The History of Roblox Knockoffs

Engaging Recap: “The History of Roblox Knockoffs”

The video opens with a cheeky, ominous setup—“innocent and laughable copycats” gradually giving way to sites so shady they feel like they belong on To Catch a Predator. From there, the creator surveys a decade-plus of Roblox clones: some short-lived, some surprisingly ambitious, and some infamous for being buggy, copy-paste, scammy, or even malware-adjacent.

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Early “Mostly Harmless” Clones (2009–2011)

• World Blocky (worldblocky.com) (late 2009) is presented as the earliest found example: it copies the classic Roblox site layout (profiles, catalog, badges, forums, friends).

  • It even teases playable games, but the “games” tab mostly amounts to tiny Flash/primitive stuff (one example described as a “cat follows your mouse”).
  • The narrator digs up old assets via Flickr tied to an admin named Borggo, but notes the site likely ran for a very short time.

• Immediately after, an explosion of near-identical ripoffs follows:

  • Feed.net (launched days after World Blocky) is notable mainly for having high-quality avatars.
  • Zorblocks (zorblocks.com) (2010) adds quirky touches like customizable profile features and even the ability to “buy” JPEG-style houses/places—creative but ultimately underwhelming and destined to fade.

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The First Big Villain: World to Build (WTB) Becomes a Lightning Rod (2011–2012)

• World to Build (worldtobuild.com) (late 2011) is framed as the most infamous early knockoff.

What makes it notable:

• It uses the “SANS script” (a “social avatar network script” concept) that makes clones resemble Roblox in structure and UI.
• It gains hype and a semi-devoted player base—people genuinely think it could be the next big “social game.”

But it also draws major backlash:

• The Roblox community allegedly raids forums, spams Reddit, and even uses “dodosing” (DDoS) and more harassment.
• The site collapses after only a few months.

The narrator also recounts “lost” development lore:

• A blog claims there was a real WTB sandbox game in progress (graphics done, nearly ready),
• but it never becomes playable in reality—ending as a kind of “artifact” that never materialized.

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Reboots Turn Into Controversy and Potential Account Theft (2015–2017)

The video then tracks multiple returns of “WTB” that get progressively worse in reputation:

• World to Build.net (2015 reboot by Telmus)

  • Users accuse it of being designed to steal Roblox accounts—the site looks like Roblox, encouraging sign-up with Roblox username/password.
  • The narrator includes comedic-but-dark reaction beats (including a “perma banned for harassment” aside after contacting Telmus).
  • Telmus claims it’s being reworked into a new version (“WTB is being developed”), but the downloadable executable is described as essentially malware or at least extremely dangerous.
  • After a month, it vanishes again.

• World to Build.org (Anton, 2017)

  • A reboot that’s basically a bland copy of old WTB—“most underwhelming” because it adds little.
  • Stays up much of 2017, then disappears in December.

• 2025 status

  • The narrator claims WTB is playable again at worldtobuild.org, now with a small community and multiple multiplayer games, though “may or may not still be a virus”—ending in a “go check it out” dare.

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Meep City’s Earlier Ancestor: Social Meeps (2012)

The video pivots to a more “development-history” angle:

• Social Meeps (early 2012), inspired more by Club Penguin than Roblox.
  • It had customization, multiplayer maps, and drew attention as a childhood-friendly social hangout.
• It shut down in 2013 and faced controversy:
  • Accusations of Alex Neutron stealing funding and negative comparisons to Roblox.
  • The narrator personally frames Alex as passionate, but leaves the claims unresolved.

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Isaac’s Era: Block City → Brick Planet (2016–Ongoing Chaos)

• Block City (2016–2017) by Isaac Heimer

  • Sleek minimalist look, good-looking models.
  • It leaks to Roblox forums and gets mixed reactions, including resentment due to prior controversies around Isaac.
  • The narrator mentions fandom-style behavior: creating multiple accounts with different usernames, planning to sell them later—jokingly implying “roblox takeover” fantasies.

• It transforms into Brick Planet after Block City’s decline.

From there, Brick Planet becomes a repeating cycle of:

• lack of moderation → inappropriate posts → Isaac gets emotional
• hacks → Discord deletion
• reopens quickly → NSFW spam → shutdown again

Even in 2025, it’s online, with a warning that games might once be hidden behind a paywall.

