Brilliant, entertaining and lots to take on board.
Teaching us to keep our young people safe in this digital age.
17 December 2024
10 December 2024
07 December 2024
'Beyond inflated key user metrics, our in-game research revealed an X-rated paedophile hellscape, exposing children to grooming, pornography, violent content and extremely abusive speech.
Roblox is compromising child safety in order to report growth to investors, per our interview with a former senior product designer: “If you’re limiting users’ engagement, it’s hurting your metrics…in a lot of cases, the leadership doesn’t want that.”'
Performers working in the games industry have spoken of their distress at being asked to work on explicit content without notice, including a scene featuring a sexual assault.
Sex scenes are common in modern games - and are often made by filming human actors who are then digitised into game characters.
They describe feeling "shaken" and "upset" after acting them out.
Most gamers would agree that online multiplayer can be a toxic environment, especially for female players and people of colour.
It's well-known that those groups face sexism, rape and death threats on a daily basis.
When Leif started playing Roblox, he began asking for robux - the game's currency - that allows players to upgrade their character or buy virtual items. So his grandparents gave him $200 (£159) Apple credit for Christmas.
"To my shock, he spent all of it in a matter of days," says Ms Ward. "After that, I gave him no more than $10 worth of robux per month. He quickly became frustrated and bored with the game."
A successful female gamer has spoken about the trauma of discovering deepfake online porn of herself and the urgent and costly moves needed to remove it.
Sunpi, who has over 117,000 YouTube followers, told The Independent that she was forced to spend about £500 on legal fees to get the content taken down.
Rape jokes, racism, bullying - if you've picked up a controller, or scrolled a mouse, to dabble in some online gaming then you've likely come across plenty.
The gaming industry, like others where people interact online, has been trying to figure out how to get to grips with behaviour like this for years.
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