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There's something weird and sad about Roblox for me as an old-timer who still has silly dreams about free/open software internet utopias for just fun? There's s

by jrm4 2y ago

There's something weird and sad about Roblox for me as an old-timer who still has silly dreams about free/open software internet utopias for just fun? There's so much creative (programming etc) energy in that place and, for what? short rant over

TulliusCicero 2y ago
In a lot of ways it reminds me of BW/War3 custom maps.
- Aeolun 2y ago
  Sorta, except that everyone is racing for money.
  - pjmlp 2y ago
    Turns out supermarkets don't take pull requests, and not everyone wants to live in a community farm, doing NGO like work. Or placed in a less snarky way, capitalism spoils ideals.
    - wiseowise 2y ago
      Evil capitalism where people want to live nice and system provides means to do so.
      - pjmlp 2y ago
        I haven't said otherwise, only that people coming from FOSS like backgrounds might not get what they want.
treyd 2y ago
I've had this half-idea for recreating something like Garry's Mod in Godot for a while now. It seems like something someone would have created by now but it doesn't exist yet for whatever reason. Like, a framework for building first-person FPS-ish game modes and handling all the asset management, sync, etc, like GMod being built around Source does and just letting developers build the game modes without worrying about the annoying tricky stuff.
- billyjobob 2y ago
  Like The Mirror? https://www.themirror.space/ https://www.themirror.space/
  - treyd 2y ago
    This is interesting, but > allowing you to own everything - unlike Roblox, Unreal/Fortnite, and Unity. makes me worried it's not in the same spirit that GMod is in. Specifically the use of the word "own" there.
    - johnnyanmac 2y ago
      I took "own" here as "you have control over the entire stack". Seems like the idealized version of Garry's mod. Garry doesn't even own all the assets in Garry's Mod.
- MaPi_ 2y ago
  That seems to be exactly what Garry (the creator of Garry's Mod) is trying to do with s&box https://sbox.game/ https://sbox.game/
  - treyd 2y ago
    They're using Source 2, which isn't foss.
low_tech_love 2y ago
I get you perfectly (I play Roblox with my kid almost everyday) but I have another opinion. When I think about what it accomplished, I think Roblox is pretty amazing; actually one of the most amazing software ever made. It accomplished in practice basically what lots of people have been trying to do for decades, since the MUDs from the 70s, and what Zuckerberg wasted billions of dollars with. Sure, most of its content is total crap, but the same could be said of many other great things (the internet for ex.) If you dig a bit you can find really nice puzzle games (“obbys”) for example that require two or three people to collaborate, and there are actually kids there waiting to collaborate with you. So the point is, yes it needs active filtering, but the engagement of players and developers is unprecedented and pretty exciting. My main criticism right now is this idea of jumping on the LLM buzzwagon. It’s sad that they don’t understand that their success is 100% human-driven, and that using LLMs beyond QoL stuff will be their downfall. The moment we get fully AI-generated games and worlds, it’ll be over.
- itomato 2y ago
  "...is total crap" Why are people OK with this? Because there's a place to spend "money" inside this virtual space? The paradigm could be replaced with literally anything, yet the prevailing mode of "play" in these spaces is convert meatspace credits to in-game "virtual property"; costumes, weaponry, etc. These kids arent' making anything, they're aphids.
  - simpaticoder 2y ago
    Nice reference to aphids (which are used like cows by ant colonies). So kids make games which require currency from other kids?! Why would they do that? Do they get a cut?
    - crim1 2y ago
      Yes. Like $105 for every ~43,000 robux (~$350-$490, depending on the tier of robux purchased) players spend in your game. Not including the money you get for free just by retaining players with a Roblox subscription in your game. Top Roblox devs are making millions of dollars. [0] [0] https://okmagazine.com/p/teen-ceo-brandon-millionaire-through-roblox-gaming/ https://okmagazine.com/p/teen-ceo-brandon-millionaire-throug...
axus 2y ago
Looking at the pages and pages of crap games in Roblox is a bit reminiscent of a long list of horrid software on a dialup BBS. Everything popular seems to start as a clone of non-Roblox games, and then goes off on it's own direction from there. Not Roblox's fault, but it's not a good place for kids to make friends; any kind of contact information must be censored. They can play there with friends made elsewhere.
consf 2y ago
[dead]

by jrm4 2y ago

TulliusCicero 2y ago

In a lot of ways it reminds me of BW/War3 custom maps.