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Brick Hill: The Most Successful Alternative Turns Into a Scandal (2017–2023)

• Brick Hill is presented as one of the best and most popular knockoffs in recent memory:
  • Founded by twins Alex and Lucas Dunn (inspired by Blockland/LEGO/block games).
  • Launches publicly in early 2017 and quickly grows (up to ~10,000 members by end of the year).
  • Events, contests, and a strong cosmetics/catalog vibe.

Tragedy + Forum Chaos

• Alex announces his twin brother Luke died at 16.
• Immediately afterward, toxic users spam “BLDN” (a crude acronym tied to “Brook Luke D’s nuts”), and the site responds by auto-IP banning anyone using it.

The Major Downfall

• In 2022, allegations spread via leaked documents from former staff claiming the CEO (Alex) requested CP—the narrator says validity is unclear.
• Soon after, a more concrete legal scandal follows:
  • Alex is arrested in Ohio for allegedly trying to meet a 16-year-old girl while he’s 21, traveling from the UK.
  • Claims include getting her an Uber to his hotel, parents reporting her missing for days, and police finding him outside Barnes & Noble.

Consequences

• Alex loses CEO/admin titles and account access.
• The narrator reads a summary of legal proceedings (some charges dropped; pleading guilty to custody interference/certain tools charges; no-contact order; return to UK).
• The site later ends in a legal ownership battle, staff resigns, and it shuts down around August of that year.

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Smaller/Weirder Clones: Cubash and World to Build (2018–2024)

• Cubash (2018–2020)

  • Described as bare-bones but had an unusually free-for-all forum culture (the narrator praises it for “lack of moderation” and First Amendment energy).
  • It’s built by Ision—including original-ish cosmetics and mostly social servers rather than deep games.
  • Community turns toxic; death threats lead the creator to abandon the project and delete Discord.
  • A brief 2022 “comeback” rumor fades again.

• World to Build (newer version, 2018–2024)

  • A separate WTB by a group of four (independent team).
  • It’s framed as having its own original look, allowing game creation, custom characters, and some genuinely decent games.
  • It eventually closes in 2024 with an emotional message: it wasn’t meant for corporate dominance or endless expansion—just “labor of love.”

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Nostalgia Emulator: Polytoriia (Superium → Bloxtopia → Polytoriia)

The final entry traces Bloxtopia (old Roblox emulator concept), rebranded into Superium, then Polytoriia (by 2019-ish origins).

The narrator likes:

• profile customization and info tabs,
• image posting,
• forums (though today they feel dry),
• and the nostalgic vibe.

The big critique:

• games appear empty/quiet—visitors might be better off playing a single real-ish favorite game instead.

A dark joke closes the thought: if you’re banned on Roblox for “kidnapping children,” maybe you’d go here—used as shock humor to emphasize the absurdity of the whole ecosystem.

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Standout Jokes / Tone Moments

• Recurring “Roblox-but-worse” framing that escalates into “To Catch a Predator” comparisons.
• The narrator repeatedly describes risky installs (“.exe file,” “malware that sneaks onto your computer”) with deadpan comedy.
• The “SANS script” explanation includes a joke about “No, not that SANS” (the anime/music-drama style confusion).
• “BLDN” spam gets called out with absurd acronym prank energy—followed by automatic bans.
• “Insanity definition” is quoted as a lead-in to the Brick Planet shutdown/reopen cycle (“doing the exact same thing over and over again…”).

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Main Personalities Mentioned (As They Appear in the Video)

• Borggo (admin tied to World Blocky)
• Bailey (creator/launch figure behind World to Build.com)
• Telmus (rebooted WTB in 2015; accused of account theft/scams)
• Anton (rebooted WTB in 2017)
• Alex Neutron (Dinoblocks-era figure; creator linked to Social Meeps; also named in funding-stealing allegations)
• Seth (Alex Neutron’s friend/co-creator for Social Meeps)
• Isaac Heimer / Isaacimer (Block City → Brick Planet)
• Alex Dunn (Space Builder; co-founder of Brick Hill; later arrested)
• Lucas Dunn (twin of Alex; Brick Hill co-founder; died at 16 per video)
• William Stellar (creator linked to Bloxtopia/Superium/Polytoriia lineage)
• Ision (creator of Cubash)
• Charles “Charisma,” Yessen, Ezra (named as former Brick Hill staff who allegedly leaked documents)
• Carlos (mentioned only in reference to “Carlos protest” in the CP-allegation context)