I’m asking this question because it pertains to a loot box like scenario. Not sure if you would know or not but you mentioned it in a comment.
So I have an idea for a game I want to make in the future, and it would have boxes around the map that you can find along your “adventures”. It would give a random object but based on the players level. Since it wouldn’t be buyable would that still be considered as a loot box or would it be ok.
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Interesting how people feel the need to insert their political views when they are in the end prohibited and your points can be conveyed without the use of mentioning anything political.
But to get back into actually discussing this new roblox policy, you can choose to allow your game in certain markets, but what about the allowance of showing groups on the website if they do in fact go against a countries government policy? Will there be blacklisting of any kind on the website itself and not just the games market (which would be by the developers choice) ?
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That is not a loot box. A loot box is an item purchased, directly or indirectly, for real money.
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You have made a good point. I think that Roblox is aware of this though and probably think that the benefits outweigh the risk.
My question at the moment though is, what exactly is the API for? What kinds of things do I need to censor from the player at runtime? Chat messages with anti China speech?
#1: Winnie the Pooh is banned from all Roblox games
Jokes aside I’m interested in seeing the list too, I’m kind of confused as to what kind of changes I’d need to make at runtime in order to keep the game compliant with a localized market (which really just means China at this point, tbh)
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I’m pretty sure Winnie the Pooh is banned in all games anyway since it’s a Disney property.
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Will we be able to test in Studio as a, say, a Chinese player? Or a player where random paid items are not allowed? I’m assuming you’ll be able to test through LocalisationService but that is just an assumption.
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I’m unsure if it’s publicly available or not yet, but there is a built in studio plugin called the “Player Emulator” which simulates these.
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I would honestly love to see some great chinese developers make great games on the site, but my main concern is that this is gonna be the start of a brand new roblox market of people making games that are marketed directly towards China, for the sole purpose of profiting off of restricted desperate Chinese kids and teens who just want to play roblox. And that some of that cut they get goes directly back into their government.
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Excited to see game from Chinese developers
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I’m very pleased to hear that Roblox would like to expand to more countries, devices, etc.
However, I will not have my games available to mainland China. Tolerance and acceptance of other beliefs and orientations is what I strongly believe in, and I would never feel comfortable having my game market to a country whose government is the complete opposite.
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If China doesn’t allow freedom of speech, then won’t that collide with many games? I personally think that this is not necessary, and may close off many games for many players. If you want to comply with local laws, perhaps you can not have markets in some places, and prevent causing massive inconvenience.
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Out of curiosity, is the Chinese website completely separate from the main website? Things I’m most concerned about being things like sorting games by player count and etc.
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I appreciate the consideration for my personal beliefs. When I first saw the word “Compliance System” I was a bit fearful that this may be another forced requirement. Such as how all games must be strictly kid-friendly. I was pleasantly surprised.
I haven’t studied the laws around games in other countries, besides here in Canada and the US. Never really had the chance. This will be a great excuse to do so!
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Turns out the the whole site is already mirrored.
Games Page: https://www.roblox.qq.com/games/?SortFilter=default&TimeFilter=0
Avatar Shop: https://www.roblox.qq.com/catalog/?Category=0
Create Page: https://www.roblox.qq.com/create
After doing some searching, it appears that things like Hong Kong and Taiwan are still available and uncensored. It seems like there are a few different possibilities:
- Website will display different pages for people in China.
- Website will be updated to only show China-Compliant games that are passed through the new global compliance system.
Old Post
As far as I can tell, the current Chinese website can be found at roblox.qq.com. NOTE: I recommend that if you want to read what’s on the website, you visit it in chrome since it can google translate the whole page live while your viewing it. At the moment, it appears to focus mainly on Roblox Studio and creating games, rather than playing them. However, even with the small size, I’ve seen Roblox’s QQ website pop up in search results a few times (I believe that it used to mirror the main site).
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It’s really quite hilarious how we have no idea what exactly we need to do to be China compliant until the yes-no list is published, but everyone already knows that Winnie the Pooh and Taiwan will probably be on it.
I really hope that if China wants to censor the chat they don’t make us do it manually and instead use Roblox’s custom filtering system. Infact I bet that the API to detect if a player is from China will be used for determining which filtering method is needed for custom inputs and chats.
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If you publish to China, Roblox is letting China do whatever they want with your game, including keeping profits from derivative games, even if they don’t actually publish yours.
The Roblox Terms of Use include:
2.2 License of Your China UGC. You hereby grant and agree to grant to us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive, transferable license, with a power to sub-license through multiple levels to any person or entity (including, but not limited to, to the China Publisher), in respect of Your China UGC, in whole or in part, to:
…
2.2 c) modify, localize, filter, create derivative works of, or otherwise alter the whole or part of Your UGC, for any purpose including for publicity and marketing purposes.
