I’ve seen quite a few developers make a subtle mistake when constructing the first sentence of their feature request; “As a Roblox developer…”. Before I mention what the subtle mistake is, I’ll show a correct and an incorrect sentence construction:
Correct
“As a Roblox developer it is impossible to make a game with split screen support.”
Incorrect
“As a Roblox developer we cannot use multiple cameras.”
I’ll give you a few seconds to think about why the first construction is correct and why the second construction is incorrect.
…
Ready?
Well, here goes; when you start a sentence with “As a Roblox developer…” the following part of the sentence is supposed to refer back to you, the developer. This means that what is mentioned afterwards has to do with you. The first example is correct because what is mentioned afterwards (making a game with split screen support) is something you cannot do ‘as a Roblox developer’. The second sentence is incorrect because there’s nothing in the next part of the sentence that refers back to you, the developer. “We cannot use multiple camera’s” is a sentence on its own; It is not connected to you, the developer.
So why am I making a topic to address this? Well, if you are making a feature request you want to sell your request to the Roblox employees. If you can give good arguments as to why your request is important and should become reality, Roblox employees will have more reasons to consider your request. If your request however starts of with poor grammar, it might sound unprofessional towards the Roblox employees who read your request. You might immediately give off a bad impression. That’s not a good way to start your feature request. So whenever you make a feature request, make sure you double check your post.
I’ll end this with a few more incorrect sentences for reference:
“As a Roblox developer emoji’s shouldn’t be a thing.”
“As a Roblox developer games are too hard to make.”
“As a Roblox developer it is currently 5 o’clock.”
This is a great rule of thumb. A bit more information:
The “As a ROBLOX developer…” is called a user story. It’s meant to communicate your needs as a user – not what you want. What you want and what you need are entirely different things. Going back to Zomebody’s example, your need would be splitscreen support, and you want to implement that with multiple cameras. Another way of looking at this is you’re describing the problem you’re experiencing – not the solution.
We ask for the problem you’re experiencing rather than solutions because problems help us understand the underlying issue. If you request multiple cameras, we don’t know that you want splitscreen support, and the feature may end up being implemented in a way that doesn’t support splitscreen. If you tell us you need splitscreen support, the ROBLOX engineers can make sure they implement a feature that best satisfies your needs. You can offer suggestions (which have been proven to be invaluable time and time again), but the main focus of your Feature Request should be the problem you’re experiencing.
I haven’t really been using this format as quite a few of my recent requests are about me as a player than me as a developer. This is a good explanation either way.
You can still use this format for feature requests like those. For instance, instead of posting:
I want to have the web chat display in-game
You might post something such as:
As a ROBLOX player, it is currently difficult to keep in touch with my friends when I play games. If the web chat displayed in-game, it would make it easier for me to notice when they came online/sent me a message.
The emphasis is on the problem, which will exist for any feature request that could be made.