Roblox – A Conversation

If you are a parent to a preteen or teenager, no doubt you have heard the word ‘Roblox‘. Love it or hate it, our kids are playing games online. It is a part of their normal world. Fortnite. Minecraft. Roblox. The list goes on. If you’ve been away from Planet Earth for a while and never heard of it, Common Sense Media explain the game here.

This weekend I had three 11-12 year olds in the house. My son and two of his buddies. I took them out for breakfast this morning and in the car on the way there, all they were nattering about was their online Bloxburg world (one of the games within Roblox). What struck me, apart from the fact that I sometimes felt like they are speaking a foreign language, was that so much of what they were discussing mirrored real-life, innocent, grown-up stuff. Building stuff. Together. These three pals spend a lot of their Bloxburg time being social and creative. They connect on different devices and play in the same online space. Two of them sold their own ‘properties’ so they could become ‘roommates’ with the third and work on creating a house together. This is what they have built so far. It only has two bedrooms, so they are currently figuring out the best way to create an extra bedroom for the third boy.

They also chatted about which rooms needed more furniture, appliances, decoration, and which rooms needed upgrading. They talked about how they could sell ‘old’ stuff in order to save up more money to buy the new things they wanted.

Saving for things. Together. They work as a cohesive team collaborating and communicating effectively to problem-solve for the good of the team, rather than the individual. They all talked about how they were saving up their Bloxburg dollars (Bloxburg’s currency). They were weighing up the pros and cons of buying cheaper, less cool, items for their home. They talked about how they had saved up and bought the very best TV available. Fast forward ten years to when they are furnishing their own real-life homes. 

Some great conversation revolved around two of them trying to convince my son to sell his ‘tent’ as it is apparently worth a fair amount. He whined ‘but I like my tent’ before realising he would need a stronger argument than that! He then proceeded to list a whole ton of legitimate reasons, beneficial to the group, on why they should keep it. Persuasive dialogue. For now, the tent stays.

They earn a wage. These boys got very animated when they started telling me about their ‘jobs’. In order to earn more dollars, they work. Supermarket cashier, pizza delivery guy, mechanic. They then have to manage their money, buying food, and save up for those must-have items. I should mention here that the boys are very aware that there is, potentially, REAL money to be made from playing on Roblox, and have their sights set on becoming members of the ‘Outrageous Builders Club’. My son is convinced he is going to be a millionaire gamer/YouTuber one day.

It simulates a real world.  In my son’s ‘bedroom’, he has a weight station. He loses ‘energy’ points but gains ‘strength’ points whenever he ‘lifts weights’. They take ‘food’ from the ‘fridge’ in the ‘kitchen’ and ‘cook’ on the ‘stove’, then ‘eat’ it to gain more energy.

As with all online games, parental supervision is imperative. My son plays Roblox and other online games in the (real) living room, where I can see his screen and hear what is going on. We have regular conversations about how to keep safe, responsible, and respectful online. Removing the technology is not the answer and will just lead to battles and, potentially, secret and less safe online gaming. Teaching him how to use it properly is a more trustful approach. Setting boundaries. Together. 

Online gaming is here to stay. So let’s help our kids to navigate it more securely.

Images credit: LionKnight07

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