The Manipulative Design of Roblox

for millions of children around the world the following statement is very real [Music] blocks if you've ever told your doctor dentist or anyone over the age of 40 that you enjoy video games chances are you've heard them respond that their kids are always playing Roblox just robloxing it up doing whatever it is they do on that game I consider myself pretty knowledgeable on the gaming industry as a whole and the variety of [ __ ] I've discovered on Roblox good bad and ugly has blown my [ __ ] mind I don't think I could properly explain to my parents the concept of my friend accidentally walking through a sponsored portal to the h m Dimension if I tried I just went to a portal you went to the h m store bro h m portal oh [ __ ] how are you back I'm from someone who played Roblox as a kid why is my snowman face worth two hundred dollars while Roblox can often feel removed from the rest of the gaming World due to its younger demographic it's an absolutely Monumental Force it's difficult to internalize the platform's sheer scale of over 60 million daily users but that number puts it on par with the entirety of steam within its infinite array of individual experiences top ones like Brookhaven and blocks fruits would easily land at the top of steam's player charts just below CS go an all-encompassing video essay about Roblox would take hours upon hours and would need to delve into the exploitation of young game developers digital economies Black Market trading websites copyright infringement and much much more however for the purposes of keeping this video organized and maybe a little bit funny I want to talk about the actual games on Roblox what it's like to play the various experiences on this bizarre platform and share some personal thoughts on how I think a lot of them are um how do I put this not good but first I want to cover some of the things that actually impressed me about Roblox before I spend the majority of my time telling you why 99 of experiences are glorified hamster wheels smothered in a thick layer of I can't believe it's not gambling as they hang over the precipice of copyright hell when I was growing up the top Roblox games were Bare Bones simulators and obstacle courses made of unshaded digital Legos by a single teenager in their free time but now thanks to a standalone creation engine and the combined efforts of small Studios and Dev teams the games can look like this I swear this isn't Call of Duty it's Roblox and that's the initial wow factor Roblox isn't just a level editor it's a platform for entire games and social experiences generated by its users while many games on Roblox directly rip the assets of their Inspirations to create horrifying amalgamations of popular media some are just inspired one game I found that had significantly less players than most games on the front page was robot 64. a 3D platformer heavily inspired by you guessed it Mario 64. while the first level is basically just bomb on Battlefield the general movement and controls are surprisingly enjoyable and it's fun to run around doing little platforming challenges and quests while you can see your friends doing them alongside you there's also a run-based horror game called doors where you and up to three friends try to make it through a hundred randomly generated rooms filled with mazes and puzzles while being chased by monsters while it's still in some form of alpha or beta doors is pretty impressive in its current state and is easily the best game I tried it's also one of the few experiences that actually feels like a real video game with detailed visuals immersive sound design and original music tracks I almost forget I'm playing Roblox until I turn around and see one of my friends with bacon in his hair nice bacon hair bro thanks man you want you want a bite yeah so I don't know if you know what these are but they are they are hinged wood that generally separate one room from another oh we're gonna be walking through a lot of them today okay all right um and here's a clause do we need to hide no reason dude the Ambiance is Top Notch here this is this looks like a real this is crazy wow okay find a closet does that means I'm going to the Lefty right I'm in one how do we know it's safe get out get out of the closet get back in get back in you you guys it's dark it's so dark okay oh my god look away just look away look away don't look at it okay I don't I didn't know what it was I needed a break dude I'm not joking I have one of my headphone ears off you said you were Brave dude get ready to run [ __ ] what the [ __ ] he's so fast oh my God this looks holy [ __ ] he looks a little close yako he's a little close what do you want me to do about it hey we did it that was crazy and to top it all off with the funniest game I played on Roblox raise up Peter now this is a game that I definitely didn't learn about through someone else's video but I just don't think I can put into words the absolute Insanity of an unofficial Family Guy themed Idol game with gardening weather Cycles fishing side quests cave exploration and nine unique