Roblox is a game that, at its very core, is very simple to understand and to a certain degree, appreciate. Very loosely, it’s a game where players can come in and do all sorts of things, and then, if they want to, they can make things that add to the overall universe. For many, that includes making game worlds that are inspired by or are direct references to legendary IPs from all over media. The game may have started in 2006, but it’s grown to insane proportions over the years, and that’s led to some…questions…about some of its content. Specifically, its microtransactions, which can be found all over the universe.
Some of these items are akin to standard microtransactions that you can find in AAA titles, including ones made by the Roblox team themselves, like with Robux, and other items or power-ups are specific to games that were made by creator studios. Yet, with the vast majority of the population who plays Roblox being under 13, is this a good idea to have so many options for young kids and teens to spend money on?
To answer that, TechXplore did a special research study that asked this question and more of 22 kids from 7-14. Don’t worry, their parents were involved with everything.
The goal of the experiment was simple. The site gave every kid a gift card and told them to spend it in the game however they wanted and see how it made them feel when they bought certain things. What did they learn? First, they learned that kids are smarter and more “world-weary” than you might think, as one kid straight-up called one of the loot box-themed microtransactions “children gambling.” Others called it a scam, which is kind of backed up by the fact that the game refuses to give out refunds.
Others were quickly overwhelmed by things like conversion rates for spending real money to get Robux and other things. That might sound like a small thing, but the game is a global entity, and so it’s easy to get lost in conversion rates and then accidentally buy more than you intended, or less than you wanted, and thus, have problems on both ends of the spectrum.
While you can read the study in various ways, it’s clear that children can very easily get over their heads, and parents “simply not letting their kids play the game” is easier said than done, especially when your kids are more tech savvy than you are.
