There is something that intolerates me in this copyright story.
You say that even if we change the texture or the mesh, it belongs to this creator.
But remember that many UGC designers have created rather simplistic accessories and make basic accessories.
And then if we can’t send a message to some UGC creators, we should have the right to use these accessories because they are used to be worn by everyone in Roblox.
If you allow players and not developers to use your accessories, we may automatically remove your accessories worn by players when they play our game.
It would be weird from a developer but it would seem to me fair.
And then if everyone starts doing that, the UGC program will no longer be of interest if we start censoring because of the Ugc creators who do not allow.
Would talk to a professional lawyer on the matter and they will be telling you the same: Ask permission before using assets to avoid any potential issues.
However from my own experience (and personal view), most UGC content creators will not care if you are using the asset, as long as you ae not selling the asset in a bundle or in-game market place that does not tie to the Roblox catalog directly.
For example in the OP, if OP were to check if the player owns said accessory from their Roblox website inventory and allowed them to use said item in game, content creators would be OK with that. However if OP were to do the same but instead sell the item for their games premium currency (i.e. a currency name “gold”) they are cheating the UGC creator out of any money for using the content creators handiwork in the devs game as that developer did not purchase a license to use and sale that work in their game. You will find much of the same problems in the real world with Licenses to use audio or images or models in games from other asset websites.
To be honest, I’ve personally filed a few requests against some games using some of my accessories due the content of those games being borderline violation of the ToS ontop of them selling my work without asking permission before hand- not that I would of permitted that to begin with due to the content of the games, and would have messaged Roblox a lot sooner if I knew those games existed before being alerted by a colleague. However in the past I have also came across a few front page games profiting off my and my friends own work(s) without ever being asked for permission to sell out items in their game’s catalog, and were profiting potentially thousands of dollars on what could be considered stolen work, however the game dev in his “oh shoot im caught” moment agreed to remove the items from the game.
The main difference between use(s) is that its how the items are being distributed, I was getting a few messages about how I scammed someone because they bought my Shattered Minions from a games store for something called Z-Bucks, and they got the item in that game and thought they could also keep and wear said item in other games, which they couldn’t. And they were unaware that, that games store was not tied to the Roblox one and thought I scammed them out of their robux when they saw they didn’t own the item online. It took a few hours to calm the invidual down and explain to me when and where they bought the items and I realized a game was selling my work in their game without my permission for what was about $1.25 USD in the games currency equivalent and was under the “popular now” part of the store of a game with 44k concurrent users at the time, most of which are young kids and aren’t all aware that what they buy in a store in a game isn’t able to be used in another game.
And that is the problem there, an item was sold in a game where you could only use it there and no where else, without informing the player said purchase only allows for that item to be worn in that experience. This is something I am against not only for my own items but for others as well because it ends up being unfair to content creators because our money is being stolen from us and the to consumer who isn’t actually buying something they can use most games on Roblox.
Reason why content creators are OK with you allowing players to wear items in game, or use them on NPCs is because well, its free advertisement and you are not directly selling the item to make a profit and cut the content creator out of the loop, intentionally or not. And believe it or not, developers who sell UGC items in their game get 40% and we only get 30% regardless of it being on the website or in-game purchase. Developers get 10% more revenue per UGC sale then a UGC creator gets, but if you’re selling the item for an In-game currency, the UGC creator gets 0, which is unfair for their time and effort gone into the model you are selling.
At the end of the day in regards to OP, as answered by Post #2, just clearly state your indented use for the accessories you seek to use and ask for permission before using to avoid any and all issues and if possible get the agreement in writing and signed by both parties.
But in a tl;dr response to your post directly at the end of the day it comes down to money, no one is going to be upset if both parties mutually benefit from the items going into a game and if you wish to skip the messaging part, just directly sell the item(s) from the Roblox catalog and 99% of the developers will not care or get upset over seeing those items for sale in-game.
I fully understand your displeasure about your experiences with those who made money in the shadows with your props without asking permission.
It is not my intention to steal other people’s props at all.
I made that comment above because I was accidentally terminated (account deleted) by a bot because I wanted to test a Pokémon Brick Bronze game in my own place in private, with no intention of making money or anything, just analyzing and figuring out how to work the outdated scripts. (What is strange is that I published the place without modifying it, whereas if I had modified it, the robot would not have recognised me.)
Luckily I made an appeal which was taken into account very quickly because I am friends with some admins. Thanks to them I was unbanished within minutes after my ban.
Nowadays I try to be more and more careful because I am very afraid of the moderation of Roblox and I don’t feel protected at all.
For the UGCs accessories, I use some of them to decorate my games, I don’t sell them, they are only used as decorations and NPCs because a lot of UGCs are used as furniture or others, and they looked very good to adapt my game. If I could I’ll use more Roblox accessories but they stopped to product accessoires and they gave this opportunity to you, ugc creators.
Unfortunately, many of the UGC creators are unreachable through devforum and roblox. And I don’t want to put myself in too much danger.
But if you warn me in case I sell them, don’t worry I won’t because I wanted to be part of the UGC program too but I was rejected several times after months of waiting.
It’s depressing, so instead of modeling myself, I sometimes take other UGCs to get a map done faster.
They’ll get credits everytime at the end of my adventure games.