Why Roblox Is So Popular with American Kids
The Roblox platform is so popular nowadays and it’s user population (especially in the US) are mostly kids and young teens. Let’s take a quick look as to why this is happening.
Back in the day when yours truly was in grade school, one would spend the weekend and vacation breaks playing with friends. Outside. This was the time when one had a box (or cabinet) for toys and other important kid stuff and would bring them out to play with the gang whether it was racing matchbox or playing actual FPS around the neighborhood or simply boom! you’re it! and have a great time until your older sibling or parents comes out to pull you home. Go home and wash your hands…you can still hear it after all these years.
Today’s generation of kids is different. Well, the majority are since there were still a few who clung to the old ways until the Pandemic made sure it was a thing of the past. With the availability of electronic computing and communications devices (whether in desktop or mobile form), kids at home now have access to a wide world of play without the need to even get out of the house. This is of course good and bad but that’s for another topic as we will focus here on an online gaming social media platform that has taken the majority of Kids (not only in the US but worldwide) by storm. This gaming platform is of course no other than Roblox.
Roblox as it is known today was initially released on the PC in 1989 as a way to demonstrate the principles of physics using blocks. The program was continually developed and updated by its creators David Baszucki and Erik Cassel through the years into a multi-user online platform where people could interact and play games together. By 2004, the platform was called Dynablocks. The platform’s popularity continued to evolve into a massive multi-player online gaming and creation site that by 2006 the official name was changed to RŌBLOX ( simply because it was easier to remember and jived well with the users).
Through the years, the Roblox platform grew. There were so many things that could be done in Roblox and this attracted more people into getting involved with it. One of its biggest competitors though was Minecraft but the latter was more of a building and questing game while Roblox seemed to focus more on the social aspect of gaming. Today, Roblox is owned and operated by the Roblox Corporation and run by David Baszucki. This is because his co-creator and friend Erik Cassel sadly died in 2013 due to cancer leaving Baszucki to carry on to make Roblox the awesome online platform that it is today.
At present at its height of popularity, Roblox’s majority population are kids. The platform has around 120 million active monthly players and most of these are almost half of the kids and early teens in the US all the way up to 16 years old. Of course, not everyone involved with Roblox are kids as there are the developers who make actual money by creating games for the platform as well as trading or selling other extras like customization options for the player’s avatar and other game features. Also, there are YouTubers and vloggers who use the platform to create their monetized content via advertising online. The Roblox platform is populated by so many interesting people and things they do which actually acts as a magnet to the very young who (at this point of quarantine from the global pandemic) are looking for attention and someone to play with. The majority of kids are sociable people and need to interact and make friends with their fellow kids in one way or the other.
If one would look closely at the platform, one would notice the features of it that act as points of attraction to children and young teens. The strongest would probably be the Lego-like blocky characters that can be customized to one’s heart’s content to look as blocky or as cool as can be. Children usually start by playing with Lego blocks, building these building that. The blocky and wacky characters on screen make it easier for them to move from one medium to the other and retain their continuity of having fun. Also, the customization option gives them freedom of creativity and a means to express themselves in a friendly adventurous environment.
Then, there is the availability of different games and environments. These keep the kids coming back as young people are naturally inquisitive. They want to see something new or meet someone interesting. They want new challenges and to win and overcome them (no matter how it gets frustrating for a lot of them).
With that, they are able to form communities and make friends and ask for followers. Aside from just playing games, many kids have this notion that the more online friends or followers you have the higher one’s social value i
