![]() ![]() ![]() College students, who would normally teach at the summer camps, are eager for the work, Bennett said, and parents are looking for ways to keep their kids productively occupied while they're trying to get work done.īuildbox, another game development platform that caters to non-coders, is seeing a similar trend. Ricky Bennett, a vice president at iD Tech, said the class on designing Roblox games is the top-selling virtual course. The discounted cost is $400 for the week and classes, which are taught over Zoom, have a max of five kids. The company, which has spent 21 years conducting in-person tech camps and added online courses a few years ago, has introduced a new slate of week-long virtual classes, teaching kids from 7 to 19 how to design on Minecraft, code games with JavaScript and learn Roblox. Roblox Studio, where kids can learn how to make games without having to know how to code, includes templates and instructional videos so kids can build their own worlds and even learn how to publish games.Ĭomputer education company iD Tech is seeing the boom firsthand. The developer platform is an important part of Roblox's surging popularity. Marc Andreessen and David George, a partner at the firm, wrote in a blog post at the time that over 2 million developers are building on Roblox "without the up-front costs, risks, and failures of the traditional top-down game publisher model." Donato said the company also uses a combination of human moderators and software to monitor what people are saying and filter what's appropriate based on the player's age.ĭonato said the coronavirus wasn't a topic of conversation when Andreessen Horowitz led a $150 million funding round in late February at a valuation of about $4 billion. Roblox includes numerous parental controls that adults can use to turn off socializing features or manage communications. Parents still want to know that their kids are safe and not being approached by creeps on the chat boards. "Now everyone is locked at home, and this thing we've been focused on is even in more demand." "It's a space where kids can do unstructured play, which is super valuable," said Donato, who joined the company in 2016 from Nextdoor. In addition to highlighting the social functions of its games, Roblox has been rolling out features to help educators incorporate the gaming tools into their remote learning plans. Sowerby said her daughter uses Roblox to adopt pets and construct buildings, adding that she's "goaded me into buying some Robux a couple of times." Some parents are hosting their kids' birthday parties on the site, establishing virtual rooms that their friends and relatives can enter with their avatars. ![]() There are also subscriptions for a certain amount of Robux a month. For example, at a theme park, players can pay to build a customized jukebox or make taller rides, and in a ninja game, they can pay to improve their speed. The games are free to play and gamers can purchase digital currency called Robux to buy premium features. It's the opposite story from what's facing most of corporate America, including once high-flying start-ups like Airbnb, Toast, ClassPass and Bird, which are slashing costs and, in many cases, cutting jobs. Roblox Chief Business Officer Craig Donato said usage surged 40% in March from February, and the app trails only YouTube in terms of the biggest money makers on iOS, according to AppAnnie. Millions of parents across the country are suddenly being force to juggle full-time work, parenting and homeschooling, all while keeping their kids inside, away from their friends and hopefully sane. Extensive screen time is inevitable in many households, but Roblox has emerged as an alternative to the undesirable experience of letting kids watch endless YouTube videos and cartoons. ![]() "It's replacing a lot of the socializing that she doesn't get in person because she's here with me or with her grandparents." "It's not just mindless entertainment, which makes me feel a little better about it," said Erin Sowerby, a consultant, who's now working from her home in southwest Florida. The technology wasn't designed with a pandemic in mind, but usage has spiked since COVID-19 forced kids like Catherine to stay indoors. To stay in touch with friends, she's using the gaming platform Roblox. Launched 14 years ago to create immersive experiences for kids, Roblox has become the second-highest grossing iOS app, according to the latest data from AppAnnie, by putting out millions of games that let kids build digital houses, adopt pets and run around theme parks together. ![]()
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