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Goodbye to Roblox on Linux with their new anti-cheat and Wine blocking:
You might have seen recently that I covered the upcoming updates for Roblox*, and now it's here blocking Wine with their new anti-cheat. This means you won't be able to play it on Linux any more, at all, unless you find some sort of special workaround.
Previously the roll-out of this update was being tested only with some users. Now though it's here for everyone giving a 64 bit client and introducing their Hyperion anti-cheat software which they are intentionally blocking Wine with. Naturally plenty of Roblox fans on Linux are upset by this, asking their team for updates on what their plans are.
In a fresh statement on their official developer forum one of their staff said this, in reply to users asking about updates in regards to Linux support:
Hi - thanks for the question. I definitely get where you're coming from, and as you point out, you deserve a clear, good-faith answer. Unfortunately that answer is essentially "no."
[...] Again, I'm personally sorry to have to say this. Way back in 2000 I had a few patches accepted into the kernel, and I led the port of Roblox game servers from Windows to Linux several years ago. From a technical and philosophical perspective, it would be a wonderful thing to do. But our first responsibility is to our overall community, and the opportunity cost of supporting a Linux client is far, far too high to justify.
They're clearly not going to be releasing a Native Linux build, which I think most people probably already knew, but at least previously they repeatedly said that Wine was a "priority" to support but now it doesn't sound as likely going by the above.
What is Roblox? Roblox is an app that allows users to play a wide variety of games, create games, and chat with others online. It combines gaming, social media, and social commerce. Billing itself as the “ultimate virtual universe,” Roblox experiences are places where users can socialize, build their own spaces, and even earn and spend virtual money.
Apparently, it is very "popular with kids".
(Score: 0, Troll) by istartedi on Monday May 15, @03:17PM (25 children)
Company caters to customer that pay. Film at 11.
This is the problem with any game on Linux. You're asking for-profit companies to cater to a market comprised of people that were willing to go out of their way to avoid paying for software. Convincing decision-makers that's a good idea is an uphill climb.
On the one hand, it would seem like the technical hurdle is less now. That's a plus. On the other hand, Windows is "free" if your privacy has no value. That's a minus. For the decision makers, the potential to monetize users is now less about finding customers willing to pay for software, and more about finding customers who don't mind being data-mined. Once again, the Windows user fits that profile and the Linux user doesn't.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 15, @03:32PM (7 children)
There are plenty of Linux users who pay for software, but that's not the perception - and more importantly: there just aren't that many Linux users out there, period.
Lots and lots of Windows users (especially kids with more time than money on their hands) go to great lengths to avoid paying for things, including software, virtual universes, etc.
If they had developed their platform in Qt, they could be native on Windows, OS-X, and Linux, and use a uniform storefront to charge one place for users running anywhere.
Now, I'm back to my split platform project where I need a REST client running in Windows, because that's the only place I can get on the company VPN, to interoperate with our Linux device via AMQP so it can reach this server that's only accessible on the company network.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Monday May 15, @05:54PM (1 child)
> If they had developed their platform in Qt
I guess the tricky part is the 3D rendering rather than the storefront. If you start in DirectX, life is hell...
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 15, @05:56PM
Yeah, we did a Qt+OpenGL thing back in 2006-7, you just have to "get happy" with the limitations of whatever platform you choose - they all have them.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Tuesday May 16, @02:59AM (2 children)
What VPN are you using that doesn't work with Linux? I thought openconnect supported all the big ones.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday May 16, @12:38PM
The corporate VPN which only supports clients on the corporate Windows images.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by GloomMower on Tuesday May 16, @02:55PM
They've gotten very tricky with corporate VPNs now. They can be set up to only allow you to connect after a scan of your system, that checks what software is installed, what patch version of the OS is installed, etc.
(Score: 2) by GloomMower on Tuesday May 16, @02:44PM (1 child)
Do they let you install ssh/git? You can set up a SSH Proxy tunnel and use the windows computer just as sort of a VPN router.
https://coldstonelabs.org/SSH%20Proxy.pdf [coldstonelabs.org]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday May 16, @05:51PM
There are ways and ways... I had a socks5 proxy server installed way back that let me get from my Linux dev system into the company network via VPN.
