Digital Child Rapid Analysis series #1 form of experience is obstacle courses, or ‘obbys’.

The
most popular Roblox experiences open to all ages include

ROBLOX: A Rapid Brookhaven RP (a real-life simulator), which has been

visited 45.8B times, Adopt Me! (a virtual pet adoption

Analysis game), visited 35.9B times, and Blox Fruits (an online
roleplaying game) visited 32B times.
Michael Dezuanni, Amy Schoonens, Amanda Levido,
While many experiences are generated by everyday users,
and Tama Leaver
independent and large companies also create
experiences for the platform, including examples such as
In brief: music streaming service Spotify, and soft toy company
• Roblox is a creative game-based platform popular Squishmallows.
among children, with 32.1 million daily active users
under the age of 13. CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATION
• In the second quarter of 2024, Roblox generated
Roblox users can play games, chat with other users, and
revenue of over US $893 million, largely through the sale
create their own content. Children participate in
of digital assets and experiences.
experiences via avatars, which are customisable using
• Roblox has had a wide impact on children’s popular
culture and is highly popular as YouTube content. freely available content to change hairstyles and clothes,
or they can use Robux (the in-world currency) to
• The platform has been controversial due to how its in-
purchase items from the Marketplace (the in-world shop).
platform currency, Robux, is used; and due to child
safety concerns. Items in the Marketplace may be created by individual
users, or commercial entities, and are often presented to
users as ‘trending’ items.
INTRODUCTION Roblox is a social space, and users can ‘Add friends’ by
While Roblox is often referred to as a game, it is better searching for usernames and display names, allowing
thought of as a platform for digital play-based them to connect with anyone who will accept their friend
experiences and digital creation. request. Children can easily join their friends in
experiences. They can also create and join groups with
Founded by David Baszucki in 2004, Roblox was
their friends and others.
conceived as entertainment for gamers to experience
player-constructed content and virtual worlds. Today, Game creation
Roblox describes itself as the “ultimate virtual universe Roblox experiences can be created using Roblox Studio,
that lets you create, share experiences with friends and which is part of the Creator Hub. The Creator Hub
be anything you can imagine”.i features built-in learning about coding and games
creation, as well as tutorials and guides for educators
Roblox has a “vision” to be used by all ages ii but is
aiming to teach users how to create games. It brings
monopolised by young people. The platform has over
together all the creator tools to manage content
77.7M active daily users including 32.1M who are 13 years
including distribution, monetisation and analytics. Some
old and under.iii The fastest growing category of users is
templates are provided for some common experiences
aged 17-24.iv
such as Castle, Pirate Island, Obby, and Combat.
In 2021, Roblox shifted from referring to itself as a game
to an experience, with experience being more closely BUSINESS MODEL
aligned to the concept of a metaverse.v This shift Roblox generates revenue through platform economies,
coincided with a debate about how Roblox is classified relationships with game developers, and external
within the Apple App Store because it cannot be
organisations benefiting from gamified marketing
distinguished as either a social gaming platform, or a
strategies.vii In the second quarter of 2024 alone, Roblox
sales platform – essentially operating as its own App
generated revenue of over US$893M.viii
store.vi Roblox is available for use on smartphones,
tablets, computers and gaming consoles. User participation and the Roblox business model are
heavily interdependent.ix Foxman argues Roblox’s
There are over 4.4 million ‘experiences’ in Roblox, such as
business model is reliant on playbour (player labour) and
games, quizzes, concerts, and ‘hangout’ spots. A popular
at each stage of content production, users are

