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Comment by forgotpwd16 | Hacker News Reader

Not sure what Roblox is in first place. An integrated game engine and hosting site?

That's precisely what it is. The game animations are fairly simple, but you can build a world and write fairly sophisticated game elements/rules/etc with Lua, and the kids actually seem to like the cartoonish models.

Once you write a game or create a world, you can click and publish it for anyone to join.

Think Steam.

But you can jump from game to game quickly.

Many of the games are similar-ish to popular games but the barrier to entry is low, share assets, games are easy to jump in and out of together with your friends.

Yep. It's surprisingly unknown outside the target demographic, despite being one of the most highly valued gaming properties around.

It is a metaverse filled with games for kids. Kind of minecraft-like in quality, but more like an arcade than a lego set.

Second Life for kids.

It is basically that. With freemium style monetization, cooldown periods, timed pop ups, consumable items (purchase in the store) and all,

My niece was about 300 dollars into this game before my sister got involved. She was using 'oh get me itunes gift cards' from relatives so mom would not notice. She was using all of the tools of an addicted person to use that game. Her sister on the other hand got bored with it and gave up on it.

With a really good physics engine that can simulate complicated mechanical contraptions https://youtu.be/P-WP1yMOkc4

A really messy and ugly game that lets people make & distribute mods for it, somehow popular with children, despite being a complete mess.

I haven't played roblox and know relatively little about it, but my guess would be that it is popular with children because it has a low barrier to entry. Sort of like what Flash did for young animators.

I played Dreams on the PS4 before I had heard of Roblox, and when I first heard about it I thought "oh wow it's probably like Dreams but for PC!"

I was sorely disappointed - I'm as perplexed as you are how they became so successful. It is indeed a total mess.

Kids love the total mess! As an adult I don't see the appeal but I can understand why kids like it. Most of the complaints here about Roblox and revenue sharing, etc, completely miss the point: Roblox is not Steam; it's a playground.

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