I also was running VNC server on a regular basis, and one day I had a group of about 5 corporate head IT office types "drop by" my cube and ask about how I was using VNC. I showed them how it enabled me to screen share with colleagues across the country on our product's console (which ran Ubuntu 14.04 at the time) and how the standard Windows desktop sharing couldn't really serve that purpose. They all nodded thoughtfully and went away, I never heard peep back from them.
The current product's console is architected with an AMQP message broker onboard, so I'm running the server interface that needs to be on the VPN on Windows on the company laptop and it communicates via the message broker with the Ubuntu console, and the software there is none-the-wiser that the REST interfaces are running on a different machine.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 5, Informative) by stormreaver on Monday May 15, @04:16PM (16 children)
You apparently know nothing about Roblox. At all. I envy you for that, but the rest of your posting belies your ignorance of both Linux and Roblox.
Roblox is free to play, as they don't make their money on client licenses. They make their money on in-game purchases. Linux kids are just as stupid as Windows kids when it comes to wasting money on in-game purchases. Stupidity among Roblox's users is operating system agnostic. My Linux kids spent, combined, probably around $2,500 of their allowances on Robux. The notion that Linux users won't spend money on games is patently false.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Freeman on Monday May 15, @04:45PM (4 children)
Allowing your kids to spend their own allowance money on the likes of Roblox is part of the problem and why "free-to-play" games are a thing. Why make a good game that isn't designed to prey on the feels/gambling addiction of children when you can just make a stupid X thing and rake in the money?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by stormreaver on Monday May 15, @04:58PM (3 children)
It's their money, and they can spend it on whatever they want. It's a good lesson for them to learn while they're young. That's what childhood is for.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Monday May 15, @06:05PM (2 children)
I very much doubt the validity of them actually learning a lesson from "wasting their money" on Roblox. A parent should raise a child the way they should be raised. Not leave everything to chance and hope for the best. Most of / maybe all of the "free-to-play" genre of games are predisposing the children to gambling addictions. Maybe, it's just showing all the kids that have an inclination to gambling, but I doubt it. Gambling addiction can be a learned dopamine hit and the addict is on the look out for the latest hit. Getting your kids hooked on something that is designed to take advantage of that is not a good thing. People have their own opinions, but looking at the development of "free-to-play" games and who / how they target. Then, looking at where they get their money from, it's all designed to be predatory. In the event that you turn it into a learning lesson, sure, I guess. Giving your kid access to free ice cream (or ice cream that they pay for), isn't likely to learn them how to be thin, though.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by GloomMower on Tuesday May 16, @02:52PM (1 child)
When I was younger, I spent a lot of my allowance on baseball cards, which was a form of gambling.
Eventually I quit doing that and was able to save up for bigger things I wanted.
What I wasn't prepared to do was figure out how to fit how much money I have into a food budget. It is different than rent or utilities, which don't have much room to change (they are more fixed). At first I just didn't buy almost any food, and got malnourished to a point where I was not be able to walk. Now it seems like way to much of my money is on food, so maybe am still working on that. I'm not sure how you teach kids that part (Or maybe even myself).
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday May 16, @07:05PM
I've heard it said, "Getting old isn't for the faint of heart". Some variation thereof definitely applies to parenting. What's more, just because you had an easy time with kids 1-5 doesn't mean kid 6 won't give you a run for your money. Every kid is their own person and will challenge you in different ways.
Baseball cards and even the more predatory card trading games were never as bad as the in-app-purchase heaps of garbage. If only due to the fact that you actually got a product that you could later sell. I'm not a fan of the toy "blind bags" that are ever so common nowadays, either. Wife and I would get the Lego mini-figure "blind bags". The last series was the final one they're doing in the bags, though, they're switching to cardboard boxes, just like the rest of their sets. The problem with the box is that you can't tell what's in it. With the Lego "blind bags" / Lego series mini-figures, you could look for X thing that was unique, feel for it, and fairly consistently get what you want. All that said, I've definitely bought my fair share of baseball cards. Not anytime in the past 25+ years, though.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 15, @05:19PM (10 children)
My Android kid spent $13.50 on OnlyFans - luckily we spotted the charge on his debit card within less than 24 hours, had a sit-down chat about how spending money for sex or pornography is not a good thing for either party in the bigger picture, and so far (2 months) the message seems to have stuck. He earns his own money and has autonomy to make his own decisions, but a little parental guidance (sometimes) goes a long way.
