Yeah, it's pretty complicated? And 99% of Roblox is, fine? And in some ways educational, social and constructive for kids?
All in all, any regulation will be drawn out. It took 9 months for the actual social media ban to come from idea to law, and it was very popular. In this instance, regulating Roblox hasn't been flagged yet.
But the posturing is starting now, with both a regulator and a minister honing in on them.
I'm glad that these conversations are happening and that some action is likely to be taken. I'm not sure that it should be as extreme as all minors are banned from online games. Maybe the safer thing would be to ban adults from entering servers populated by kids, in the same way that we don't allow random adults from walking into a school. But that's also an incredibly hard thing to regulate and police in an online space.
I'm not a parent and I don't play Roblox. But I do have pretty extensive experience working with children and I've seen the joy that this game (or ecosystem of experiences) can bring to young people when it is played in a safe and welcoming environment. It can be a genuine place of community for them, but I'm not naive to the fact that it can be incredibly harmful to others. I just hope that policy makers are also talking to kids throughout this decision making process. They're the ones who are being impacted by the current setup and who will be impacted by any changes in the future.
Most of us fell in love with video games when we were children. It's important that we make sure the current generation is being protected as much as possible in the games they are playing, but their choices and opinions are also valid in all of this.
So, they've already (to an extent) done this. Adults (as verified by the platform) can't communicate with kids (as verified by the platform). Or at least, that's what Roblox assures. The eSaftey Commissioner will absolutely test those claims. The verdict will be interesting.
And many kids run games with friends on private servers too -- I learned this talking with some parents on this. The major loophole currently, is trading in-game. The explicit content stuff is even more difficult, both to regulate, and again to interpret what's harmful.
And I agree. I think the real shame here, is that the majority of the Australian coverage is written by non-gamers. Or people that don't -- from what I can tell -- actively game, or engage in it with their kids? And that's cool as this is a huge issue for parents, not downplaying the public interest here at all.
But its being covered with the lens that this activity is potentially harmful with no upside whatsoever. In my view, that's a mistake, and somewhat where the balance is missing here.
WTF Australia? How are you that normal and decent?
Yeah, it's pretty complicated? And 99% of Roblox is, fine? And in some ways educational, social and constructive for kids?
All in all, any regulation will be drawn out. It took 9 months for the actual social media ban to come from idea to law, and it was very popular. In this instance, regulating Roblox hasn't been flagged yet.
But the posturing is starting now, with both a regulator and a minister honing in on them.
Thanks to that ban on social media, governments in Europe actually realized you can do that... Thank God, one country had the balls to do it...
If it wasn't for the creepy wild animals anecdotes, I would probably be able to convince my wife to move there :-D
I'm glad that these conversations are happening and that some action is likely to be taken. I'm not sure that it should be as extreme as all minors are banned from online games. Maybe the safer thing would be to ban adults from entering servers populated by kids, in the same way that we don't allow random adults from walking into a school. But that's also an incredibly hard thing to regulate and police in an online space.
I'm not a parent and I don't play Roblox. But I do have pretty extensive experience working with children and I've seen the joy that this game (or ecosystem of experiences) can bring to young people when it is played in a safe and welcoming environment. It can be a genuine place of community for them, but I'm not naive to the fact that it can be incredibly harmful to others. I just hope that policy makers are also talking to kids throughout this decision making process. They're the ones who are being impacted by the current setup and who will be impacted by any changes in the future.
Most of us fell in love with video games when we were children. It's important that we make sure the current generation is being protected as much as possible in the games they are playing, but their choices and opinions are also valid in all of this.
So, they've already (to an extent) done this. Adults (as verified by the platform) can't communicate with kids (as verified by the platform). Or at least, that's what Roblox assures. The eSaftey Commissioner will absolutely test those claims. The verdict will be interesting.
And many kids run games with friends on private servers too -- I learned this talking with some parents on this. The major loophole currently, is trading in-game. The explicit content stuff is even more difficult, both to regulate, and again to interpret what's harmful.
And I agree. I think the real shame here, is that the majority of the Australian coverage is written by non-gamers. Or people that don't -- from what I can tell -- actively game, or engage in it with their kids? And that's cool as this is a huge issue for parents, not downplaying the public interest here at all.
But its being covered with the lens that this activity is potentially harmful with no upside whatsoever. In my view, that's a mistake, and somewhat where the balance is missing here.