Roblox has been in the limelight the past couple of days thanks to Steal an Egg, a pet-raising simulator that encourages users to continuously doomscroll through reels while running on a virtual treadmill Black Mirror-style – or, well, used to encourage.
Used to, because Roblox actually deplatformed the game yesterday following folks' outrage online over Steal an Egg's encouragement of short-form video overconsumption (you know, doomscrolling). At first, users weren't sure why Roblox removed Steal an Egg – but now, it all makes sense.
The company explains its reasoning in a new post, confirming that it won't allow Roblox to host such games any longer. So, what do we mean by "such" here? Well, games that encourage doomscrolling, basically.
"Effective immediately," as the Roblox developers write, "games will not be allowed in Roblox Kids and Select if they combine all of the following: A media feed (short-form videos, images, or story-style posts). A feed that autoplays, loops, or scrolls on its own. A reward, or implied reward, for continued watching."