We had a similar chat about online games purchases 5 or 6 years back, one time cash outlay is O.K. if that's what you really want to do, but loot boxes and similar pay a little here and a little there is emphatically NOT.
I'm glad you're letting your kids make their own choices, but I wish you'd have given them stronger guidance against supporting that kind of industry.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday May 15, @06:19PM (7 children)
Interesting, I thought OnlyFans was just a NSFW site. Not an actual porn site. I figured there was some of that, but didn't realize it was essentially just that.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 15, @06:49PM (6 children)
We didn't get into the nitty gritty, but his browser history indicated women's names and various things you might find as PornHub video descriptions. I believe it's a live chat arrangement, I don't know if it's a show with multiple viewers sending tips or one on one or whatever, like I said we glossed over that aspect.
Worth mentioning: when this Android kid was a toddler, we did playdates with various people we hardly knew since we were new to town. Here 18+ years later, we caught up with one of his toddler playdate moms who had a daughter. Yes, past tense. Daughter was going through typical 18-19 year old ping-pong between divorced parents rebellion hiding what she's really doing from both parents things. Dad found her dead of a heart attack (drugs involved) posed with a toy naked in front of her webcam. Never did track down who she was chatting with, who her drug connection was, etc. etc. I'm not saying that's common, I never heard what video chat service she was using (but OnlyFans has been in hot water for providing such services to minors on both sides)... her mom visited us for a couple of weeks afterwards to (try to) get her head together, I hope we helped a little - that's gotta be one of the rougher things you can go through.
Also worth mentioning: the Android kid has had tablets since he was about 9, but didn't get a phone until about a year ago. The phone is much more addictive than the tablets ever were, even the Kindle Fires.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday May 16, @06:53PM (5 children)
That's rough, our plan is to hold off on a phone until we can't. Though, we've definitely already thought about one of those "kid's emergency phones" where they just have pre-programmed numbers and otherwise is a dumb phone.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday May 16, @07:02PM (4 children)
We held off on the phone until a year ago when we sent him (and his fairly serious Autism) to a summer camp for a month, they teach skills of independent living, etc. and they required him to have a phone, so... here we are. The camp was really good, he's going again this summer, but I certainly never had to tell him to "put your tablet away, you should be interacting with the people you are with, not staring at it all the time..."
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday May 16, @07:14PM (3 children)
That's an issue with any screen related thing for us. Just one of those things we have to learn to help with and help kiddo learn to deal with in a positive manner. Apparently ADHD kids have serious issues with pulling attention from pretty much anything that's currently got their attention. While you hear about ADHD and think oh, they can't concentrate on anything. That's not true. They can have trouble focusing, but in the event that something does have their attention. It's really hard to pull attention away from X thing. All it has to be is interesting enough to hold the attention in the first place. It just so happens that screen content is usually designed to get and hold your interest.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday May 16, @09:21PM
Last time I had serious words with him about it he was using the phone to avoid uncomfortable eye contact (with the cute girl his age sitting next to him at a social mixer.)
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Insightful) by helel on Wednesday May 17, @02:24AM (1 child)
For ADHD I think it's better to think of it as a difficulty controlling attention rather than a difficulty paying attention. Your focus is always going to be somewhere, even if it's internal. With ADHD you have less conscious control over where that is.
Republican Patriotism [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday May 17, @01:22PM
When I was growing up and even until recently, I'd heard, oh they can't pay attention, can't study, etc. As you said though, it's an issue with control over where that attention is placed as opposed to "paying" attention. As ADHD kids / adults can pay attention and do so quite well. It's just the ability to keep one's attention focused on a "boring" task or the like. An environment with lots of distractions can also be bad, no matter how exciting the current task is.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday May 16, @12:26PM (1 child)
Good parenting!
The kid should really just stick to the free stuff, it's not like there's a shortage. Unless you live in Utah, of course.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday May 16, @03:23PM
Don't tell his mom, but yeah. Expecting zero porn viewing seems about as realistic as no sex before marriage...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end