Aeolun 2y ago
Sorta, except that everyone is racing for money.
- pjmlp 2y ago
  Turns out supermarkets don't take pull requests, and not everyone wants to live in a community farm, doing NGO like work. Or placed in a less snarky way, capitalism spoils ideals.
  - wiseowise 2y ago
    Evil capitalism where people want to live nice and system provides means to do so.
    - pjmlp 2y ago
      I haven't said otherwise, only that people coming from FOSS like backgrounds might not get what they want.

treyd 2y ago

I've had this half-idea for recreating something like Garry's Mod in Godot for a while now. It seems like something someone would have created by now but it doesn't exist yet for whatever reason. Like, a framework for building first-person FPS-ish game modes and handling all the asset management, sync, etc, like GMod being built around Source does and just letting developers build the game modes without worrying about the annoying tricky stuff.

billyjobob 2y ago
Like The Mirror? https://www.themirror.space/ https://www.themirror.space/
- treyd 2y ago
  This is interesting, but > allowing you to own everything - unlike Roblox, Unreal/Fortnite, and Unity. makes me worried it's not in the same spirit that GMod is in. Specifically the use of the word "own" there.
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    I took "own" here as "you have control over the entire stack". Seems like the idealized version of Garry's mod. Garry doesn't even own all the assets in Garry's Mod.
MaPi_ 2y ago
That seems to be exactly what Garry (the creator of Garry's Mod) is trying to do with s&box https://sbox.game/ https://sbox.game/
- treyd 2y ago
  They're using Source 2, which isn't foss.

low_tech_love 2y ago

I get you perfectly (I play Roblox with my kid almost everyday) but I have another opinion. When I think about what it accomplished, I think Roblox is pretty amazing; actually one of the most amazing software ever made. It accomplished in practice basically what lots of people have been trying to do for decades, since the MUDs from the 70s, and what Zuckerberg wasted billions of dollars with. Sure, most of its content is total crap, but the same could be said of many other great things (the internet for ex.) If you dig a bit you can find really nice puzzle games (“obbys”) for example that require two or three people to collaborate, and there are actually kids there waiting to collaborate with you. So the point is, yes it needs active filtering, but the engagement of players and developers is unprecedented and pretty exciting. My main criticism right now is this idea of jumping on the LLM buzzwagon. It’s sad that they don’t understand that their success is 100% human-driven, and that using LLMs beyond QoL stuff will be their downfall. The moment we get fully AI-generated games and worlds, it’ll be over.

itomato 2y ago
"...is total crap" Why are people OK with this? Because there's a place to spend "money" inside this virtual space? The paradigm could be replaced with literally anything, yet the prevailing mode of "play" in these spaces is convert meatspace credits to in-game "virtual property"; costumes, weaponry, etc. These kids arent' making anything, they're aphids.
- simpaticoder 2y ago
  Nice reference to aphids (which are used like cows by ant colonies). So kids make games which require currency from other kids?! Why would they do that? Do they get a cut?
  - crim1 2y ago
    Yes. Like $105 for every ~43,000 robux (~$350-$490, depending on the tier of robux purchased) players spend in your game. Not including the money you get for free just by retaining players with a Roblox subscription in your game. Top Roblox devs are making millions of dollars. [0] [0] https://okmagazine.com/p/teen-ceo-brandon-millionaire-through-roblox-gaming/ https://okmagazine.com/p/teen-ceo-brandon-millionaire-throug...

axus 2y ago

Looking at the pages and pages of crap games in Roblox is a bit reminiscent of a long list of horrid software on a dialup BBS. Everything popular seems to start as a clone of non-Roblox games, and then goes off on it's own direction from there. Not Roblox's fault, but it's not a good place for kids to make friends; any kind of contact information must be censored. They can play there with friends made elsewhere.

consf 2y ago

[dead]