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“encouraged to learn the game, develop content, and Roblox policies refer to collecting information rather than
market it to consumers”.x Though any player can using terms such as data retention and storage. Various
theoretically create and distribute their own game on the types of information are collected for the purposes of
platform, only a small number of users do. Roblox advertising and under the guise of protecting users.
Corporation subsequently receives percentages of Personal Information (or PI) collected refers to any
purchases of content, advertising and licensing “information relating to a natural person who can be
facilitated by general users and brands capitalising on identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference
user consumption. to an identifier such as a name, an identification number,
location data, or an online identifier”. xvi For under 13s,
Although young people are Roblox’s primary users, the
however, only non-personal information (including
company promotes itself as a business communication username, password, birthday and gender) is collected.
and marketing tool by presenting ‘solutions’xi to
commercial entities. Through its ‘solutions’ approach, For over-13s, Roblox keeps posted content such as
Roblox claims it can assist in advertising, integrations messages and comments as well as chats, forums, group
and virtual goods by capitalizing on digital experiences. walls, personal posts and other features. They state, “We
Roblox offers immersive experiences as a ‘solution’ to monitor what you say and write to check that it meets
businesses to foster “social connection”, “self- our community standards and complies with our Terms
expression” and “imaginative exploration” to tell a of Use. […] Where the law allows us to, we may use the
brand’s “unique story” and offer authentic connections content you and other users have posted for training or
with user-consumers to extend “IRL impact”.xii The to help us to improve the way we filter content on our
platform includes many virtual worlds created by high- platform”.xvii While the policy is careful to state they do
end brands like Gucci, popular tv shows like Stranger not store information on gameplay, it suggests that
Things, and sports content such as the National Hockey gameplay data is indeed collected. It is unclear if
League. All these become opportunities for Roblox to gameplay of under-13s is also collected.
connect young people to commercial entities.
In terms of advertising, Roblox collects information
including IP addresses; information on users’
POLICIES browsers/operation systems, including language settings
Roblox has several publicly available policies both within and general location information; usernames or user IDs.
the platform and on its support website. This includes This statement is later qualified with “We do not collect
Terms of Use, Privacy and Cookie policy, Roblox or use Personal Information about users under the age of
Community Standards, Biometric Privacy Notice; and 13 for marketing purposes.” More information on
specific Developer Exchange Terms of Use, which applies advertising is discussed in the Cookies section of the
to users who are entitled to exchange their in-platform policy regarding third-party advertising companies. It
currency (Robux) for real money.xiii outlines the types of ads directed at under 13s but states
they do not collection information from users under 13
Roblox offers an in-platform parent portal to introduce
for the purposes of directing targeted advertising.
them to the features of the game and available safety
Though ads cannot be targeted to users under 13, the use
features. The aim is to reassure parents that their
of advergames (ads presented in video game formats)xviii
children will remain safe whilst engaging with Roblox. It
are a way around this.
outlines customisable parental controls, chat filters, and
reporting procedures. The platform includes clothing
detection to ensure all avatars are wearing ‘appropriate COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC
attire’. RESPONSES
Roblox publicly promotes itself as being COPPAxiv Roblox has been associated with several controversies.
certified as ‘kidSAFE Plus’. This means Roblox meets the
Most prominently, many have accused the company of
basic components of being certified as kid safe by the
not doing enough to stop adult sexual predators on the
U.S. Federal Trade Commission, but also provides
platform, particularly within the platform’s chat
additional privacy measures including data integrity and
function.xix While Roblox makes it possible to turn off chat
parental consent procedures.xv
and has aimed to stop the overall problem of predation

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 Digital Child Rapid Analysis #1

