Parents were faced with bored, frustrated and downright distraught kids as the world’s biggest gaming platform for children went offline unexpectedly this weekend. For IRL, Dylan Reeve spoke to some of those kids to see how they dealt – or didn’t deal – with the outage. 

The first sign that anything was wrong, for me at least, was on Friday afternoon, when I heard more frustrated shouting from across the room than usual. 

My work-from-home space is in reasonably close proximity to the space we’ve put aside for my three kids’ computers. Each has a second-hand computer that I’ve refurbished enough that they can play some games and browse the web. It started with Minecraft, but over the past year or two, Minecraft has largely been relegated to the background. Roblox is all that matters now. 

Those of you lucky enough not to have kids aged between about eight and 15 might not have heard of Roblox. It’s become the biggest thing in kid gaming since, well, Minecraft. Roblox isn’t a game so much as a gaming platform, though: players download the Roblox software for their PC, phone or console then play any of the thousands of games built on top of the underlying technology. More than half of the kids in America play Roblox, and while data here is thin on the ground, anecdotally at least, New Zealand seems to be approaching similar numbers.

Anyway, on Friday afternoon New Zealand time, things started going wrong in Roblox world. Players saw aspects of the games not working properly, got unexpectedly disconnected, and found themselves unable to rejoin. By late afternoon, in my house at least, things had reached a critical point. My 10-year-old, Casey*, declared this “the worst” and dramatically tantrumed his way upstairs. My 13-year-old, Joseph*, a more peaceful soul, simply shrugged his shoulders and said, “Oh well,” before firing up good old Minecraft.

By late Friday afternoon, reports suggested 99% of Roblox users were unable to connect at all; shortly afterwards, all things Roblox had vanished, and even the website wasn’t responding. It was the beginning of what would become known, somewhat dramatically, as “the 2021 Roblox outage”.

Asked if a continued Roblox outage might mean they’d complete more school work, both Casey and Joseph laughed dismissively before terminating their interviews.

But my kids weren’t alone in their despair. Maisie, a seven-year-old in Auckland, was stretching her artistic muscles when Roblox went down. “I was playing paint simulator when it went down. It’s a really good game,” she said. “I’ve been checking every day but it still isn’t there. I kinda haven’t cried about it, but Jude has.”

Jude, Maisie’s twin brother, confirmed the report. “I’ve been so, so sad and I have cried, just a little bit though,” he admitted. “I’m excited for it to come back but I’m kind of impatient. It’s everyone’s favourite game, but not babies or any kids that aren’t allowed to play Roblox.”

Vivienne, a seven-year-old in Auckland, was inconsolable. “I was crying,” she said. “I was very, very sad. I was going to jump out the window. I was going to trap myself in the basement and never come out again.”

Asked if he could remember what he used to do on his computer before Roblox, Joseph, my 13-year-old, shrugged and said, “I dunno, nothing?”

For 12-year-old, Auckland-based Ivy*, nothing could replace the interactivity of Roblox, but she defaulted to the other teenage internet obsession of the day. “I watched a lot of TikTok,” she said. “If you look at my screen time it’s mainly just TikTok. It’s been quite dull, you know, instead of playing Roblox, which is pretty fun.”

For some, the alternatives seemed pretty old school. “Since I can’t play Roblox any more, I have to call my friends or text them instead,” lamented Mae, an 8-year-old Aucklander.

For those who don’t play the game, however, there was an upside to the outage. “I’m excited,” said Gale, 7, a Minecraft purist who has no time for Roblox. That means [my friend] will have room in his brain to talk about something else.”

My 16-year-old, when reached for comment (by shouting through a closed bedroom door), simply said, “Whatever, I don’t care.”

The Roblox Corporation reported revenues of nearly US$1 billion last year and has a stock market valuation of around $50 billion, yet somehow it was entirely offline for almost three whole days. What could have gone wrong?

At the time of writing, the company hasn’t released any specific details, but there were early suspicions. “I heard it was the Chipotle thing,” said 13-year-old Joseph when discussing the rumours. He was referring to reports that a promotion by US fast-food company Chipotle had brought the game to its knees. The Chipotle Boorito Maze had kicked off only hours before the game started to falter, with promises to give away up to 30,000 free burritos every day. However, Roblox has denied the connection.

Other theories have circulated online. “There were theories about a DDOS which I’m pretty sure is a hacker,” suggested Ivy. “And there’s also some theories about the Adopt Me update.”

Adopt Me is one of the most popular games on the Roblox platform, and it has previously been blamed for a Roblox outage, so players were naturally suspicious. The game’s makers haven’t commented on the suggestions, but they did announce that their game wouldn’t be online again immediately while they “add an update to protect everyone’s daily login streak” – could that just be a cover to fix some Roblox-destroying flaw? 

Maybe, but according to Lily, a 10-year-old Aucklander, the loss of streaks can be devastating. “In this one game, if you log on to that game for 10 days in a row, you get 4,000 diamonds. So now when I log back in I’ll be back on number one,” she said, desolate. 

As New Zealand kids were waking yesterday morning, Roblox reported it had finally identified the issues, and soon after announced it was restoring services. By mid-morning, some kids were starting to get back online.

For Eddie, a nine-year-old in Wellington, this development warranted a loud celebration. “When I was allowed back in, I was just really happy,” he said. “I screamed and my mum told me to be quiet.”

By today, most kids who use Roblox will be reunited with their one true love; a blessed relief after a dull, seemingly meaningless weekend without their favourite gaming platform. As Isla, a 13-year-old from Auckland, put it, “You just feel empty with no Roblox.”

*Names have been changed for privacy.