An Adults’ Guide to the Curious World of Roblox
What is Roblox and why it will be an essential experience
The listing of Roblox earlier in March 2021 has definitely turned many heads to learn more about this kid’s gaming platform. Most of us, over 25, probably have not played any of their games, much less know of the existence of this platform. Many associate Roblox with Minecraft, considering that some of their games do take on the block-like aesthetics that Minecraft brand itself with. But this is a misconception.
Roblox is not only a game, but a game platform, game engine and a game ecosystem built entirely for kids. In this article, I will share with you three reasons why I believe the Roblox experience will become a prominent experience in the future.
A Digital Playground
I am sure most of us have experienced playing with our friends at a playground. We make friends, form shared experiences and learn how to socialise in these public spaces. You’d get to know kids who live in your neighbour, play with kids that you wouldn’t meet at school and most importantly, have fun. While physical playgrounds give you a very real and grounded experience, they are constrained by the laws of time and physics. I can’t fly to Romania, visit a random playground with other kids, in just 5 seconds. As crude, as it may sound, I can’t jump off a 10 storey building with my friends and laugh at how my limbs fall apart. As such, this constraint has thus created an opportunity for the proliferation of digital playgrounds. And that is where Roblox comes in.
Imagine logging in to Roblox: you see your friends playing Jailbreak. With just one click, you join them! If not, you could play other games and trade pets with someone else from, let’s say, Sweden. You may even become friends with them. Roblox provides limitless experiences for kids to share with their friends. But isn’t that dangerous you might ask. So this brings me to my next point: How Roblox has successfully nurtured a safe and secure ecosystem for kids to play.
Safety Is Everything
If you ever try sending a number in the game chat, you’d realise that it will get filtered out. Anything that resembles your name, address, phone number or other sensitive information will be censored. Pictures are often vetted to ensure safety. Roblox recognises that a safe environment is a key to building this platform and they have definitely invested a lot of resources in ensuring that their technology can provide a secure environment for kids to play in. Through this environment, not only have they created a place where kids love to play games but have also attracted/nurtured hobbyist developers to add on to the ecosystem.
A Unique Ecosystem
If you publish a post looking for a Roblox game developer, you’d most likely receive replies from teens still in school. In my experience, these teens were once Roblox gamers that turned into hobbyist developers. Often balancing schoolwork and freelance work, they make up a big part of the developer community. If you chat with an in-house Roblox staff, chances are they were hobbyist developers turned full-time staff. And this points me to my last and if not, the strongest feature of Roblox: its ecosystem.
The ecosystem Roblox has created is like no other. The ecosystem is designed for social gaming and allows a strong referral rate among games. Roblox fans turn into Roblox creators and create Roblox games, which in turn bring about more fans. The ecosystem reinforces its own growth.
In this ecosystem, transactions are supported with their in-game currency, Robux. You can create cosmetic items and sell them, you can create games and create in-game items for sale, and even create game passes that sell for a certain amount of Robux. With Robux, Roblox has created an environment that allows its developers to earn from their creations. This in turn attracts more developers to develop games for the platform.
Conclusion
With these 3 key pillars, Roblox has huge potential in becoming a household name for every family in the world. In fact, there are many exciting new technologies in the pipeline and I am excited for what’s to come. The world is changing faster than ever with the pandemic and I strongly believe that this will pave the way for new and revolutionary digital experiences to come. How I wish I can be a kid again!
