Did you ever think you’d be good at selling digital meatballs or helping someone choose the perfect Lack? Do you frequently find yourself lost in the haunted furniture store in the Roblox game? 3008? If you live in the UK and are 18 or over, you might be in luck. Ikea opens a store on Roblox and is looking for its first online employees. The payment is real (about 16 dollars per hour, not in Robux), even if the store is virtual.
The Coworker Gameas the Swedish furniture company calls its Roblox experience, will open on June 24 and, in the future, words from a press release, will allow player-employees to “immerse themselves in the world of Ikea work.” The application includes answering questions such as: “If you were a pixelated Ikea piece of furniture, what would you be?” and “What would you do if we ran out of pixelated hot dogs at our bistro?”
On platforms like YouTube, content creators are already creating videos about their experiences with the app and noting how “strange and quirky” it is. In X, people published humor videos of the possible tranquility of a Roblox Ikea: goods flying while others dance in the background.
Another user noted that the furniture company has a “long history and tradition on Roblox” and wondered how having the actual retailer on the gaming platform “will impact the existing games and community” on it. Games like 3008 seem to emerge from an online horror tradition like the “Ikea infinite.” Putting a regular old virtual Ikea in Roblox may not have the same appeal as surviving a spooky one.
However, taking advantage of that enthusiasm for Ikea is part of the idea of The Coworker Game. When asked about the role Ikea’s online fandom played in the creation of the game, a company representative told WIRED that he was inspired by affection for the chain both online and offline. The game’s new Ikea store will test whether that love translates into wanting to work for the company, which is Ikea’s ultimate goal. coworkerAccording to Darren Taylor, the company’s director of culture and people for the United Kingdom and Ireland, it aims to show how employees “are able to change roles, change departments and grow in any direction they choose, both in game and in life. real life”. world.”
Again, there’s also the chance to earn real money, something that has historically been difficult for young developers creating games using Roblox tools. If members of Generation Z are already spending, as Winnie Burke, head of retail and fashion partnerships at Roblox, points out, he told Rolling Stone magazine This week, “millions of hours a day” on the platform, why not make some money doing it? These Roblox players, Burke added, consider “their digital lives as important (sometimes more) than their physical ones.” With salaries comparable to real-world jobs, your WFH jobs at Ikea could also be just as important.
Although it may sound extravagant, it is not unheard of. In 2022, VRChat players diligently recreated Kmart stores and acted as employees there, interviewing for jobs, wearing badges, and checking on customers, for free. For some players, it was a way to build a community and overcome the social anxieties that real-life jobs can sometimes inspire.
It’s not yet clear whether the program will continue or remain a one-off, although perhaps couples thinking about tackling their first trip to the store together could benefit from a Roblox Ikea trial first.