Leveling Up Together: Fostering Positive Growth and Safe Online Spaces for Teen Roblox Developers

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Choi, Yubin, Choi, Jeanne, Seering, Joseph
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Choi, Yubin
Choi, Jeanne
Seering, Joseph
author_facet Choi, Yubin
Choi, Jeanne
Seering, Joseph
contents Creating games together is both a playful and effective way to develop skills in computational thinking, collaboration, and more. However, game development can be challenging for younger developers who lack formal training. While teenage developers frequently turn to online communities for peer support, their experiences may vary. To better understand the benefits and challenges teens face within online developer communities, we conducted interviews with 18 teenagers who created games or elements in Roblox and received peer support from one or more online Roblox developer communities. Our findings show that developer communities provide teens with valuable resources for technical, social, and career growth. However, teenagers also struggle with inter-user conflicts and a lack of community structure, leading to difficulties in handling complex issues that may arise, such as financial scams. Based on these insights, we propose takeaways for creating positive and safe online spaces for teenage game creators.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_18120
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Leveling Up Together: Fostering Positive Growth and Safe Online Spaces for Teen Roblox Developers
Choi, Yubin
Choi, Jeanne
Seering, Joseph
Human-Computer Interaction
Creating games together is both a playful and effective way to develop skills in computational thinking, collaboration, and more. However, game development can be challenging for younger developers who lack formal training. While teenage developers frequently turn to online communities for peer support, their experiences may vary. To better understand the benefits and challenges teens face within online developer communities, we conducted interviews with 18 teenagers who created games or elements in Roblox and received peer support from one or more online Roblox developer communities. Our findings show that developer communities provide teens with valuable resources for technical, social, and career growth. However, teenagers also struggle with inter-user conflicts and a lack of community structure, leading to difficulties in handling complex issues that may arise, such as financial scams. Based on these insights, we propose takeaways for creating positive and safe online spaces for teenage game creators.
title Leveling Up Together: Fostering Positive Growth and Safe Online Spaces for Teen Roblox Developers
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.18120