As a Roblox developer, it is currently impossible to run ads for the specific target audience of my game.
If Roblox is able to address this issue, it would improve my development experience because I can advertise my games without having to worry about mass dislikes from people who are not what the game is meant for. If I am making a game specifically for people who enjoy competitive and challenging game play, I would get a massive hit on my game’s rating because people who aren’t into these games play it and have a really bad time playing. Thus discouraging new players from even entering the game given it has a very low like/dislike ratio.
As Roblox’s user base is increasing by unimaginable amounts, the current advertising system does a lot of harm especially new developers who do not have a player base already set to kick start the game and get noticed.
There are a lot of possible solutions Roblox can implement which can help get our games to the right players, rather than focusing almost all the resources on the front page to rearrange categories and add new ones, or having a like/dislike system which refreshes every week (although that would be awesome) I believe that giving the advertising system a little more attention it would make a VERY big difference.
As an example of things that can be added:
When creating a new ad, allow us to set target audience age range, and game genre.
Roblox already has a feature where it suggests games you may like based off games you’ve previously played. So why not do similar for the advertising system where it would show ads based off games you play. If I am playing more games in the Tycoon genre then ads with the Tycoon genre are shown to me.
The way you described it, not allowing a user to like or dislike the game until it’s been played at least once seems like a plausible solution. Otherwise I don’t feel like you’ve explained your point enough to present a reason to modify the advertising system.
Though the fact it needs to be updated to fit with the times is reasonable I still don’t believe your problem has been addressed. Who is your target audience? Why are you targeting this audience? What kind of game are you promoting that needs a target audience on the platform that the current ad system doesn’t cover for you. Roblox has already removed genre’s from the platform. How will improving this system in such a way benefit other developers as well as yourself?
These are the questions I’m asking after reading your post.
Roblox already doesn’t allow users to rate the game before they’ve played, however this is still flawed. But that’s not what this post is about.
I don’t see how that’s relevant to my post.
As stated in the OP, Roblox has a very large user base which varies A LOT. The current ad system was a perfect design for the old days when there really wasn’t many players and so its not as big of age range.
I’d also like to note that this is a VERY IMPORTANT step into making Roblox appeal for older players where developers can create advanced games that don’t have all the fluff of simulators or what not, think like (Phantom Forces but a lot better) something that me as a 21 year old would make me come to roblox instead of playing something on steam.
Well I mean let me rephrase, why should Roblox take more of a liability to modify their advertising system so that you can target a minority group of users on the platform?
Basically, are you asking for above 13 or below 13 as a possible target. Or do you want to target users based on age? Keep in mind, just by doing that you can assume that majority of the users joining your game is of a certain age. Depending on how this is used it can be used for malicious reasons. So I don’t believe you’ve stated anything reasonable enough for Roblox to consider overlooking the liability.
While I do see the downside you are mentioning, It still doesn’t change much.
I am not asking for a specific age, rather an age range which Roblox already gives us information about, take a look at your game’s analytics and you’ll know the age range of your player base. I’m asking for that kind of thing.
Although the age range may be small now, but investing the time and resources to allow developers the comfort of knowing they can make games for an older audience would increase that age range as more content is made for them.
Do Roblox really wanna bring in an older audience? I get what you’re saying but, Isn’t that what Steam is for? The Epic Games Store? Discord’s Game Store and various other platforms. Roblox is a platform for kids and always have been. At this point of time developers like us who are in their 20s or so are just along for the ride. While our contributions matter just as much as them, is this really a place for us? This would require Roblox to change not only the rules of the platform, but the nature of the platform itself.
Took me a bit to find but I wanted to reply with evidence
Roblox’s vision is and always has been to be a platform for human co-experience where everyone from all parts of the globe and from all age ranges.
The argument of “This has already been made before” is really not valid. Don’t stop yourself from making something just because someone else beat you to the punch, rather go ahead and create it and make it even better than your competitors.
Although Roblox is mostly for kids right now, once Roblox doubles down on expanding to a wider age range they will have the upper hand over all these you’ve listed as they not only will support players those channels provide but they also provide more.
Think of it this way, as an older player you will have games you will enjoy and at the same time your younger siblings, nephews, nieces (family in general) will also have things they enjoy. Why invest your time and money in another platform when you can share a platform to easily access games you and your friends and family can play on at anytime, and for free?
Do Roblox really wanna bring in an older audience? I get what you’re saying but, Isn’t that what Steam is for? The Epic Games Store? Discord’s Game Store and various other platforms. Roblox is a platform for kids and always have been. At this point of time developers like us who are in their 20s or so are just along for the ride. While our contributions matter just as much as them, is this really a place for us? This would require Roblox to change not only the rules of the platform, but the nature of the platform itself.