Gaming The System - The Feminist Gaming Podcast

242 - Gaming news - Is Roblox CEO on the rocks? BG3 turns two!

• Gaming The System - The Feminist Gaming Podcast

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August’s gaming news gave us plenty to dig into, from serious questions around Roblox to a milestone celebration for Baldur’s Gate 3.

In this episode of Gaming the System, we start with Roblox, where over 120,000 people have signed a petition calling for the removal of its CEO. Jem takes us inside the strange contradictions of the platform — from heavy-handed moderation and unexplained bans to the bizarre and sometimes deeply troubling games, and on to concerns about kids being pushed into unsafe spaces beyond the game. It sparks a wider discussion on responsibility, regulation, and why parents need to be part of their children’s online lives.

We then turn to something a little lighter as Baldur’s Gate 3 celebrates its second birthday. From bizarre mods to chaotic playthroughs, we look at how the game has grown, how the community keeps it alive, and why it continues to hold such a special place in our gaming lives.

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Alex:

Then we had to get into this massive battle and it was just terrible. It was really crushing he wanted his foot kiss. So I was like, please don't do that again. not a good idea. But the prompt was just like kiss foot. That was hilarious. it completely failed.

Matt:

You can do digital activism. You could have a, a massive sit in Roblox where you just go and sit in the servers. Have a flag or something.

Jem:

parents have to talk to their kids, and educate themselves. You have to know what your kids are doing. You have to understand what these games are, you have to moderate it yourselves. You have to be talking to them about it

Matt:

Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Gaming the System, the podcast where three intersectional feminists examine gaming and games through a feminist lens. Today I am your host, Matt, and I'm joined by my friends Alex and Gem. Before we get started, if you want to support us, you can subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/gaming system for some exclusive content. Or you can send us a one-off donation via PayPal to our email address. We are gaming the system@gmail.com. Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Gaming the System. Today we are doing a news segment where we're going to be looking at two particular news stories. One of them is significant. And then the other one is a really good news story. First news story. The article is titled, over 100,000 people have signed a petition calling the removal of the CEO of Roblox. Is this something that either of you have come across?

Jem:

I have an inkling what this might be about, but I will let you go ahead.

Matt:

Okay, so a petition to remove Roblox, CEO. David Baki. I can't imagine how fabulously wealthy this guy is, so he'll be fine no matter what happens. From his position at the popular gaming platform has already been signed by over 120,000 people. Petition aimed at Roblox is boss. Comes on the heels of some recent controversies faced by the company as the platform has been accused of not providing enough protection for its underage. Users. So Gem, as our expert on having someone who's an expert at Roblox nearby has she faced anything regarding this?

Jem:

I think ROBLOX is a really strange beast because we haven't come across any problems in the time that we've used it. That I have been overly concerned about. I mean, there's, there is always issues with online interaction between young people. There's been a lot of arguments and drama and there's been very little that the system does to support or provide any, help with that. The two main problems that we've had on Roblox is that it hashtags out so much of what they're trying to say to each other that they can't have an actual conversation because it, it won't let them say so many words obviously you want to protect the young'cause There were kids on there as young as sort of four. I know they're not supposed to be, but they are, there is obviously a need for moderation and, all of that. And that happens, but it's like crazy moderation. There's so many weird words that they hash out. This encourages kids to. Find new ways of communicating. So you just do a word on a line. You don't turn it into a sentence. But what I think is the worst thing about it's, it encourages kids to take their friendships off Roblox and onto other social medias like, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, where it's a lot more concerning, I think, I know that there's a huge amount of stories about Roblox and, you know, there are some really horrible games. I was reading about one where was, like you could shower with,

Matt:

Hmm.

