educational-mmos
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MMO Family: Roblox CEO David Baszucki talks blocks, building, and learning through play
Robots and blocks are always lots of fun, both for kids and grown-ups who like to channel their inner-kid. So the combination of the two, in a sandbox, user-generated environment, makes perfect sense, and it's the concept behind Roblox. In short, it's a physics-based MMO that gives users the opportunity to be an armchair developer and push the bounds of creativity in building their own worlds. But the game goes beyond simple block-stacking, and offers enormous potential for learning in such disciplines as computer science, architecture, and even marketing. In this week's MMO Family, Roblox CEO David Baszucki took the time to speak with Massively about the past, present and future plans for the game. He's taken a physics-based simulation and built up a successful and engaging game. Read on for highlights from the interview!
UK government spends £2.8 million on road safety browser MMO
Children are generally far more interested in video games than in mundane things like crossing the road safely. You can almost understand why the UK's Department of Transport would have something like Code of Everand developed -- it's a browser-based game that's meant to help teach children proper road safety procedure, and in that light you can also see why the game would be free to play. The fact that the game has cost a grand total of £2.8 million in development and operation, however, is a bit harder to justify. The game's active playerbase is suspected to number in the low thousands, with 170,000 total registered accounts. Unlike other free-to-play games, the game is meant as a public service and thus doesn't have any sort of cash shop, meaning that its future is in a fair bit of doubt. A quick perusal of the game's play guide makes the connection to actual road safety rather dubious, which would mark the game as a novel and interesting idea that's remarkably expensive. The game's future past March is in doubt, contingent upon subsequent evaluation.
