this update is mainly scary because of how vague it is
what about startercharacters? what about literally anything?
the faq basically says nothing and thats making everyone freak out
to everybody trying to calm us down then you must know what exactly theyre trying to say, huh? so TELL US!
4 Likes
- The good news is that they gave us some breathing room for now.
- Be vocal about your opinion, though of course donât dedicate your life to the accursed forums.
- You donât need to RIGHT NOW considering they are (temporarily) backing out from this update but try to keep the changes youâll have to make if you go through.
- I do agree the wording is super vague and has implications, like, it doesnât EXPLICITLY say we canât go through and use them if the purchase prompt is declined but itâs IMPLIED. Stuff like that NEEDS to be addressed.
- Calm down a bit, youâre distressed I can tell, so take a breather, get some water, and play some games.
4 Likes
Roblox want to end R6, ok? But now Roblox want to disable the ability to make Avatar Customization in-game? Roblox taking L by L.
3 Likes
I think that the vague wording might be intentional, this is just for me guessing. But from what me and other people have seen so far, there is definitely something to it. We just havenât reached the bottom of it yet.
3 Likes
Now that a few hours have passed, I feel that I can let my thoughts out about this one last time. Roblox actually seeing all these posts and realizing just how much of a problem this will be for us as a community is a huge step in the right direction. It may not be what I, or anyone else for that matter, wants, but nothing at the top of my head takes me back to a time when there was a similar level of backlash over an update. I really donât post on here much, I only do when an update confuses me or if I feel it is worthy of my two cents. This update however, did all of that at once.
8 Likes
That is if they see them and actually pay attention to them. I hope they end up choosing the right path to go.
4 Likes
I think it would be cool to create a way for developers to use ALL catalog items in their experiences. Instead of brutally shutting down any game that even attempts to use a UGC model, why not create a âcreditâ system?
The Credit system tracks whenever a developer uses a catalog asset they donât own (mesh/shirt/pant/etc.) When it detects an asset in use, it adds it to a list. People can then check this list on a tab on the placeâs page to browse what assets the experience uses.
This system does some excellent things:
- It allows developers who lack modeling experience and funds to use catalog items with minimal work/overhead.
- Gives credit to UGC creators.
- Potentially increases the sales of catalog items.
Letâs say Iâm playing a Roblox experience someone else made. I like the look of a particular character in the game and want to make my character somewhat match it. I can check the credits tab and find what asset the developer used to make said character and purchase it. (feedback is welcome!)
5 Likes
Protecting IP property on ROBLOX is conceptually, a step in the right direction, however, as many agree, this has been done in the wrong way.
I want to start by saying that this change had really good promise if not for a few things.
Instead of leaving an unhelpful reply, this is my proposed simple alteration to this that fixes most of the problems I see with the program.
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Items, by default, should not be subject to the marketplace update. The new way to protect IP should not be the new norm quite yet, as people have adopted and understood the (old) system. This can be saved for further down the timeline, where people are more familiar with how this concept works.
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Older items should not be retroactively pushed into this new system, however the asset creator may if they wish, go back and protect their items with a toggle.
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(Potentially lofty and unnecessary) Developers should be able to set up arrangements to automatically pay UGC creators that may not be directly in a group based on how many item sales of their accessory in a game is happening. This is something that would encourage proper relationships between UGC creators and developers, instead of shutting down this avenue entirely with a switch.
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With this proposed system, itâs important that developers donât mix things up, so: When searching for items, developers should be able to see which items theyâre allowed to use and what they arenât with a metadata tag within the item.
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While itâs not entirely clear in the post, ROBLOXâs official items should not be subject to this change (, unless itâs a sponsored event item or similar).
You say this could have been a good change, but what could this have been good for?
Many games on ROBLOX have avatar editors nowadays, and a significant (but not all) portion of those games rely on UGC and ROBLOX assets for customization.
Think about it from the item creatorâs perspective.
- You upload an item to the catalog, with the intent of profiting off of your work.
- Your item is uploaded into a game as a customizable accessory, usually without even notifying you.
- People play the game, or sometimes directly buy currencies to buy that supports the creator of the game, instead of you, the creator of the accessory, so that they can obtain your work in the game.
- You are given no tools by the site to fight what is essentially asset theft.
To reiterate: the developer of this hypothetical game is profiting off of your work, while not giving you any form of compensation in return. This is wrong, and ROBLOX should be recognized for attempting to fix this.
I firmly believe that it is being rather overlooked that this is a significantly more nuanced update that isnt objectively bad. There was a good intention here that should be commended and recognized so that, in the future, a system can form where the issue that was attempting to be resolved is resolved.
Closing, please remember to keep discussion and comments on the developer forum civil and valuable to the topic being discussed. While all developers should enjoy more people getting involved in the community, this is very different than a social media platform in purpose and function. Please do not treat it that way.
4 Likes
im a bit of a nerd and put on my reading glasses for this, so heres what i THINK this update implies:
- There doesnât actually seem to be anything here against importing something in studio and putting it on say, and NPC. Correct me if Iâm wrong though.
- The primary focus seems to be in PLAYERS equipping items through ingame features, like Deepwokenâs barber or Catalog Avatar Creatorâs tools.
- Though it seems to be heavily implied, the policy doesnât actually seem to forbid users from using the item if they decline the purchase prompt provided by the players.
The vagueness and implications are a big problem though.
5 Likes
I Honestly feel like this is just a solution in search of a problem. If the end concern here is IP then thereâs already the DMCA to back that up, even if the DMCA enforcement is honestly terrible and arguably easily abusable in 2023.
