


Gamers pay real money - often $5 or $10 at a time - to become premium members and to purchase an in-game currency called Robux, which lets them buy clothing, weapons and even hot air balloons for their characters. Their avatars can engage in first-person combat, decipher puzzles or participate in egg hunts while chatting and interacting with other players. They can play the site’s millions of games, bringing their character into environments ranging from tropical islands to haunted castles and bustling towns.
Roadblocks game online free#
Inside Roblox, which is free to play, gamers create an avatar. And players spent 3 billion hours on the site and app in July, twice as much as they did in February, the company said. About three quarters of American children ages 9 to 12 are now on the platform, according to Roblox. Since February, the number of active players on Roblox has jumped about 35 percent to reach 164 million in July, according to RTrack, a site that tracks Roblox data. For children, there are pandemic victors, too - and chief among them is 14-year-old Roblox, which was already popular but has become wildly so since people have been urged to stay at home. The coronavirus has created some pandemic winners as people shop in droves on Amazon, buy Peloton bikes to exercise at home and head to drive-in movies. “It’s pretty diverse, and you can meet people around the world.” “It’s like my main passion,” said Garvey, 12. She said she now plays Roblox on her laptop for up to five hours a day while chatting with friends on her phone, up from an hour or two before the pandemic. Sprawled on the floor of her living room in Bethesda, Md., Garvey began logging more hours in the online universe, building virtual houses, adopting digital pets and racing other players in obstacle courses. With so much time at home, she leaned into another interest: Roblox, an online gaming site and app with Lego-like characters and millions of virtual worlds to explore. When her middle school closed in March, Garvey Mortley stopped going to lacrosse practice and playing drums in the school band.
