[HN Gopher] Data breach exposes personal information of 4k Roblo...
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       Data breach exposes personal information of 4k Roblox developers
        
       Author : amalinovic
       Score  : 93 points
       Date   : 2023-07-21 11:53 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theverge.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theverge.com)
        
       | dbg31415 wrote:
       | It's a pretty sketchy company.
       | 
       | Investigation: How Roblox Is Exploiting Young Game Developers
       | 
       | https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ
       | 
       | Roblox Pressured Us to Delete Our Video. So We Dug Deeper.
       | 
       | https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vTMF6xEiAaY
        
         | wnevets wrote:
         | Roblox games have some of the worst microtransaction bullshit
         | I've seen in very long time. Not just what is being sold but
         | how they're targeting kids to pay for them.
        
         | _a9 wrote:
         | Controversial Youtuber Ruben Sim also has some (also
         | controversial) vids showcasing the bad stuff that happens on
         | Roblox (Weird developers, moderators ignoring reports,
         | weird/inappropriate groups and items not being removed, etc)
         | [0-2]
         | 
         | This is the same person that was sued by Roblox in 2021[3] but
         | that doesn't nullify the content he has been showing about all
         | the shady shit that Roblox does.
         | 
         | [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STS1horM6JY
         | 
         | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLF6YUdt8aE
         | 
         | [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bUWnxP_YAw
         | 
         | [3] SomeOrdinaryGamers deep dive into the lawsuit:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dlxp-X7O54
         | 
         | [-] https://www.youtube.com/@RubenSim/videos
        
           | [deleted]
        
             | [deleted]
        
         | charcircuit wrote:
         | I dislike this video as its such an old person take of the
         | situation. No one is forcing people to develop for their
         | platform. Roblox makes tools to make developing easy and
         | provide a platform to get an audience. Just because young
         | people want to use it that doesn't make them a sketchy company.
         | Game development is not always going to be profitable, and like
         | many other art forms people create games because they want to
         | bring something from their mind into the world. Thinking that
         | kids shouldn't be allowed to do creative things because it
         | isn't profitable for them is just an overly negative viewpoint.
         | 
         | If these developers think its easier to release a game on a
         | mobile app store and gain an audience nothing is realistically
         | stopping them.
        
           | mey wrote:
           | The issue the video is presenting is that they are predatory
           | to kids. Kids don't always have the skills/knowledge yet to
           | know how they are being exploited, which is what these videos
           | are discussing.
           | 
           | There are 100s of ways to be creative in game development
           | outside of roblox that are approachable these days. Itch.io
           | is a simple/open publishing platform. There are plenty of
           | free/cheap game engines. Tons of tutorials on youtube for
           | those platforms.
           | 
           | Those other systems aren't by default setup to lie that you
           | will be the next rockstar developer, just as long as you pump
           | more money into our closed ecosystem for more prominent
           | placement on this front page, while skimming significant rev
           | shares off the top that is opaque.
           | 
           | If roblox is your spark that gets you to think about what is
           | possible, awesome, but those videos describe a corporate
           | structure that uses fake currency, a closed ecosystem, and
           | predatory tactics, to take your talent and make it their
           | content.
        
             | charcircuit wrote:
             | >There are 100s of ways to be creative in game development
             | outside of roblox that are approachable these days
             | 
             | And not everyone uses everything. As long as a tool is not
             | terrible it will have some amount of market share. I am not
             | denying there are alternatives, but there is going to be a
             | percentage of people who want what Roblox is offering
             | compared to itch.io.
             | 
             | >Those other systems aren't by default setup to lie that
             | you will be the next rockstar developer
             | 
             | That sounds like marketing talk. Most businesses will try
             | and oversell what their tools will let you do. As shown in
             | the video people are realistic that there is a small number
             | of people who will become successful.
             | 
             | >just as long as you pump more money into our closed
             | ecosystem for more prominent placement on this front page
             | 
             | Adevertising campaigns for games are not Roblox specific at
             | all.
             | 
             | >while skimming significant rev shares off the top that is
             | opaque.
             | 
             | Most platforms have rev share. Again if you make an iphone
             | app you will similarly be rev sharing with apple.
             | 
             | >to take your talent and make it their content.
             | 
             | It's beneficial for both parties. If it's not developers
             | would not invest time and money into making things for the
             | platform. It just business like everywhere else.
        
             | berkle4455 wrote:
             | I sure wish I had the opportunity to be "exploited" in game
             | development when I was a teenager.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | voytec wrote:
       | > "Roblox is aware of a third-party security issue where there
       | were indications of unauthorized access to limited personal
       | information of a subset of our creator community,"
       | 
       | Garbage corpospeech. Who chose the 3rd party provider? Who gave
       | the provider personal data of Roblox "creator community"? Also -
       | who was hiding the incident for 2 years?
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | berkle4455 wrote:
         | It was whatever event registration platform they used for those
         | 4 years. I imagine we'll see some other leaks and not just
         | Roblox.
        
       | pavel_lishin wrote:
       | Yikes, I wonder how many of them are minors.
        
         | add-sub-mul-div wrote:
         | [flagged]
        
           | bigyikes wrote:
           | Roblox is a powerful game engine and monetization engine, and
           | attracts many adults for those reasons.
        
           | dave84 wrote:
           | > Developers
        
           | lolpython wrote:
           | The majority of the independent developers on the platform
           | are adults. Recall that creators can make money on Roblox.
           | 
           | > The majority of Roblox's creators are now over 18, and the
           | company thinks they are ready to build more mature worlds on
           | the platform.
           | 
           | https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/20/23767154/roblox-adult-
           | the...
        
           | lesuorac wrote:
           | Roblox is 17 years old now, so if you joined at 13 years old
           | half-way into it's lifespan you're over 18 now.
           | 
           | Its weird how time flies and I also wonder what the next
           | sandbox game kids these days will get into.
        
       | bena wrote:
       | And after analyzing the data, they've found that the average
       | Roblox developer is a married woman in her mid 30s. Weird.
       | 
       | Edit: Seriously though, this seems like a bigger deal because it
       | seems as if Roblox kind of just has a big ol bucket of data.
       | Purchasing from the Roblox store is no different than being a
       | Roblox developer from the standpoint of the data.
        
         | [deleted]
        
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       (page generated 2023-07-21 23:02 UTC)