For comparison, Roblox gives themselves the exact same rights with your content (outside of China), except you explicitly retain copyright and they do not give themselves the right to “make new or derivative video games using your UGC” (that exact phrasing will be important in a minute):
(3) Ownership of UGC and License Grant to Roblox. For any UGC that you have ever Provided or that you will Provide (whether created solely by you or together with others) (a) between you and us or you and users, you retain all copyrights that you may hold in the UGC …
…
(except that you are not granting us any license to make new or derivative video games using your UGC).
(So, as a side-note, don’t publish any music/stories/artwork/models/etc if you don’t want to give Roblox the right to make money off of derivative works of it.)
The part I just quoted is from section 6B(3). At the end of the China section 2.1 it reads:
Sections 5B and 6B(3) shall not apply to Your China UGC to the extent that they are inconsistent with Sections 2.2 and 2.9.
If we now read from section 6B(3)…
When using the Service, you may be prompted to grant other Roblox users the right to use your UGC. If you agree to grant this right, other users may use your UGC to create their own games and other UGC on the Service, and you will not be entitled to any revenue that those other users earn, even if they use your UGC.
… and take note that there is nothing contradicting that paragraph in 2.2 nor 2.9, and then remember that you are giving China a license to “use your China UGC” (section 2.2 (b) literally starts with those words), we can see that, while Roblox can’t make new UGC games using your games, China can.
If you want to get picky, that section I just quoted says this right only extends to “users”, and the China platform isn’t a user. However, since you give them the right to sub-license to “any entity”, they can simply sub-license to a particular user, and now I think it is fair to say that you are granting “other users” the right to use your UGC to make their own.
Section 2.9 doesn’t give you any protection (the following is the entire section):
2.9 Earning Robux for Your China UGC. You may earn Robux in connection with the purchase of Your China UGC by China Players on the China Game. These Robux shall be calculated in accordance with the Developer Exchange Terms of Use.
(The Developer Exchange Terms of Use doesn’t mention anything about China.)
Take note of the phrasing in this bit, too (mainly just the bolded part):
2.7 No obligation to distribute Your China UGC. For the avoidance of doubt, no Distribution Entity has any obligation to distribute any of Your China UGC to the China Publisher for publication on the China Game, and the China Publisher has no obligation to publish any of Your China UGC on the China Game.
So, the moment it’s “your China UGC” (ie you specify that you want it published in China):
- you give China a permanent and irrevocable license to do whatever they want with it
- they have no obligation to publish it; if they publish it they can take it down at any time for any reason
- you give them permission to add or remove literally any type of message (political or otherwise, whether you agree with the message or detest it) or feature to your game
- at any time they can create a derivative work and Roblox explicitly states that you “will not be entitled to any revenue” from it, since you’ve given the China platform the right to “use Your China UGC”
In the event that section 6B(3) is not meant to be applied to China and that they aren’t allowed to make derivative works and publish them without giving you anything, explicit clarifying notes in the Terms of Use would reassure me that we aren’t just donating games. However, until I have the right to revoke the license, or until they are no longer allowed to change my game (without approval for the specific changes they’re going to make), how can I agree to allow my games be changed to promote things that I may not believe in?
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There’s a lot here that no official statement has been provided regarding. Is China being given tools to edit other peoples’ games? If not, their “permission” is irrelevant if they don’t have the means. Their permission to make derivative work is concerning if Roblox allows them to copy a game and re-upload it under a Chinese account and block the original, but Roblox is still in control here and can just police that. Roblox can’t control what China does with your IP outside of Roblox even without permission.
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Well not going to lie this seems to be a great opportunity for the current chinese translators in community. Meanwhile, a big hand for the growth of chinese players community of roblox, which is lovely. But, I started concerning about the future of Roblox supporting traditional chinese…
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Hey developers,
We know that you’re passionate about this topic and appreciate all of the opinions voiced in this topic, however this forum is primarily a development resource and political discussion is against our rules. That’s why some of the posts you may have seen in this thread have been moved to private messages.
Going forward, please avoid discussion that strays into political territory as the DevForum is not the appropriate place for those conversations.
Thanks,
Developer Relations
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Quick note: my previous response I left here yesterday was moved out of this thread as I mentioned my own political affiliation, so I’d like to post an updated version of what I previously posted, sans the politics. If it feels a bit abridged, that’s probably why, so sorry about that!
Interesting update. I quite like the new PolicyService, and think it will be a step in the right direction for making Roblox games more compliant to various laws worldwide, in particular when looking at possible upcoming regulations around certain practices such as lootboxes. This will be great for making my games play more nicely with various regulations in countries where I wish to operate in.
However, I’m not planning to prepare my games for the Chinese market, for various personal reasons. Thank you for giving us the option to at least opt out.
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