Jem:

um. users and it's all sort of naked because it's user made, it's user developed. Then obviously there can be all these kind of weird games. There doesn't seem to be any proper vetting process. I sort of said, have you, ever come across anything like that? She was like, no. She hasn't had any major problems. Bullying is the biggest issue that she's kind of encountered and. I think that this generation are quite savvy when it comes to online abuse and they'll all be running around going like, ah, you must be like a 30-year-old and stuff. So they're quite, they're clearly being taught, talked to by their parents. You know, like, be careful online. It's definitely a place where all sorts of stuff can go on. And as a parent you can't, short of logging into your child's account, you can't track it. You can't look at it. You, there's no oversight as a parent. The other thing is that they ban them for things. So my daughter got banned for three days, which is quite a serious, ban. She had no idea why she got banned. I really wanted to phone them up and go, you know, if you're gonna ban my daughter from Roblox, you need to come here and. Deal with that banned child

Alex:

Yeah,

Jem:

I don't know why she's been banned because you are not telling me, so I can't talk to, I mean, I actually emailed them and said, please, can you explain why you have banned her? Because then I can at least have a conversation with her. And they just, they didn't want, they didn't engage. There probably are corners of it that are very dangerous. Overall we haven't experienced that. Are they doing anything to manage it or work with parents? Not as far as I can tell. I've worked in moderation and online communities for most of my life I do not feel that it's a place that. Cares about its community or anything really.

Matt:

It's, it's, I still, I'm, having absolutely no idea what robots is about it feels like,'cause I just was scrolling down and found a bit about a girl who was kidnapped. Meeting someone as you met on Roblox, they go, holy shit. How did that happen? That's wild.

Alex:

I read the BBC article. About the concerns that parents had over the safety of Roblox.

Matt:

The headline of it is a naked man wearing just a dog collar and a lead is led across the floor by a woman in a bondage suit. Two strippers dance next to a bar. One man is wearing a Nazi uniform.

Alex:

Oh.

Matt:

This isn't the really happening in the real world. It's take placing on a gaming platform.

Alex:

Hmm.

Matt:

Can you make games in it?

Jem:

Yeah, individuals can create games and one of the most popular games at the moment is a gardening game,

Alex:

Mm-hmm.

Jem:

and it's massive. So yeah, there are lots of games. The one that my daughter plays the most is called, truth or Dare is, all that happens is people stand around dancing and you get more points for the more time you spend in the game. So the longer that you leave yourself logged in the higher up the leaderboard you go,

Alex:

That's a bit weird. I don't know.

Jem:

They.

Alex:

leap from truth or dare to dancing,

Jem:

know It's very popular game and,

Alex:

childhood pastime? Like what?

Jem:

What's really interesting is that there's a lot of, conflict about who's what level and everything, and I'm just like, you don't do anything to get that level. It's just time. There are very adult games in there made by people, that young kids play but if the parents are not supervising this stuff properly, then that's where the problems lie, you have to talk to your kids if they are on this platform. It is not just a game, it is social media. There's loads of different games. You go into a lobby and choose whichever game you want to play by clicking on a picture. My daughter's played games that involve being eaten by a shark and they have to swim away from the shark called Shark Bite.

Alex:

Mm-hmm.

Jem:

they played games sort of a wizard game based loosely on the sort of Harry Potter Hogwarts environment, but that had real people who would give you lessons and you had to do training and stuff. There's one way you work as a pizza. Person and you can work in the kitchen or you can be delivering. There's, I mean, there's literally like a game. Oh, there's one way you can be a baby and you have to find a parent called Adopt me. And, and then you can adopt other people and their babies and your, there's a lot of weird stuff and so much of it just makes me go, okay, do I need to worry about this? I think most of the time there isn't anything untoward it's just bonkers stuff. It's not usually very politically correct for sure. I think parents have to talk to their kids, and educate themselves. You have to know what your kids are doing. You have to understand what these games are, you have to moderate it yourselves. You have to be talking to them about it and we have spoken to our daughter about it since she was tiny because we understand the online environment, and it doesn't mean it's always gone. Right. But I do believe that when there has been a problem, she is better able to come and talk to us. But she's also. Being made aware of the potential risks. That is, don't give out your name, don't give out where you live. Don't share photos with people. All of these things are just basic rules, and I think what Roblox can do is provide a really good environment to learn all of that for both kids and parents. But does the CEO do enough to protect kids? No, I don't think so. They're just like all the others. They're just a bit for the money. Sorry.

Matt:

80 million daily users.

Alex:

Wow.

Jem:

That's massive.

Alex:

a lot.

Jem:

It's crazy.

Alex:

Yeah.

