\u201cWe think of it not necessarily just as a problem, but an opportunity as well.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 At first, this sounds like a generic BS business line. But this is Roblox\u2019s CEO, answering a loaded question: \u201cHow do you think of the problem of predators on Roblox?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question is a strong opener from New York Times\u2019 Casey Newton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that\u2019s fair : a journalist\u2019s role is to get clear answers. And the interviewee\u2019s role is to avoid doing what Baszucki did: ignoring the gravity of the subject and sliding back into safe corporate lingo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roblox\u2019s CEO made several mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first mistake was tactical. Baszucki did not seem to realise that this was not a PR exercise or an investor presentation. It was an interview in the middle of a crisis about Roblox\u2019s incapacity to tackle the issue of children being targeted by pedophiles on their platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many people have questions for Roblox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many people are angry at Roblox, and at the video game industry, for its handling of child safety and a broader set of ethical and societal issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we are no longer in a time when interviewers throw softballs at the leaders of \u201cthe biggest cultural industry in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second mistake, the main one, is moral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout the podcast, David Baszucki\u2019s answers lack empathy. He\u2019s in automatic business talk and gives the impression that his media training fell short. But who can blame him? He\u2019s on top of the world, why would he be challenged ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This attitude is not unique. Many prominent figures in the industry go out in public, all guns blazing, sounding confident, unbothered and sometimes even callous. Despite layoffs, controversies, ethical questions and doubts about the industry\u2019s impact on society. It often looks like a variant of the \u201ccool kid\u201d syndrome: \u201cIt\u2019s video games, baby! People love us, we entertain almost half of the planet, and we make billions doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And one of the clearest symptoms of this illness are two words that always appear when the industry talks to policymakers and in public forums: self\u2011regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, we do not need more scrutiny from regulators, you know ! We self\u2011regulate. We already have age ratings, parental guides, CSR, partnerships with international organisations and a strong moral compass. Please go look at social media instead, they are the baddies, dear legislator.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when Roblox\u2019s CEO talks about a \u201cgreat opportunity\u201d, the public and the authorities (and a big part of the Industry) see something very different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They see a house on fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They see an industry reacting clearly too late to problems that have been ignored or minimised for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They see tools that are just about developed enough to offer plausible deniability and AI systems that can be tricked by kids and adults alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For external observers and public authorities the industry seems to say it is ready to act\u2026 only if the measures do not require too much work and are not too disruptive for their bottom line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it is hard to deny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It doesn\u2019t come from malice : there is on our side lots of fear of missing out on growth, fear of upsetting investors, fear that true self-regulation may stun creativity and turn our traditional creative and production process into a nightmarish bureaucracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But experience shows that the fire fighting strategy \u2013 rushing in to put out the latest fire \u2013 can only take you so far. Especially when governments and stakeholders begin to question our methods and are no longer swayed by the rhetoric of the \u2018world’s leading cultural industry\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, in the video games\u2019 industry, our crises are still often seen as someone else\u2019s problem and thus swept under the carpet collectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We, as companies and as an industry, need to change our mindset<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a need that comes from within because we are now a mature industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it is a need that comes from outside\u2026 Because patience is wearing thin at regulatory and political levels as too many recent exchanges with public authorities have demonstrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s high time to pick up the glove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My job is being the proverbial \u201cCanary in the Coal Mine\u201d for the Game Industry.But I\u2019m a canary that pecks back by identifying political, regulatory and ethical threats to VideoGames, analysing and designing solutions that satisfy Public Authorities without harming what you have built up until now.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n