Minecraft vs Roblox

Read on to learn about similarities and differences between the two most popular kids’ gaming platforms: Minecraft and Roblox.

What is Minecraft?

Minecraft is a three-dimensional sandbox (goal-less) game and can be easily played on most devices. It is a game with no clear goals but achievements you can earn. Minecraft’s structure and mobs (creatures) are made up entirely of blocks. Minecraft is based on breaking, placing, and making new types of items or blocks (hence the name “Minecraft”). Minecraft has many different creatures and dimensions such as zombies and the nether dimension. It has different modes of gameplay: “creative” where you can fly around and are invulnerable to any form of attack; “survival”, where the character must survive on its own, and; “adventure”, a survival game mode except you can’t break or place blocks. There is also a mode called “hardcore”, which is basically survival, except if you die you lose your world forever. Kids find Minecraft to be full of endless possibilities and are constantly reinventing within the game environment.

What are the pros of playing Minecraft?

Minecraft is generally non-violent and while you may have to kill enemies in the game, there is really nothing violent about it. Minecraft unlocks a lot of creativity, especially with architecture. They even have their own “technological system” that revolves around a substance called redstone. Even with the countless redstone tools, it requires a great amount of thinking and problem solving to be able to make new devices in the game, such as mechanical doors, elevators, and other contraptions. Some researchers believe that these open-ended types of gameplay aids kids in developing their problem solving and abstraction skills. In particular, they feel kids will learn to tackle challenges that do not present immediate solutions. Finally, you can play Minecraft with friends and family to further enrich the experience. As a result, some studies have reported that Minecraft improves self-esteem and enriches social interactions in real life. Further, Minecraft constantly updates its game to make sure the user experience is what the community wants.

What are the cons of playing Minecraft?

Minecraft is an extremely addictive game and players can get obsessed about it. This might cause students to neglect school work and lose track of time. Parents also worry that Minecraft can cause bullying among kids when played in multi-player mode, i.e., some kids might team up and gang up against others in the game. Minecraft also has “cheating” tools who can spoil the fun for other players.

What is Roblox?

Roblox is also a three-dimensional multiplayer gaming platform. Roblox Studio is where the creation of games happens. Roblox is generally also very blocky, but less so than Minecraft and has plenty of different shapes as well. Roblox has been around for many years and the language used to code in it (Lua) is very complex. However, the complexity is what makes Roblox more powerful and expressive.

What are the pros of playing Roblox?

Roblox is a fun and exciting game and it can challenge players to a large extent. It is community created and therefore has content from someone who plays games like you. Roblox is unlimited in complexity and has hundreds of thousands of games to play as well as a variety of different types of games.

What are the cons of playing Roblox?

Roblox content is contributed by third party players and therefore there may be content that is not suitable for kids in certain games. Roblox has a lot of features that need to be bought with money and therefore sometimes you can’t get the best experience.

What are the similarities between Minecraft and Roblox?

Both game platforms are three-dimensional, and available across different operating systems. Both platforms allow multiplayer worlds and are user-friendly. Both, unfortunately, are extremely addictive. Both Minecraft and Roblox go through various updates and have an extremely wide user base. Along with that, both Roblox and Minecraft are generally non-violent.

What are the differences between Minecraft and Roblox?

Minecraft is a goal-less game whereas Roblox games generally have a goal. Another major difference is that Roblox games are custom games made by the community while Minecraft games use readymade code, with random locations being the only difference between everyone’s worlds. Minecraft is made up of building, and breaking, while Roblox’s main game style is as an obstacle course.

Is Minecraft or Roblox better for learning coding?

Minecraft Education Edition supports both block-based coding and textual coding whereas Roblox primarily relies on textual coding (using their proprietary language Lua). Therefore depending on the student’s interest and age, Minecraft or Roblox might be more suitable. Minecraft’s programming style relies on a purely event-driven syntax, whereas Roblox supports a richer object-oriented style of programming. See our blogpost on how to create a Roblox game.

Which gaming platform has more players - Minecraft or Roblox?

In the early days of these games, Minecraft was more popular by far but around 2019, Roblox has surpassed Minecraft with more than a whopping 91 million users as of June 2021.

Which gaming platform is more addictive - Minecraft or Roblox?

Both games are extremely addictive, in different ways. Due to its wide availability of games Roblox is very easy to get addicted to. Minecraft can also be very addictive as there are limitless things to do and infinite challenges to complete.

Is Minecraft safe for kids?

Minecraft is safe for kids and really is very fun, allowing the user to fight dangerous mobs like zombies. The experience is definitely very fun and there is no real violence.

Is Roblox safe for kids?

Roblox is also safe for kids as it is used mostly with settings like obstacle courses. There are some animations where the player falls apart but this is not very violent seeing as the player was made of blocks anyway. There are some violent shooter games in Roblox but the majority of Roblox games are non-violent.

For more information about Minecraft, read our Parents Guide to Minecraft Modding and the recent Minecraft Caves and Cliffs Update (Part 1; June 2021).