Matt:

It's one of those tricky things because you're completely right. No amount of regulation is gonna be enough for a parent to not educate themselves on what's happening.'cause it was simpler 25 years ago. If your kids are playing Call of Duty or something where there are no micro transactions. You just go on and you play and then that's it. Whereas now you're right. These are massive global corporate ecosystems that children can't comprehend the scale of they're pretending to be a baby, looking for parents, what that is actually attached to. Perhaps we can have a conversation at some point about the recent age verification laws in

Jem:

Mm

Matt:

the uk. It feels like. They just want to have our digital fingerprints on things so they can see everything that we do under the guise of protecting children I don't buy that from the government in the slightest. So how do we get the most robust safety system that needs to be regulations that have. Consequences with teeth but gives people the freedom to go right, I'm my own person. I can do what I want with these things within reason and the roles that parents need to play in their children's. Online lives you can't just check out and go, fortunately Alex and I can go, I don't understand, and then forget about it. Whereas parents of people who actually play it have to learn about it.

Jem:

Well, I quite like to play it, but I'm not allowed. I do think, I mean, the part of the reason why there's this, this, signatures against the CEO is because there was this YouTuber who, hunted down, some predators on Roblox in a sort of sting attack. And he himself is like. Early twenties, so he's very young my daughter showed me a video of him he's been sent to cease and desist,

Alex:

Mm.

Jem:

letter by Roblox and the police. Have actually said, thank you for reporting these people and please can everyone report these people because this is how we can keep you safe. So I think that's what's kind of underlying this. My daughter was saying there's a lot of conversations in the. Roblox Sphere off the back of it, of the TikTok videos where the kids were talking about the fact that. Because Roblox is so pervasive and so massive, and so many people are part of it they don't want to leave it, but they feel that it's unfair how it's being managed. That it is not being properly managed, so. I don't know. I feel like that might be something good coming outta this because it feels like, you know, maybe it's politically energizing these kids and just making them think about this stuff and how, yeah, what they can do about something like this when you've got somebody so wealthy just being completely disinterested in protecting them.

Matt:

Yeah, games with massive play counts, the more players you have. The more potential power those players have, especially in a game like Roblox, where it's so, interacting with people is they can talk together and, right. We are not, we are not happy with the way things are with this. You can do digital activism. You could have a, a massive sit in Roblox where you just go and sit in the servers. Have a flag or something. This new story today, the guy who, Roblox sent a ceases desist letter to, he gave the evidence he'd collected to the police and to Roblox. So he was going, okay, this is the evidence I've got. Here you go. The police go, oh, this is great. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. And Roblox banned him. Another thing that older people don't understand is social media. He was a content creator. The second he goes, I've just been banned from Roblox'cause I reported this thing immediately. Everyone's gonna turn on Roblox and turn against them. So it's a PR nightmare for them.

Alex:

Yeah.

Matt:

So, but it's early days with it, so we'll see. now onto the, the wonderful bit of news that came up the other day. Boulder's Gate three turns two.

Alex:

Has it been that long?

Matt:

Mm-hmm. It feels like own. This is, this is our right. Happy birthday gang. Boulders gate three turns two. Hard to believe, isn't it? It feels like only yesterday we were streaming our launch day panel from hell, from a cathedral in GT and TikTok ban in the process for our Druidic love crimes. If you remember what that was.

Alex:

Yeah.

Jem:

I'm guessing it has something to do with the Bear

Alex:

and yes.

Jem:

Bear form.

Matt:

Okay. Time flies. Two years later, boulders Gate three has grown to something far beyond what we could have ever imagined it's become a shared universe shaped just as much by your own imaginations as ours. You've embraced the characters, rewritten the rules, and made a world your own, and it's been a joy to watch we've all played it lots and we are including Finn in our, our account. We've probably got def, well definitely played over a thousand hours consecutively and we've spoke for hours and hours about it and just continues to bring a lot of joy.

Jem:

Mm.

Matt:

Swan, who I think is probably the. Game director said, we'll spare you our soppy sentimentality because of Boulders Gate three and your love for the game. We can now bring you a whole new craziness that we hope you'll love just as much. So I wonder what they're gonna do next?

Jem:

Exciting.

Matt:

I think I,

Alex:

it could be.

Matt:

They've made it clear that they're not doing a bowl scape sequel.