endings that 19. yeah this one kind of speaks for itself oh [ __ ] he's like getting hungry already he wants to come get burgers with me watch out for the cars guys I accidentally stole a burger [Laughter] [Music] you can fish what we are all here okay how how's Peter doing on Burgers he's good all right he's fine fishing fishing with the boys where's that noise Lois of microwave Burgers what are you looking for I don't know I don't know secret wealth oh [ __ ] I will now place the 19 how do I do it don't get blast oh my God [Laughter] context I could have given you to have this make sense when it comes down to it it's the multiplayer element that makes even the worst Roblox games fun for short periods of time being able to Fumble around with my friends is the only reason I was able to stomach this many hours of Roblox in the first place I have a new building now encrust and beaming tackle floating into a role play server and wreaking havoc had me and the boys in tears why is there like a girl in my [ __ ] passenger seat with like like a beauty face you guys see this she's looking a little different than the other Roblox characters he's laughing bro she sent the crying laughing emojis let's go babe you and my dancing Axolotl with a shotgun okay guys let's let's go protest oh my God [Laughter] ding Axolotl breaking it down with a cookie strike sign is like just it's doing it for me man boy all these Roblox games are making me hungry if only I had something that was delicious nutritious and easy to prepare hey oh what this is a sponsored segment isn't it well you're in luck because this video is sponsored by Factor fine I'll go film The b-roll too busy to cook want to save money by cutting back on takeout or maybe you're just up editing a video at 3am and only have the energy to make a meal that's ready in two minutes uh yeah that's me with Factor you could choose from a big old list of fresh Chef prepared meals every week and have them delivered straight to your door then all you gotta do is throw that baby in the microwave for a couple minutes and Bam Chipotle pork chop plus Factor offers more than just lunch and dinner options they've got all sorts of add-ons like breakfast items desserts and smoothies with a variety of plans like calorie smart Protein Plus vegan and veggie Factor makes it easy to stick to personal food goals and save time for the things that matter most in life like playing more Zelda I guess I mean this is technically my job if you want to try out factor for yourself head to factor75.com and use code yako cmn50 to get 50 off your first Factor box link is in the description and now back to the guy yelling about a video game for kids yeah but the official site says it's for all ages on paper Roblox looks like an incredible platform they offer a free game engine where kids and adults alike can learn to make games and then experience them with their friends alongside a Creator marketplace where people can share models audio plugins and more I'm a huge fan of user generated levels in games like Mario maker and Little Big Planet So in theory Roblox must be a great collaboratively driven social and creative environment but money is also involved which instantly muddies the waters I'd love to say that this story is All sunshine and Roses but not every game can be as generous as rays of Peter you know while most non-roblox Platformers don't let me run through space listening to Claire de Lune while doing fortnite dances next to my friend they also don't put the hardest level behind a paywall oh it costs ten dollars [ __ ] [ __ ] back when I was on Roblox I spent my monthly allotment of Robux graciously given to me by my mother on in-game outfits for my character you know kids are kind of stupid sometimes and and I'm still stupid as far as I remember that was as far as the money went but today anyone making a game on Roblox can Implement any form of microtransaction they desire in the best case this is a donation button if people enjoyed the game or a way to change the color of your little robot but most cases aren't the best case not only does this inundate every popular experience with constant pop-ups and microtransactions it also influences the way most games are designed for every decently crafted platformer or impressive Call of Duty remake which also come loaded with their own in-app purchases there is a massive ocean of pay to win PVP nightmares pay to skip the grind MMOs and dopamine obliterating Idol games take one of roblox's current top games pet Simulator X with several hundred thousand daily players and over 7.9 billion total visits bro that's almost like the populations of goddamn Earth It's gotta be incredible right well you uh you click on piles of money your pets deal damage to them and then you pick up the money you spend the money to open new areas where you can click on more piles of money and then you roll gotcha eggs for new pets that deal more damage to the piles of money that's that's the whole game I wanna I wanna just I want to just be under it when it happens man I want the [ __ ] shower down okay bro it's gonna