on the platform, to date they have not been successful Roblox is also interconnected with many popular
and rely heavily on parents to monitor their children’s consumer products and entertainment
interactions on the platformxx and to use parental ‘supersystems’.xxviii The popular game ‘Adopt Me’
controls to assist with keeping their children safe. (accessed >35B times)xxix is a Roblox experience
developed by Uplift Games which focuses on adopting,
The platform has also been criticised for allowing caring for, collecting and trading virtual pets. With over
religious and political extremists to recruit children and 425M players, this experience has spawned various Adopt
young people to extremist ideologies.xxi Me toy lines including the mystery collector toys, plush
Numerous YouTubers, including the popular channel toys, action figures and playsets, as well as colouring
People Make Gamesxxii, have accused the platform of books, game guides and journals.
exploiting young game developers due to the ways in Videos tagged with #Roblox on TikTok have been viewed
which the monetary reward system works on the over 715B times, showing that experiences associated
platform, including what has been referred to as an
with the platform have a strong cross platform presence.
exploitative conversation rate from Robux to real
currency. In addition, some critics have shown how Education
younger creators on the platform are sometimes Roblox has been used for educational purposes,
exploited by other, often older, young people who use including for family education, maths, religious
them as digital labour.xxiii Video game scholar Keogh education, skills training and programming. It is often
suggests players are frequently “recruited” to be creators described as opportunities to support social interaction
within Roblox because the platform uses “production and collaboration learning.xxx
tools in ways that are almost indistinguishable from
The Roblox Creator Hub offers a free curriculum to
play”.xxiv
teachers and there are some experiences under the
In response to criticisms that the platform exploits young ‘Learn & Explore’ category that directly relates to various
creators, the Roblox Studio head has argued that the curriculum context.
platform is a “gift” to young creators as it allows them to
Numerous extra-curriculum programs for children offer
monetise their creative capacities.xxv
after-school and holiday coding and game making
experiences for children.
CULTURAL AND COMMERCIAL
IMPACT FURTHER READING
There are many commercial products associated with Dezuanni, M., et al. (2023). Digital Child Working Paper
Roblox that are aimed at children. This includes various 2023-11, Manifesto for a Better Children’s Internet.
book series, such as official game and character guides, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the
fiction series for children including Diary of a Roblox Pro Digital Child, Queensland University of Technology.
(published by Scholastic), the Academy for Roblox Pros https://doi.org/10.26187/q42e-6047
Graphic Novel series, and even a cookbook.xxvi
StoryJumper, the self-publishing site for multimedia Davis, H. and Hjorth, L. (2024) Roblox in Lockdown:
books, includes many stories about Roblox written by Understanding Young People's Digital Social Play in the
children and adults. Pandemic. In P. Siuda, J. Majewski, K. Chmielewski (Eds.).
Gaming and Gamers in Times of Pandemic. Bloomsbury.
Numerous YouTubers create Roblox content. Popular
examples among children such as Tofuu, IAmSanna and Han, J.; Liu, G.; Gao, Y. (2023) Learners in the Metaverse: A
Sketch who upload Roblox content weekly and Systematic Review on the Use of Roblox in Learning.
sometimes daily. ShanePlays, who has over 3.94M Educ. Sci.,13, 296. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13030296
subscribers, has a channel dedicated to Roblox movies,
which features dozens of animated films ranging from 1
to 2.5 hours long, featuring characters in the style of
Roblox characters.xxvii

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How to cite this paper

Dezuanni, M., Schoonens, A., Levido, A., Leaver, T. (2024).
Roblox: A Rapid Analysis. Australian Research Council
Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. Queensland
University of Technology, DOI: 10.5204/rep.eprints.254236

A word on methodology: This rapid analysis was

undertaken by a small team of researchers over a short
period of time in 2024. The primary approach included
document analysis, including analysis of online sources
of information such as public and journalistic
commentary and Roblox’s official statements.