Alex:

Hmm.

Matt:

Which I think is a good idea because how do you top this? I want them to do a sci-fi boulders gate space.

Alex:

mm

Matt:

I love that.

Alex:

That would be cool.

Matt:

And since the introduction of mod support in September of 2024, so a year ago, guess how many mods have been made

Jem:

million.

Alex:

Probably somewhere in the millions, I would say.

Matt:

Mods

Alex:

I

Matt:

made.

Alex:

what's made, maybe less than the million. yeah, I don't know. Definitely in the. Tens of thousands.

Jem:

Mm.

Matt:

Okay. And what did you say, Jeff?

Jem:

I said a million.

Alex:

Yeah.

Matt:

I didn't hear you,

Alex:

Ah,

Matt:

I should have just let you go. So, eight and a half thousand mods,

Alex:

ah,

Jem:

Wow.

Alex:

good.

Matt:

but then the second half

Alex:

lot.

Matt:

the,

Jem:

think there should be a million of them.

Matt:

the second half of the question is how many million mod downloads.

Alex:

Well, I don't know how many people play Boulder Gate.

Matt:

Millions.

Alex:

Millions.

Jem:

I haven't downloaded any mode.

Alex:

I don't have any mods downloaded. I've looked at them, but,

Jem:

let's say how well, but if there's eight and a half thousand mods so that's,

Alex:

for 1.7 million.

Jem:

I'm gonna go for million,

Matt:

I thought you were just gonna say 10

Jem:

10 people downloaded them.

Matt:

Two, 265 million.

Alex:

Wow. That's so

Matt:

I love modding so much. How many of those mods were Withers Big naturals downloads loads.

Jem:

I wish you'd stop reminding me about that mod.

Alex:

ah,

Jem:

I think probably about a hundred million.

Matt:

A hundred million withers,

Alex:

yes. How many.

Matt:

What do you think Alex

Alex:

Let's go for 473,000.

Matt:

You should have gotten your first answer, 250,000.

Alex:

Oh, close.

Matt:

And then a picture of Withers.

Alex:

Oh, wow. So many. But this is,

Matt:

And there's, just talking about how all the awesome mod developers, they have community run modding events where Moders come together and create these mods.

Alex:

That's cool.

Matt:

As whether you've been hankering from an ability that lets you feed Gail his own magically enchanted underwear

Alex:

Mm,

Matt:

You can check out the full list of mods available.

Alex:

That's very

Matt:

Be great if Gail could just enchant his own. That's so weird. That's so weird.

Alex:

that that's, that was such a faff to sort out for ga. I'm trying to keep these for myself, but here you go just eat them.

Matt:

I'll play it again and see if I can find a way to light Gale eventually, but I have my doubts. Okie dokie. Bold skate three and more numbers.

Alex:

Mm-hmm.

Matt:

After celebrating the big numbers last year, we're sharing some of the smaller stats because honestly, does size really matter? Check out the rare achievements and the even rarer choices we've been made with the way you keep asking about goblin romance. We'd have expected more of you to rescue Sasa. That was one of my first like bits of going, oh, how do I get this goblin out the cave cage?

Jem:

I rescued her

Matt:

I think I let the.

Jem:

was great because then I was able to just walk all around in the goblin area that no one attacked me. I had to go back and start a fight with them.

Alex:

I think we probably bypassed it entirely and didn't even know that she existed. I expect, we did. We didn't have a good time with the goblins early on.

Jem:

No, it was tough. I mean, I'd walked all around there and I still found it really tough.

Alex:

Yeah.

Matt:

I remember going all the way to find Hal in

Alex:

Mm,

Matt:

and then freeing him. And then if you don't kill all the goblins in there fast enough, they alert the entire camp, and then you've got to fight your way all the way back to the front gate. Did you rub shit on your face that the goblin asked you to,

Alex:

know you could do that.

Jem:

No.

Matt:

when you, the first time you come up to that goblin village? He goes, if you're a leader, why haven't you got dung on your face? And then you can rub it on your face and go, aha. And he goes, I was only joking. Come on through.

