December 11, 2025

Game Over for Roblox?


Game Over for Roblox?
Children playing Roblox in front of a television. Henry Burrows, Wikimedia Commons.

On December 3, Russia officially banned the online video game Roblox, one of the world's most popular games for kids, for "propagating materials of extremist tendencies and LGBT propaganda themes."

Roblox is Russia's most downloaded game, with over 10 million people installing it on their devices. It's estimated that 7 million people played the video game every day in Russia. On the platform, gamers create their own game or join one of the tens of millions of existing rooms available. Roblox is known for being a social game where players can chat with each other in groups or privately, and even engage in voice conversations.

On December 3, Russian users started reporting that Roblox was not working. Later that day, Roskomnadzor confirmed the gaming platform had been blocked in Russia. A representative of the government agency said, "The gaming space contains a large amount of inappropriate content that can negatively impact the spiritual and moral development of children, creating conditions and preconditions for illegal activities."

Roblox has faced international backlash over concerns about cyberbullying and children's safety against groomers. The game has also faced criticism for containing material inappropriate for young audiences. Turkey, Qatar, and Iraq have blocked access to Roblox in their territories over this issue.

Roblox has become a public square, thus drawing the government's attention. Kids have attended pro-Palestinian and anti-ICE protests on the platform. There is a game within Roblox that deals with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. China blocked the game, saying it propagated "anti-Communist propaganda."

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, gaming companies such as Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft left the country's market. However, Roblox continued to operate in Russia. In July, Roskomnadzor had ordered the American company to restrict games that contained "LGBT" in their name and remove queer characters. Roblox complied

Russian gamers didn't stay silent. Shortly after the ban was announced, the hashtag #vernitieroblox ("bring back Roblox") trended across Russian social media. Petitions calling for Roskomnadzor to restore access to the game have widely circulated online. Gamers have complained that they lost money on recent in-game purchases they had made on Roblox. Other users have claimed to have "psychological damage" due to the game's ban.

Roblox can still be accessed using a VPN. However, the banned Russian media outlet Meduza warned that children could be vulnerable to scammers who offer them alternatives to the game.

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Life Stories
September 01, 2009

Life Stories

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

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Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas
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The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.

 
A Taste of Russia
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A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

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