Pleased to play, paid to please: memory commodification within Roblox's creator economy

Abstract

Focusing on Roblox experiences that reconstruct the Yugoslav Wars (Zurovac & Amadori 2025), the study explores how Roblox monetization systems become intertwined with practices of memory-making in post-conflict digital environments (Hammar & Woodcock 2019; Sturken 2008). Drawing on a mapping of the platform's monetizing infrastructure (Roblox Corporation 2025) and an inductive thematic analysis of player and creator conversations on Roblox and Discord (Guest et al. 2011; Holmes 2013), the paper identifies three key dynamics: the normalization of memory commodification, creators' liminal position between hobbyist and entrepreneur, and the strategic value of historical accuracy. The paper argues that platform capitalism shapes which representations of the past become economically sustainable and therefore culturally visible, revealing how collective memory on user-generated platforms becomes structurally entangled with commercial optimization in post- conflict contexts (Baillie et al. 2019; Hartmann 2016).