Roblox Box

On a lovely sunny Friday in Sandwich, Illinois, Clarice sits in her sixth-grade homeroom class, anxiously awaiting the final bell to sound off so that her summer break can begin.

“RINGGG”

At last, school is out. Clarice runs off school grounds pulling her face mask off and jumps into the car with her parents patiently waiting in the parking lot. “I am free of Covid-19 precaution rules! I hear summer camp is not going to be as strict about face masks!” Clarice enthusiastically yells. Her dad responds, “Well, Claire, we allowed you to finish up the school year so that your grades didn’t get affected. However, with this great pandemic, we are worried about you being around many other children whose parents may not take coronavirus and its effects seriously. Your mother and I don’t want to risk your health unnecessarily.” An extremely sad look comes over Clarice’s face. She was looking forward to joining her friends from school at the Kennicott Center for summer camp. “We promise to find another activity for you to do over summer break, sweetheart,” Clarice’s mother chimes in. “I am sure it won’t be the same,” Clarice replied softly under her breath.

Two weeks go by. Clarice’s parents have yet to tell her what great activity they chose as an alternative to Kennicott Center summer camp. A restless Clarice tries to change her mom and dad’s minds everyday. “It’s not too late for me to get enrolled.” “You have not found an alternative yet?” “I would stop bothering you with the same question every day, please…please…pleaseeeee!?” Clarice’s mom and dad talk it over later that night while lying in bed. Mom is not giving in so easily. However, dad says, “Well, we must do something. She is starting to slow us down in scaling our online business, with all the constant moping around the house. I know, I will get her a tablet. Children love electronics these days.”

The next day is Saturday. Clarice and her parents take a trip to the Apple store. With complete spontaneity, dad says, “Choose a tablet, Clarice.” Shocked and a little confused, Clarice replies, “But dad, you always said those things rot the minds of the youth, totally disconnects them from real life, and should only be used by adults for work. Is this a joke?” Mom smiles and says, “No, sweetheart, this will be the alternative to summer camp.” Clarice thinks to herself, I can’t play with my friends in this, or can I Mom and dad wait at the register to pay while Clarice chooses a silver series 11 tablet. An extra excited Clarice cannot wait to get home and discover everything there is to know about her brand-new Apple tablet.

Later that evening, Clarice explores the wonders of having this new electronic device. First, she discovers how to send messages to her close friends from school who she misses. Gerald was the first. He was her best friend. They bonded over their love for reading adventure books and building their own replicas of how they imagined the places in those books would look like. This is what Clarice missed the most. She was looking forward to building new book world replicas at Kennicott Center over summer break. Her message reads, “Gerald guess what, I have a tablet now text me back!” Instantly replying to Clarice, Gerald was even more excited than she was. He had so much he needed to teach her about having a tablet. He also wanted to tease her about how he could finally stop teasing her for not having a tablet. Clarice’s summer was finally turning around for the better.

Gerald proceeds to give Clarice instructions on using her tablet. He texts, “Okay, you need to download Roblox. It is the best application ever, with lots of great games you can ever imagine playing! You can also build your own great adventures game on Roblox!” Gerald exclaims. He has just said the magic words. Clarice does not waste any time. Spending all night and all her Robux gifted to her by Gerald, she builds a great adventure game with ten different levels so that she could get started. Clarice calls her Roblox game “Freedom Fighter.” Once a person chooses their avatar and designs them with varying wardrobe options, they must explore the entire first level to find weapons and arm themselves to go to war. The following levels present many obstacles with increased intensity to keep them from passing to the next level and defeating the game. However, at the first level, they must beware of falling into any black trap wholes that put the avatar at risk of losing one of their five lives and any weapons they have already obtained. The next day Gerald discovers Clarice’s game. He quickly messages her, “OMG! You have developed an entire great adventures game with ten completed levels already? You are amazing. It took me at least a week to come up with my theme. I am going play “Freedom Fighter” today at camp and show all of our other friends!” Clarice, who had been up almost all night, finally replies, “Yes, I am completely hooked. Thank you for introducing me to a whole new world! Hurry up, play “Freedom Fighter” and give me your honest feedback. Also, I made friends with a girl named Margaret through Roblox last night. She is the ultimate gamer; she has already created six great adventures games. So, I set a new goal I must have seven new great adventure games by next week.” Gerald replies, “Okay now, Clarice, don’t over exhaust yourself.” Clarice immediately replies, “We’ve been out of school for two weeks and three days now, plus I just got a tablet at 12 years old. I’m already so far behind!”

Clarice’s mom and dad have made significant progress in scaling their online business. Within a week, they have increased their net gross income by $10,000 dollars, projecting to double that increase in another seven days. It has also been a week since they bought Clarice her tablet, and they now began to wonder what she has learned about the device, considering she has been so quiet and preoccupied. Mom says, “I am going to go upstairs and check in on Claire to see what she has been up to with that new tablet of hers.” Dad responds, “Yes, please do that, my dear. She has been so quiet that it must be intense. Hopefully, she has learned to scale an online business of her own!” Both mom and dad laugh hysterically when suddenly, the doorbell rings. “Ding-dong.” They look at one another with suspension. They are not expecting any guests, and they prefer it that way, considering the whole world is still experiencing the Covid-19 pandemic. Dad slowly walks down the corridor to the foyer and looks through the peephole. There is no one there. Turning around to inform his wife, who is now standing directly behind him with a steel bat in her hand, he whispers, “There is no one there!” Mom whispers back, “Open the door to be sure, it’s okay. I have protection.” Dad steadily opens the door and discovers a box covered in brown paper with a giant red stamp on top that reads, “ROBLOX!”