Last year, The Register observed with a cocked eyebrow that teens were replicating flights on the budget airline, from check-in to arrival, within the

From meatballs to metaverse – IKEA's flatpack fantasy lands on Roblox

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2024-06-05 14:30:08

Last year, The Register observed with a cocked eyebrow that teens were replicating flights on the budget airline, from check-in to arrival, within the kids' metaverse muckabout.

But from June 24, youngsters will be able to emulate another example of mundanity in extremis – the infamous one-way system of the Swedish furniture merchant.

Roblox has a somewhat sketchy reputation among the older and wiser as a digital sweatshop of sorts. It is not a game as such, but rather a game creation platform. For the price of a subscription, anyone, including professional developers, can use the company's provided tools to make their own "experiences" for others to play in the hopes of hitting it big and maybe even making some cash.

As a result of this low barrier to entry, Roblox is littered with nonsensical experiences where kids mainly seem to stand around doing nothing (from a parent's perspective). In which case the bewilderment of an IKEA store will fit right in.

As if to run with the digital sweatshop theme, IKEA is even offering paid roles within the experience, which is called "The Co-Worker Game." But rather than this being a bit of harmless fun, it sounds like an actual job.