Wagner James Au / New World Notes

This is a pretty jaw-dropping video for anyone following the Metaverse, a follow-up to an equally head-turning video from last Summer – both by freelance UK journalist Quintin Smith (Wired, Edge, Eurogamer, Kotaku). His first video report looked into the ways ROBLOX monetizes user creators on its massively popular platform — roughly half of whom are minors — with mechanics that he deems so exploitative, he compares them to the infamous scrip that abusive companies used to "pay" its workers. 

In this new video, Quintin covers a number of bombshells, including:

• A ROBLOX spokesman reached out to Smith and requested that he remove the original video for unspecified inaccuracies.
• Shortly after Quintin's first video, ROBLOX removed language from its website which marketed the platform as an opportunity for kids "to make serious cash".
• There's an abusive ecosystem of third party ROBLOX creators and black market operators thriving outside the platform — in part because ROBLOX the company removed its internal community forum.
• Perhaps most surprising to me, ROBLOX runs what is effectively an in-game stock market/casino of purchasable and re-sellable branded virtual items — some of them created in partnership with major companies like Vans — "in which children are encouraged to gamble real money".  

Little or nothing of these last two points have been covered by reporters heralding ROBLOX as the Metaverse, even after it became one of the most powerful game companies on the NASDAQ.  Or as Smith puts it, related to the internal gambling/stock market: "I can't believe the market analysts missed this when ROBLOX became a publicly traded company and went through an exhaustive valuation."

Part of the problem is that little or none of the media who report on ROBLOX actually use the platform to any great degree — or worse, don't even seek out and talk with creators on the platform.

Quintin Smith's advice to reporters who want to follow up on his research:

"First and foremost," Quintin tells me, "I'd advise them to take what Roblox say with a grain of salt. It's clear from my conversations with Roblox users that almost every aspect of the platform is failing the users in one way or another — moderation, remuneration, safety, monetization – so when Roblox talk about introducing new features, I'm not sure we have any reason to believe that they'll keep these 40,000,000 daily users safe and happy."

And that requires connecting with ROBLOX creators across various social media platforms:

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