Common Sense Media Review
By Christy Matte
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Open-ended creation boosts chat over building.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Builder Buddies Online VR RPG
Parent and Kid Reviews
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
BUILDER BUDDIES ONLINE VR RPG is a massive world where kids can mine, build, and chat. While it looks like Minecraft, its features are limited. Kids mine for material blocks by touching them for a period of time. The more valuable the material, the longer the time (gold takes about 20 seconds for one piece). They can then use these blocks to build with. There is no crafting, farming, or fighting. Some materials are available only from the store (requiring gold), while others are available through mining and purchase. Gold is harder to come by, especially in reasonable quantities, but kids can get 20 free gold pieces each hour by pressing a button. Kids who save up 1,000 gold pieces can purchase their own "towns." These towns are regions of the map that are owned and moderated by different people. Other players can't alter buildings or the environments, but they can go to chat or look around. As in the real world, these towns are all connected (along with the "wilderness," or unowned areas), and players can walk through towns and wilderness without exiting or loading.
Is It Any Good?
Kids who are looking for a Minecraft alternative will want to look elsewhere, as this is really best for chatting with friends. The role-playing game label in Builder Buddies Online VR RPG is a stretch. While you can customize your avatar and can certainly act out scenarios, there's no fighting, no leveling up, no skills, and no items to create. In fact, there's just not a lot to do. Each world that you visit seems largely inhabited by people hopping up stacks of blocks. Collecting blocks one by one is tedious -- seriously, 20 seconds for one piece of gold? -- but saving gold to buy them isn't much better. If you're already hanging out with friends, this may not matter, and kids with the patience (or cash) to gather lots of blocks can have fun building without worrying about destruction. The moderation is also questionable. There are supposedly global moderators, but they didn't make much of an appearance during our review. And local moderators seemed more intent on wielding their power -- and excluding others -- than on creating a more positive atmosphere. With no way to report other players, you're at the mercy of moderation. The game is free, so curious families can easily check it out for themselves, but there are likely more engaging options out there.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about in-game chat in Builder Buddies Online VR RPG. What types of things are OK to post? What things are against your family's rules?
How do you like this game as opposed to other block-style building games? If you have limited screen time, would you choose this game over others?
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android
- Pricing structure : Free to try
- Release date : July 13, 2020
- Genre : Role-Playing Games
- Publisher : Xavier Robledo
- Version : 2.3.21
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 8.0 or later; Android 4.1 and up
- Last updated : September 3, 2020
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