be so satisfying the sound effects are gonna be like off the yeah we haven't heard them in a while okay here we go here we go [Music] playing these games feels like the midpoint of recovering from a bad cold like when it's time to go back to school again but you're definitely not feeling a hundred percent your stomach's still kind of off and you've got a stuffy nose and a headache like I actually feel sick when I play Roblox if I ever become a parent I think I got like ban the internet ah dude if I become a parent my kid is gonna [ __ ] get so mad they're not gonna be allowed to play Roblox with all their friends I'm gonna like Sit Them Down say son you have to play Elven ring today Dad I play ROBLOX for Roblox dopamine drip fee I don't know Mario Roblox son or gotcha game daughter oh man so many of the consistently popular games fall under the Tycoon and simulator genres and they all play out exactly the same to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if most of them pull from the same pre-made templates considering they're all structured with identical gotcha pet systems upgrade mechanics UI and fonts oh wait this is dude this is literally oh my God it's actually pet simulator it's the same game it's pet simulator but with nuclear warfare yes dude every mobile game tactic every paid upgrade you can think of they've got I'm talking daily logins playtime rewards wheel spins limited edition gotcha banners temporary boosts permanent account upgrades you can get a Hoverboard to move faster than everyone else my purchase of hoverboard succeeded that was two that was two dollars and fifty cents oh [ __ ] yeah I'm so fast yo what's up dude look how fast I am Holy [ __ ] okay to win [ __ ] even my favorite blue little man isn't safe there's an official Sonic Speed simulator which sounds cool for about five seconds before you realize the platforming worlds are basically empty save for the endless Collectibles you need hundreds of to unlock characters so you just set the game on idle and watch your guy run around and number go up so you can roll the ciao gotcha can't say I didn't expect this from Sonic given his continued stint with mediocre mobile games but I still feel like a disappointed father oh and when I said Pay to Win earlier boy did I mean pay to win Pine and I loaded into a free-for-all PVP game called combat Warriors and after clicking through the daily reward pop-ups and avoiding multiple storefront pages I loaded in with a wooden staff I then died instantly to a dude with a giant anime Sword with a jotoro kill sound and then again to a zero to Death Punch combo and then I don't know tell me if you can figure out what's happening in this one [Applause] what is that sound what there's this word puzzle game right it's called typer dye and the bass concept is kind of fun you get a prompt and you gotta come up with the longest word you can think of to build your Tower and avoid the lava but you can just spend Robux to add 10 blocks to your Tower I feel like I'm going insane even looking past the way many of these games prey on every fomo and addiction tactic Under the Sun even the not half bad ones just feel surreal thanks to their heavy Reliance on popular memes and media franchises to draw in more players without some serious digging through the endless landfill it's hard to find a game that truly feels like its own thing and isn't instead a movement shooter where you attack pngs of Breaking Bad characters or a 3D version of undertale fights or a Sonic Forces Clone with Despicable Me characters where the music is remixes of Happy by Pharrell Williams and the levels are from Mario Odyssey not saying it's bad though like it's probably better than Sonic forces is this like original music no this song is is just Happy by Pharrell Williams oh wait you're right happy in the style of Sonic forces kinda goes crazy that's what I'm saying wait this is this looks like [ __ ] toasterina town from Mario Odyssey Mario yeah I think it is [Music] the strike I mean it's free uh but Counter-Strike is also free so why wouldn't you just play Counter-Strike maybe these games constitute some gray area of fair use but I'm almost at a loss as to how developers can make something like anime Adventures a tower defense where every unit is just a popular anime character and then Implement real money gotcha systems and Roblox just lets that fly I mean easy to do when it's ranking in millions and maybe the copyright lawyers are too afraid to figure out what the hell's going on since any experience is allowed to implement microtransactions kids are sinking money into games that could disappear at the tip of a hat if the repeated natural disasters of copyright enforcement on YouTube and twitch have taught me anything it's that a storm may be on the horizon every once in a while I would find games like microwave dinner a cute little 3D platformer but their player counts always paled in comparison to the Giants why well they're not designed with monetization and retention in mind Roblox may see seem like it focuses on fun but the Creator dashboard tells a slightly