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by vyrotek 1744 days ago
Great video! I have 3 kids who are obsessed with Roblox. It's a lot of fun but we don't spend any money on it. Coincidentally my 13yo just took an interest in making Roblox games this week. She figured it all out on her own and got something published. I personally dabble with some Unity dev so if course I encouraged it. It's fun to make stuff for others. 2 players tried it.

But, this video has given me a lot to think about. I always wondered what the marketplace actually looked like. I tried to set reasonable time expectations for my daughter and make sure she was doing this more for fun and learning than to make money. This has soured my perception of the company.
3 comments
tapland 1744 days ago
Queued the video for watching tonight, but I heard about a local middle school kid making more than his parents by making roblox mods (being one of few top creators).

I hope it gets more kids to try programming, but If you can get compensated it sucks if it isn't reasonable and fair.

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bko 1744 days ago
Unfortunately discoverability and a saturated app store market is the norm everywhere. The video states that most developers there don't make any money, but that means Roblox also doesn't make any money, so I can't see how its exploitation.

If my kid was into creating games or art, I would encourage him. Kind of like running a lemonade stand, you're not going to get rich. You'll probably even lose money. A cynic would say you're enriching big sugar, but I think it's a good experience and something fun to do. Certainly better than being a consumer.

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atatatat 1744 days ago
> so I can't see how its exploitation.

Erlich Bachman?

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majkinetor 1744 days ago
Yet, roblux obsession turned into game making. You as father didn't do it with your Unity dev skills but roblux did it and yet you seem to complain now, while still appreciating the outcome ... strange.

Working for nothing - that used to be a required thing for any job. FOSS people still do it and nobody thinks Github is exploiting. In todays world they call it exploitation but it was considered learning before.

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