Games

Ah, they use political propaganda too. One of the most popular games incited a "bias" (best way to say that as manufacturing consent doesn't particularly fit) in one of their most popular games by removing all pay to win features and currency as well as related options and gave everyone equal payments in "worthless currency" and called it socialism.

The game is Bloxburg, I believe. They released popular character items (or sponsored, can't remember) with "We want anti-communism". Reminder that they are imprinting this on young children and have levers/mechanisms in public schools.

It's a plague. So many of my students play it, and it's very hard to compete with it in terms of appealing to young children. Their business model for content makes Roblox a theme park of free games for kids who don't need to go to mum and dad for money or installation permission every time they want to try something new.

I honestly feel like this sort of thing will continue to happen so long as children want to play online and with each other, since moderating is expensive (and therefore not prioritized) and curtailimg completely the ability to communicate gets rid of a big reason kids like playing it.

PAYWALLED.

This was a gut wrenching article.

That one QAA ep about the Roblox right was nuts. I grew up on Halo 2/3, Team Fortress 2, and Garry’s Mod so my brain is straight boiled but it’s not quite anything on this level.

Not prioritizing moderation and not locking down chat for anyone under a certain age is inexcusable. But when I see articles like this and see the law enforcement interviews I can't help but smell a planted article to push for pulling back section 230 protections.

What that won't do is hold big companies truly accountable. What it will do is push piracy, anti-imperialism, anti-racism, anti-zionism, anything that goes against the mainstream narrative and could get companies even conceivably in trouble for hosting it (and I'm not talking just about reddit type hosting in that they provide the code, front-end, etc but any type of hosting including companies that host this lemmy instance) will lead to massive crack-downs on anything outside the mainstream. Which means us. Which means anti-imperialist speech, which means speech against the genocide of Palestinians, etc. Meanwhile take-downs for violent rhetoric from the reactionaries will as usually be untouched or left up a suspiciously long time before being pulled down.

Companies will pre-censor because right now they only get in trouble for not acting in a reasonable timeframe upon notice, if you lose that there is a strong incentive to vet and hit anything that anyone, even a bunch of online Nazi goons crying about commies who are terrorists without further evidence as reason to just stop doing business with that person or group and deplatform them immediately. The powerful will get a second chance and appeal, the powerless will be given the finger.

The problem as usual is capitalism and capitalists and their corporations. The solution as usual under capital we're told we should believe and accept is strip everyone of their rights, further entrench the security state, pass enabling laws to allow better suppression of content that the state finds harmful and after a short period of success basically ignore the original stated reason for passing such things.

Capitalism cannot handle keeping kids safe. Capitalism is a pedophilia loving, pedophile enabling system.

Who could've guessed that not prioritizing moderation is a bad thing

can i suggest amanita design games, like all of it. they make amazing games which can be played and enjoyed by any age group. so far we have played machinarium, chuchel, samorost 3 and creaks. they're all greaat.

i know they're not online multiplayer games but any kid will love their games.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-roblox-exploits-children-w-quintin-smith/id1507621076?i=1000547080283

Tech Won't Save Us did a great episode about Roblox as a digital sweatshop.