Furthermore, imagine a player equipping the speed coil or grav coil in a game that involves complex movements where you are frequently equipping or unequipping such gear; this will get very annoying very fast seeing these pop-ups; this, in turn, may likely contradict community standards for spam since purchase prompts would have to be displayed every time the user took the gear out. As a result possibly putting the creator at risk of moderation action.
:Insert applicable EA Joke here:
6 Likes
I guess to reiterate what I told that guy earlier, this is my perspective:
- UGC is the wrong target for protecting IP. The Catalog/Avatar Shop has always been a sort of public domain for ROBLOX, the items uploaded there are generally understood to be able to be purchased or used by anyone.
- Instead, they should implement brand new systems to protect IPs. Perhaps a shop for development assets or something along those lines. The audio update comes to mind here, which was made to both reduce copyright problems and protect peopleâs audio. Similar systems could be helpful for meshes and textures, but they would have to be properly planned out.
- I truly believe the Catalog should continue to be free for everyone to use. It is best for the health of the players and developers. Those who use their talents and wish to create private assets with them should upload them elsewhere, and if ROBLOX wishes to help people protect such assets, newer systems OUTSIDE OF UGC should be developed for it.
Though letâs be honest, ROBLOX is too lazy to do any of that anyways 
3 Likes
Stupid change. It should be a given that once something is on the catalog, people will use it in games. This should be the problem of the UGC creator, not us. Itâs their choice to publish it to the marketplace. Itâs clear that theyâre being given priority because theyâre making Roblox so much money.
This isnât even remotely fair. This is going to destroy a number of legacy games whose creators, and for the love of god, I keep having to say this EVERY TIME you make a stupid, uninformed, retroactive update, ARE NO LONGER ON THE PLATFORM.
Iâm not about to bother going through my games from 2015 - 2020 just because you made yet ANOTHER horrendous decision, because your new UGC plan (which, by the way, is going to absolutely HAMMER you with copyright claims!) is coming up.
What about games that have museums using avatars from people who own those items? What about games that use them in creative or transformative ways? What about games that are old, and havenât been updated in years? How about games that just placed models of generic characters using said accessories?
If you REALLY cared about âIntellectual propertyâ, the UGC catalog would not be positively BOMBARDED with low-quality items that were stolen from other creators or are blatantly using IPs that the creators donât have permission to use.
The entire reason the UGC catalog is so bad is because Roblox is purposefully abusing the negligence of the IP-holders to milk the items for as much money as possible until some major case gets filed against Roblox, causing an absolute purge of items, just like with the audio update. Roblox is FULLY aware of the issue and only chooses to let it slide until it absolutely canât anymore, all for the sake of lining their own pockets.
So, with all due respect, donât even open your mouth on this topic. You are in NO position to talk IP until you actually crack down on copyright violation, not just when it suits your billionaire corporation crusade.
This is also ridiculous. Games like Catalog Avatar Creator are going to be borderline unusable because of this change, and thatâs a problem, because itâs way better than Robloxâs crummy, barely-functional avatar editor. That game has so many QOL features that I would absolutely furious to go without, especially considering how terrible Robloxâs actual avatar editor is.
Additionally, 2D faces should be exempt from this. Nobody wants to use Dynamic faces except for your stockholders, this has been made abundantly clear by the majority of the community. I wouldnât be surprised if 2D faces going off-sale was conveniently planned in tandem with this update for the sole purpose of trying to pressure your users into wearing the Dynamic faces.
Take a look at your postâs like count. Now look at the first commentâs. Take the L, revert the change, and for the love of god, consult your community next time. It seems like every time we get one good update, we get three bad ones in return, and all of them stem from the same exact problem; A lack of communication with your developers BEFORE introducing god awful changes that nobody has ever asked for.
Good! Glad to see the feedback being taken into account. I would highly advise you to be very careful with the updated policy, because you are treading a very fine line. This refined policy better not be anything like the wet fart of an excuse Unity put out.
23 Likes
Hi,
This update will completely prevent me from receiving my monthly DevEx.
Will you be issuing a refund for each member of my games community due to the fact they will no longer be able to use items they have purchased?
Please stop this change
7 Likes
So⌠now just any old experience that doesnât receive updates will be executed due to off sale faces simply because Roblox doesnât want to support the non-animated faces anymore. Rest in peace all my old favorites.
2 Likes
Wow, roblox biggest L of the year, terrible terrible change, this is worst than R6 depreciation and classic faces going offsale. Ive been working on my game for months now and itâs not even out yet and this policy will pretty much ruin it cause it contains many roblox classic gear tools items and roblox offsales items and faces, as i am currently working on an avatar editor.
This is outrageous and i have no clue why would anyone at the corporation think that this would be a good idea. Please, for god sake, do not make that change, listen to the community for once and do not make these policies changes, they are ruining years and months of hard work game development and does not provide any good side benefit to creators.
5 Likes
Giving people 1 week to fix their games with a policy change this big is insulting
11 Likes
If you are capable of delaying this, there is clearly no pressing legal precedent. What on earth happened that you felt it was acceptable to give the developer community one week to react to a game-ending policy change??
All levels of the company need to be brought up to the same standards on rigor and respect around public communication and announcement auditing as well as simply understanding the platform holistically before making decisions. This is embarrassing.
Iâm sure you had feedback for this change coming from at least somewhere, and it was clearly outright ignored. What were the people responsible for this even thinking?
38 Likes
Gotta stay on topic I guess
Well I think this update really just kills most games and the update really just sucks.
18 Likes
I wish I could just simply become some random moderator on this platform and just casually scroll down on UGC assets and take the ones that simply are plain rip-off from other games like tf2 heavyâs head or somethin
4 Likes
