed with Honey I Shrunk The Kids, 4 player online coop, base building, survival. It has a storyline so there’s always a sense of direction and it syncs the world with everyone regardless of who plays so it’s easy to just come and go. I could definitely see a group of 10 year olds getting sucked into this.

    WetBeardHairs,

    Oh that looks really good. Thanks for the recommendation.

    Daryl76679,

    Besides the obvious Minecraft recommendation, maybe Terraria, Satisfactory, and if you’re willing to allow it, something like Smite would be another good option for him to play with his friends.

    JamesBean, (edited )
    @JamesBean@kbin.social avatar

    At that age, maybe Among Us or Minecraft?

    WetBeardHairs,

    Those are already commonly played by him and his friends, so you were right to suggest them.

    magnetosphere,
    @magnetosphere@kbin.social avatar

    For a second I confused Among Us with The Last of Us. I thought that was a pretty messed up suggestion for a little kid lol

    FigMcLargeHuge,

    Definitely have to get him Valheim, and they have an Xbox version now. Also, not multiplayer, but Kerbal Space Program is pretty fun. I have only played the PC version though, so can’t speak to the console version.

    WetBeardHairs,

    Oh I forgot valheim was multiplayer. Thanks. He even played it for a little while so I’ll have to get that one going again

    mp3, (edited )
    @mp3@lemmy.ca avatar

    My oldest kid (6yo) is currently having fun with Goat Simulator ¯_(ツ)_/¯ and yes, I bought the expansions.

    He doesn’t play online yet, but I have Minecraft on the PS4 so that may be an option later on.

    Other options I can think of that would be appropriate and multiplayer

    • Rocket League
    • Fall Guys
    • Party Animals
    • Portal 2
    • Astroneer
    • Human Fall Flat
    the16bitgamer,

    What might be a good idea is to try Game Pass for a few months and see what they settle on. Then for Birthdays or Christmas, get them the games they played the most. Not sure how parental controls are like on it, but I hope they exists.

    That being said, outside of Nintendo, there aren’t many Online games which don’t demand their users to pay for cosmetics with fake in game currency. See CTR Nitro Fuelled, Fortnight, Call of Duty, Overwatch and Minecraft skins.

    With that said if changing your system isn’t an option, Minecraft Bedrock Edition the only game I am familiar with. There is a skin store, but you can’t earn in game currency from just playing (from my knowledge). So if they don’t have access to the credit card, they won’t be tempted, plus the base game has enough options that you can customize your character well enough.

    If you can get a switch (and friends have one already), Splatoon 2/3, Mario Kart 8, and Animal Crossing are all friendly non-microtransaction laden games.

    WetBeardHairs,

    Has Nintendo made their online system any less crappy lately? Do they have voice chat or is it still “Use discord”? I say this as a lifetime player of Nintendo games. In the meantime, I’ve got like 3 years of Game Pass because I did the xbox live upgrade to get it for cheap.

    JungleJim,

    As a diehard Nintendo fan, not really

    WetBeardHairs,

    Dangit, Nintendo.

    the16bitgamer,

    Technically you can voice chat with friends over discord the Nintendo Switch online app.

    But yeah I use anything that isn’t their service for voice chat.

    WetBeardHairs,

    Seems like it would be hard to use a wired headset to listen to the game sounds/music and voicechat at the same time.

    Kyatto,

    Possible, but janky

    female to 2 male headphone y splitter

    YtA4QCam2A9j7EfTgHrH,

    Sniper Elite Five is fun. It only has gore when you are shooting Nazis and it is always morally good to shoot Nazis.

    WetBeardHairs,

    Shooting nazis is acceptable. I’ll get him Wolfenstein one of these days when he’s a little older.

    Lunar,

    No Man’s Sky?

    WetBeardHairs,

    We actually tried it on gamepass and my son was only kind of interested. Thanks for the recommendation though

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