different story with plenty of space in both analytics and documentation dedicated to tracking engagement and increasing retention and spending now you can and should make leveling up a more difficult and time-consuming experience as the players get further into the game if you're starting on October 1st and you're designing it such that getting the best item in the event takes them let's say 20 days of Engagement and then the highest one is 571 dollars for one Robux so I'm that's very tempting this is a rotational shop that actually gives the creature kind of a subtle Rarity and every time the player buys a creature the price will go up when I think of fun video game these are not the developer talks I hear in my head with a system that prioritizes these values why waste time making an original work of art when you can draw in more players by rehashing identical game structures and regurgitating fragments of pop culture I'm not looking to apply pity where it isn't needed but I feel bad for the millions of kids that spend their time sifting through this ocean of Filth the video game equivalents of the attention span ruining sludge that plagues short form content platforms like Tick Tock but of all their friends and favorite content creators are on Roblox every day it's gonna be the clear choice not to mention it's free well free until they beg their parents for Robux which is being coaxed out of them as shamelessly as possible by an obscene level of pay to win micro transactions since the whole gambling being illegal for kids thing doesn't apply here I guess and I doubt the parents know this either hell [ __ ] just looks like Minecraft except you can make your character look like an e-girl I played more than my fair share of Roblox games growing up but I also look back at those shitty obstacle courses with a certain fondness at least the worst they asked of me was to join the awesome Ducks Club not Badger me into spending ten dollars to unlock holographic rainbow metal Chrome Mega Cox Sonic in an officially licensed Skinner box I don't think parents should outright ban their kids from playing Roblox as that could mean losing the place where they can connect with their friends online and that kind of opportunity has been super important to me at every point in my life but at the same time I feel like things just can't keep going the way they are I mean they probably will because capitalism but as Roblox continues to expand its reach and Implement new forms of AD space and monetization while major companies like Cartoon Network and Sega continued to create official experiences the site's legitimacy and guise of child friendliness only grows despite its huge variety of unregulated Games characters who are naked who simulate sex acts I love the Roblox sex games no and I didn't even touch on all the topics that people make games investigated in their own videos on how young developers are exploited by independent game studios or how another part of roblox's business model functions off of convincing kid kids that they might be the next big hit so why not spend money to advertise your games and reach millions of players a statement that has been altered to remove the previously included make serious cash maybe I'd have more positive things to say about the in-depth character customization and fashion system if said system didn't heavily revolve around a digital stock market where kids can use premium currency to buy and sell Cosmetics some of which are limited with serial numbers leading to the creation of numerous Black Market sites and Discord servers to sell items for real money and oh my God I was buying nfts when I was 10. with every minute I spend diving into the bizarre world of Roblox I simply become more confused every ounce of research I conduct yields another endless tomb of forbidden texts in a language I cannot comprehend and fart simulator raises more questions than it ever answers maybe Roblox is too broad of a concept to cover in a single YouTube video or maybe I've simply reached my limit if I load into one more game I think my head will actually explode but I did get a comment from someone telling me to play a game called marvelous playground because it feels a lot like rumbleverse so surely that must mean something oh pick one character there's so many I can be movie Sonic I can be is that Steve from stranger things oh I'm I'm claptrap oh my god dude Patrick Bateman from American side oh my god dude click on Steve click on Steve Steve what the [ __ ] hey Martin this is just this is just like this is just like ROM over here this is just I'm ulting I just killed everybody I'm eating the chili dog I need to unlock my Darth Vader yeah let me and to think I could have been playing Zelda this whole time [Music]

Channel: yakkocmn

Views: 673,628

Keywords: roblox, roblox games, roblox monetization, roblox safety, yakkocmn, roblox anime, anime, robux, roblox doors, roblox kids, roblox sonic simulator, sonic, goku, spiderman, microtransactions

Id: cGAXGroHZKA

Length: 24min 18sec (1458 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 16 2023