i xvii
Roblox Corp. (n.d). Roblox. Apple App Store. Ibid.
xviii
https://apps.apple.com/hr/app/roblox/id431946152 Bains, C. (2024, Jul 14). ‘Advergames’: how games platform Roblox
ii
Baszucki, D. (2023, May 17). Our vision for all ages. Roblox Blog. became a corporate marketing playground. The Guardian.
https://blog.roblox.com/2023/05/our-vision-for-all-ages/ https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/jul/13/advergames-
iii
Statista (2024, May [a]). Daily active users (DAU) of Roblox games how-games-platform-roblox-became-a-corporate-marketing-playground?
worldwide from 4th quarter 2018 to 1st quarter 2024). xix
Parents’ ultimate Guide to Roblox.’ (2022, Dec 14). Common Sense Media.
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roblox/#:~:text=As%20of%20the%20first%20quarter,from%20the%20previ roblox
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ously%20reported%20quarter.; Statista (2024, May [b]). Daily active users Carville, O. & D’Anastasio, C. (2024, July 23). Roblox’s pedophile problem.
(DAU) of Roblox games worldwide from 4th quarter 2019 to 1st quarter 2024. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-roblox-pedophile-
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1190309/daily-active-users-worldwide- problem/
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roblox/ ‘Online gaming platforms such as Roblox used as ‘Trojan horse’ for
iv
Baszucki, 2023. extremist recruitment of children, AFP warns.’ (2023, Dec 3). The Guardian.
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Robertson, A. (2021, May 15). Apple said Roblox developers don’t make https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/03/online-
games, and now Roblox agrees. The Verge. gaming-platforms-such-as-roblox-used-as-trojan-horse-for-extremist-
https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/14/22436014/apple-roblox-epic- recruitment-of-children-afp-warns; Carville, O., & D’Anastasio, C. (2024, July
fortnite-trial-what-is-game-name-change 22). Roblox’s pedophile problem. Bloomburg.
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Robertson; Keogh, B. (2023). The videogame industry does not exist: Why https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-roblox-pedophile-problem/
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we should think beyond commercial game production. The MIT Press. People Make Games. (2021, August 19). Investigation: How Roblox is
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Dwiveldi, Y., Hughes, L., Wang, Y. [...]. (2023). Metaverse marketing: How exploiting young game developers. YouTube. Sighted July 2024.
the metaverse will shape the future of consumer research and practice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ
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Psychology and Marketing, 40(1), 750-776. Parkin, S. (2022, January 9). The trouble with Rolbox, the video game
https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21767 empire built on child labour. The Guardian.
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Statista. (2024, Aug). Revenue generated by Roblox Corporation https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/jan/09/the-trouble-with-
worldwide […]. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1190638/quarterly- roblox-the-video-game-empire-built-on-child-labour
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ix xxv
Livingston, S., & Pothong, K. (2021). Playful by design: A vision of free Cripe, M. (2024, April 5). Roblox Studio head: Play-to-earn isn’t child
playing a digital world. Digital Futures Commission (London: 5Rights labor, it’s a gift. IGN. https://www.ign.com/articles/roblox-ceo-pay-to-earn-
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Foxman, M. (2022). Gaming the system: Playbour, production, promotion Wilson, S. (2021). Roblox Cookbook: Giving You Unique Recipes Of Many
and the metaverse. Baltic Screen Media Review 10(2), p. 230 Dishes From Your Favorite Series. (Independently published.)
xi xxvii
https://brands.roblox.com/ ShanePlays YouTube channel. Sighted July 2024.
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Roblox. Roblox Solution: Experiences. Sighted July 2024. https://www.youtube.com/@ShanePlaysRBX
xxviii
https://brands.roblox.com/solutions/experiences Dezuanni, M., et al. (2023). Digital Child Working Paper 2023-11,
xiii
In 2023, 5M developers and creators earned Robux on the platform, and Manifesto for a Better Children’s Internet. Australian Research Council
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Statista (2024, Feb.). Annual number of developers and creators earning Technology. https://doi.org/10.26187/q42e-6047
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money from Roblox from 2021 to 2023. Statista (2024, April). Most played Roblox games worldwide as of April
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xiv xxx
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is embedded in Han, J., Liu, G., & Gao, Y. (2023). Learners in the Metaverse: A systematic
Unites States Federal Law. review of the Use of Roblox in learning. Education Sciences, 13(3).
xv
Kid Safe Seal Program. https://www.kidsafeseal.com/aboutourseals.html https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13030296
xvi
Roblox Privacy and Cookie Policy. Roblox. (Sighted October 2024).
https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004630823-Roblox-
Privacy-and-Cookie-Policy

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