Alex:

Oh, we got into real trouble in our play through because Tom was playing a barbarian. And one of the prompts for his early conversations to some of the goblins is to like demand that they kiss his foot and he had to roll for it and he completely failed. Then we had to get into this massive battle and it was just terrible. It was really crushing he wanted his foot kiss. So I was like, please don't do that again. not a good idea. But the prompt was just like kiss foot. That was hilarious. it completely failed.

Matt:

God, that game was so good. 2% of players wobbled their way to victory defeating 20 opponents while drunk

Alex:

Wow.

Matt:

PlayStation players were the ones most often drinking from the bottle. Two and a half percent of players rescued SA

Alex:

Mm-hmm.

Matt:

times in one play through.

Alex:

Oh,

Matt:

She must get captured

Alex:

into trouble there.

Matt:

5% managed to avoid refugees meeting an untimely death.

Alex:

We did not manage that at all.

Matt:

Yeah, I've not played an evil run through of Boulder's Gate, but, there are so many opportunities to be really nasty. One particular bit is in the mine area, you rescue that chosen guy who's trapped in a cave in, and once you let him out, he starts pushing the gnomes into the lava

Alex:

Oh

Matt:

and then gets you to do it as well.

Alex:

remember.

Matt:

That's very nasty. And eight 8% of players thought to use an enemy as an improvised weapon against another. Four and a half thousand players managed to beat a mode using only a level one character, and there's a picture of a naked gnome.

Alex:

That's gonna take so many hours.

Jem:

Yeah.

Alex:

extreme

Jem:

you have to sneak so much.

Matt:

There are so many on YouTube of streamers that there are so many weird challenges that people do like that.'cause there are ones for like EL and ring kind games where it's a hundred percent completion with no hits.

Alex:

Hmm.

Matt:

well that just means you're really good at the game. But then you'll be bare fisted, naked level one, and you go, why? What's the point?

Alex:

Why?

Matt:

Okay. The top three most respect companions,

Alex:

Mm.

Matt:

Most. One is shadow heart

Alex:

Yeah.

Jem:

Mm

Matt:

and then Will, and then Gail. So these are the ones that need fixing the most,

Jem:

mm.

Matt:

Sub club.

Jem:

No, I think it's just that everyone used shadow heart for healing, wanted to use shadow heart for healing, and she's not, that's not what she is set out to be. But had quite good healing with my character, so I didn't have to do that.

Matt:

I don't think I respect very much'cause I don't recognize any of these things.

Jem:

I don't think.

Alex:

No.

Matt:

Huh, since Patch eight, A star in was respect the most into a hex blade warlock.

Alex:

That sounds

Matt:

That is an awesome title.

Alex:

Hmm.

Matt:

350 players respect mins into a death domain. Cleric

Alex:

Well,

Matt:

600 players adopted a child with will.

Alex:

oh my God, I didn't even know that was the thing. Which child?

Matt:

Does that ring a bell

Jem:

no, I'm just wondering if it was one of the little kids that you meet in the Durid Grove at the start. One of those, there was one, wasn't there?

Alex:

I remember

Jem:

There was an option to,

Alex:

and

Jem:

yeah.

Alex:

and then there's also that one, I think she died in our play through, dunno if she dies every time. The one with the cat. Join you in the third act,

Jem:

Hmm.

Alex:

but Oren killed her

Matt:

you didn't save her.

Alex:

No, it was not good. We were just terrible at the game, I think.

Matt:

So she feeds you. She cooks the cat

Alex:

Mm. Yep.

Matt:

makes you eat cat soup.

Jem:

Oh my gosh,

Alex:

Mm.

Jem:

I missed that completely.

Matt:

Yeah.

Jem:

Didn't have that happen.

Matt:

Every play through that I've had, apart from the one where I got the girl being kidnapped, it was always lael. Lael always seems to be the one that gets kidnapped.

Alex:

LA was the one that got kidnapped for us.

Matt:

Yeah, it's been two years it feels like it's been around for decades.

Alex:

Oh, for sure.

Matt:

Yeah.

Alex:

Hmm.

Matt:

Just good news to end the day with and end the episode with. Thank you both very much for, indulging me in some news. And thank you everyone for watching on listening, you know, to find us every Thursday and we have our Patreon and our PayPal if you want to support us. Until next time, we will see you then. Bye-bye.

Alex:

Bye.