Roblox has been getting a lot of heat in the past few months, but it seems things are about to get worse. In a conversation for the Hard Fork podcast, the Roblox Corp CEO said gambling (with no money involved) could be a fun and “educational” idea to put into the game that is primarily aimed at kids.
Speaking to Kevin Roose and Casey Newton of the Hard Fork podcast, Roblox Corp chief executive David Baszucki commented on various topics related to the game, including its reputation in light of numerous accusations of the company mismanaging the presence and activities of child sexual predators in the game.
When Newton described Roblox as the “place where predators go to find kids,” while explaining the lawsuits that the company was caught up in, Baszucki said he “categorically reject[s]” that description of what is happening, saying the news “would portray it that way,” and that Roblox has been “doing an incredible job at innovating” to combat these problems.
He appears not to believe the problem of sexual predators on the platform is as significant as reports, though he did add how Roblox was implementing various measures to confirm users’ ages and identities, from AI facial scans to other backend systems.
As the conversation continued, things got a little tense, and Baszucki was hit with what Roose described as a “silly joke question,” to which the executive seems to have replied more than sincerely. The question was whether Roblox would introduce a prediction market that would permit kids to bet their Robux on various activities and games within the platform.
And to my surprise, instead of categorically rejecting it like he did with the above, Baszucki said it “sounds very fun and obvious.”
“I love that,” the CEO continued, “I actually think it’s a brilliant idea if it can be done in an educational way that’s legal. And so, imagine no free Robux (the game’s paid currency), no free prizes, just a game called Dress to Impress Predictor, where it’s not like trying to get kids’ money or anything like that. I would be a big fan of it.”
This isn’t even the first surprising thing to have come out of Roblox Corp. The same CEO who seems to think gambling can be educational if done right and with no money involved, said Roblox could introduce virtual dating for folks who are afraid to approach and start things off in real life (via DualShockers).
Naturally, a child-oriented platform with over 150 million users would be perfect for adult dating, and mechanisms would surely segregate adult internet from children, as it has done so in the past. Obligatory /s here.
Roblox is also currently facing lawsuits, particularly one launched by Louisiana, which alleged the company allowed child predators to “thrive.”
