Roblox’s CEO predicts “thousands” of adults will meet in Roblox dating experiences

wtypstanaccount04 [he/him]@hexbear.net to Technology@lemmy.ml – 50 points – Roblox’s CEO predicts “thousands” of adults will meet in Roblox dating experiences
theverge.com

This should be horrifying news to anyone who knows about Roblox's abuses of child developers and appalling content moderation policy. Here's hoping these are just empty corporate promises and not something more.

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Isn't this a kids game? Why are adults hooking up through it... and why is the company promoting it?
That's creepy af

Roblox has been trying to move away from being a game for kids, and more towards all ages.

Specifically, by verifying with their third party service and your ID (kind of creepy, but probably the only real way to still remain coppa compliant), you can access more mature experiences and use voice chat. And they're predicting that online daters will proceed to evolve into getting actual real life relationships.

Why not just make a new game specifically targeted at adults? Keep Roblox for kids, and make something new.

Its not necessarily a kid's game, but that is their primary demographic and player base out of some fusion of being easy to run, simple games being easier to create, the art style, the accessibility and short term gratification of easily jumping between experiences.

I didn't think I needed Roblox Dating on my 2023 internet bingo card, but here we are

When the corporate promise is to make things worse, you know they'll keep that promise.

I kinda want to get into Roblox dating now just so I can say my Dark Ninja Cat and Katana helped me get laid irl.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Roblox really wants to move beyond being an app for kids, and that includes making it a place where adults actually meet and date.

As he closed out Friday’s Roblox Developers Conference (RDC) 2023 keynote, CEO David Baszucki predicted that “thousands” of adults will meet and form “real-life relationships” in dating experiences on the platform over the next five years.

It’s a wild idea, but Roblox is now in a place where this prediction could feasibly come true.

The forecast was one of 10 five-year predictions Baszucki made onstage to cap off a jam-packed show.

Here are the rest of the predictions, one of which hints at a future update that will let creators sell physical merchandise on the platform:

“The difficult thing about doing this live with all of you: these are etched in stone,” Baszucki said onstage.

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"adults"

I've never met anyone over the age of 20 without kids who even knows what Roblox is.

I'd be more critical if Roblox didn't require ID verification for 18+ accounts. Think it's fucking hilarious that Roblox dating would already be doing more than most dating apps lol.