Is your brother making games? If yes : there are several easy to use game engine like mentalo.app, Godot, gdevelop and such.
If your brother is mostly playing, then anything by Nintendo would be a good idea. Old consoles are cheap and if you have the Switch there are a lot of really good game on it.
Edit: And I second Minecraft or the free version (minetest I think)…
While I do play Roblox (because we don't have a federated alternative for it yet) I had concerns about it - moderation, playerbase maturity issues (yes, while its being taken over by young adults the majority is still unmatured), updates that the community doesn't want, and "racism" against other platforms e.g. Linux. You're right about how they exploit the creators.
Do fedi or Foss games really need a roblox alternative ? I’m not sure… Do roblox teach you how to make games? Well it teaches you do build games for roblox that’s it. Is roblox the only place to find games for kids, surely not.
If he’s like I was and playing on hand me down office PC’s, consider getting a better keyboard/mouse, headphones, a stick of memory or something in that line to improve his experience. Actual pc upgrades are probably a little expensive for your budget, although really nice large monitors can be had for <$150 these days.
Do you know what aspects of Roblox you’re brother likes (crafting, game building, the social aspect, etc)?
For a more crafting heavy game, there’s Minecraft or Terraria (I think). For game building, Game Builder Garage on Switch, or Dreams on PlayStation might be nice. Unfortunately, I don’t have any good social game recommendations, though.
Never played Roblox myself, but my son had a big phase and still plays from time to time. Back then we’d get him Roblox figurines once in a while. They can be disassembled/mixed and they come with codes for virtual items as well.
While cash is the most useful gift, gifts aren’t a utilitarian practice. A gift is an opportunity to show someone that not only do you really know them enough to choose something they would enjoy; but also that you’re thinking about them, and that they are worth effort and thought to you.
Of course, good gifting gets harder as your giftees can afford what they want on their own, but that just makes the sentimental aspects even more important (in my opinion).
For a certain type of person who heavily values utility, yeah, go with money. Most useful, the person you replied to has a point.
They’ll likely also appreciate that you know them well enough to know that they would like money the best instead of making the assumption (that would be correct for a lot of people, but not for this particular example person) that they’ll feel money is too impersonal. 😛 Sentiment probably would play a role, with the sentiment still being “you know me well enough to get me the gift I’d like the most.”
I like giving gifts because I feel it’s me showing the other person that I know what they like, that I see them and listen to them. I like receiving gifts that show that the person who got me it knows me well enough to know my likes. I would absolutely prefer money if you’re uncertain of my likes—I also value utility. Even if the gift of money was low-effort and not out of “I know you would prefer money over an incorrect guess at what you like,” I’d still prefer the money. More useful to me and would bring more joy than something I didn’t like.
So I mostly agree with you when it comes to gift-giving, but the person you replied to also has a point!
Ofc something nice and thoughtful is ideal But this guy didn’t give us anything to build off of, other than roblox and not robux
If you know someone and they like gifts: give something useful they would like, but haven’t bought themselves (if they like things to have a use) or something that doesn’t need to have monetary value, like something more personal and thoughtful (if they like decorations and things with personal value)
If you don’t really know the person or they don’t really want random stuff: money, because even though it’s not the best gift out there still it’s better than something they wouldn’t use or already had
Here, let me change my currency, that in it’s current state can be used in any store you want, to a currency of same value but now you can only use it on one store…
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