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Hot take, but it's a parental failure to let kids communicate in a meaningful way with strangers via games. This is why DS and Wii multiplayer were so interesti

Hot take, but it's a parental failure to let kids communicate in a meaningful way with strangers via games. This is why DS and Wii multiplayer were so interesting, you could play with strangers, but had canned responses for comms for the most part unless people added the friend code of each other, at which point they might be able to voice chat or use text. You could only share a friend code if you could communicate outside of the game. Where there's the means to talk to kids properly, you'll find predators. That's a given. It's also bold to assume that these are children playing Roblox on Linux, when they are in all likelihood actually adults.

autoexec 3y ago
I'm actually okay with parents letting kids communicate with strangers in games so long as it isn't unsupervised. I've known parents who'd play with their kids in MMORPGs without much issue. They might get exposed to some 'adult content', but as long as a responsible adult is around to contextualize provide guidance and stop things before they progress into something harmful it can be good. I agree, canned responses are ideal if the play has to be unsupervised. Friend codes were frustrating though and a ton of people just posted them online where strangers could see them anyway.
jbirer 3y ago
This is what my mother thought and I grew up severely socially anxious and awkward, I was able to fix it in my adulthood with training and therapy, but please do not do this.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  Are you really implying that because you grew up with a Nintendo console that you had problems socially? It sounds like a parenting failure. If you believe your social interactions should have come from strangers via video games then that's abnormal. Counterpoint: because my mother met her husband online in a chatroom, I spent most of my childhood talking to strangers. I was groomed online multiple times online. I was also sexually abused at three schools by teachers. A bunch of people me and my friends met off the internet were not who they purported to be whatsoever. I'm still getting therapy in adulthood. I know what I'd have rather had happen. It was a parenting failure for me too after the divorce of my parents.

autoexec 3y ago

I'm actually okay with parents letting kids communicate with strangers in games so long as it isn't unsupervised. I've known parents who'd play with their kids in MMORPGs without much issue. They might get exposed to some 'adult content', but as long as a responsible adult is around to contextualize provide guidance and stop things before they progress into something harmful it can be good. I agree, canned responses are ideal if the play has to be unsupervised. Friend codes were frustrating though and a ton of people just posted them online where strangers could see them anyway.

jbirer 3y ago

This is what my mother thought and I grew up severely socially anxious and awkward, I was able to fix it in my adulthood with training and therapy, but please do not do this.

hammyhavoc 3y ago
Are you really implying that because you grew up with a Nintendo console that you had problems socially? It sounds like a parenting failure. If you believe your social interactions should have come from strangers via video games then that's abnormal. Counterpoint: because my mother met her husband online in a chatroom, I spent most of my childhood talking to strangers. I was groomed online multiple times online. I was also sexually abused at three schools by teachers. A bunch of people me and my friends met off the internet were not who they purported to be whatsoever. I'm still getting therapy in adulthood. I know what I'd have rather had happen. It was a parenting failure for me too after the divorce of my parents.