People Make Games, a YouTube channel dedicated to analyzing gaming communities, is accusing the Roblox Corporation of its widely popular online gaming platform being unsafe for children.
Several months ago, the channel conducted an investigation in which it accused Roblox of exploiting young video game developers. Roblox asked People Make Games to take the video about the matter down. They didn’t, instead digging deeper into more stories regarding child safety on the platform.
There’s been a massive problem with Roblox’s moderation for quite some time. In 2017, the company closed its official forums for an undisclosed reason. Since then, creators have taken to private Discord servers and social media for development inquiries, which Roblox Corporation does not moderate. People Make Games says this reportedly leads to children being exploited by external companies for labor, often without knowing it. Content made by child developers, such as cosmetic items, can sell for up to $15,000, according to Eurogamer. Roblox itself reportedly takes a 30 percent cut of all items sold on the Roblox Collectible Market.
You can watch the complete video from People Make Games below. As a word of warning, it contains heavy subject matter regarding child exploitation and could be potentially triggering for some viewers.
The video also dives into the dangers of black markets where sellers put up external websites to avoid Roblox’s 30 percent share. Again, there is no moderation from the company itself to protect younger developers and players.
An anonymous source told People Make Games that the black market is vital to Roblox’s economy.
“Everybody is using these sites from top game developers down,” the anonymous source said via Eurogamer. “Of course, people who get caught doing it, their accounts are banned, so Roblox has to somewhat enforce it, but at the same time most people turn to that because Devex (converting in-game currency to real money) is kind of a gamble in the first place!”
The Roblox Corporation did not respond to most of People Make Games’ inquires on the matter. The company, however, did issue a statement regarding these external sites.
“We also encourage our users to keep their interactions and communications on the platform where we are able to monitor and intervene,” Roblox Corporation said via Eurogamer. “Often, scams and other abuses happen off the platform on other sites with less stringent systems – such as text filters – in place. This is why it is expressly against our policies to direct users offsite.”
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
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