Hacker News Reader

Comment by desireco42 | Hacker News Reader

Maybe I should get my kids a stock of their favorite game.

We are doing that. Going to give each of them some shares, so we can teach them how stocks work

Are you doing anything special here, or just buying some in your brokerage account and telling them "Hi <kid>, you have <n> shares in RBLX"?

There are "minor" brokerage accounts that are co-signed by the parents and ultimately end up on the tax forms of the parents[0]. I had one at 16, but unsure if there's a lower age limit.

[0]https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/can-someone-not-yet...

It would be a much better ROI then converting real money to Robux. All my daughter wants now is Robux (even her allowance) so she could buy crappy 3d items in the crappy 3d game she plays. People are actually selling/buying these items on eBay like they did years ago for Everquest/WoW.

Same with my son. For his birthday he wanted Robux over everything else. Some new Jordans? Where am I going to wear them? XBox Series X? Not yet.

But I feel like every new fad has this. He spent all of his money on Pokemon cards years ago, that he never touches now.

What's amazing is how Roblox has made an actual marketplace and scarcity for virtual items that have no monetary backing.

> What's amazing is how Roblox has made an actual marketplace and scarcity for virtual items that have no monetary backing.

They do have monetary backing[0]. The proceeds from item sales usually go to the item's creator - and if you have enough R$ you can convert it to USD.

[0] https://www.roblox.com/developer-exchange/help

I had no idea. The exchange rate isn’t great, but WAY better than nothing. Thank you for this info!

Yeah, I get we see it as crappy but it is essential for them.

I liked more how they did before where you would buy yearly subscription and they would put money to your kid account every week or month. Shame they stopped that.

They still offer monthly subscriptions, 10% more Robux for the same price if you're willing to subscribe. I am glad I didn't, my son still plays a lot, but after a few months of him blowing every dollar he got on Robux, he has stopped bothering. Partly I think he came to the conclusion that games which allowed players to easily buy their way to supremacy were less fun to play (who wants to be cannon fodder?)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com