[Update] September 19, 2023
Hi everyone,
At Roblox, the importance of treating creators with mutual respect, providing equal opportunities for monetizing their creations, and protecting intellectual property (IP) is crucial to our platform. We strive to ensure a fair and supportive environment for all members of our community.
To support this, we are introducing “Experiences using Marketplace Items” in our Community Standards (to be found in the Roblox Economy section after publication).
If a creator makes an experience with unaffiliated avatar Marketplace items available for users to equip when the user has not yet purchased the item, the experience must:
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Prompt a purchase UI for the item when the user equips it and maintain a prominent ability to purchase later if the user declines to purchase in the moment, using the appropriate MarketplaceService tools for proper Robux pricing and creator attribution.
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Prevent items that are not available to purchase from being used in the experience (i.e., zero quantity, only for resale, or off-sale items) with our CatalogSearchParams tools.
Please note that an unaffiliated avatar Marketplace item is one that the Experience creator did not create themselves or have a direct agreement with the item’s Creator to distribute or incorporate in the Experience.
This policy will be incorporated into the Community Standards on September 27, so for those of you it impacts, please make the necessary changes as soon as possible to avoid any moderation of your content.
FAQs
Click here to view the FAQ!
Use of avatar Marketplace items in experiences has been a long-standing feature of Roblox. Why is this change happening now?
- Historically, our Marketplace was primarily populated with Roblox-created items. As we are about to open up creation to a larger portion of the creator community, we have to better ensure fairness to those creators.
Is Roblox planning to offer any additional tools or support to help developers navigate this requirement and/or provide more choice to UGC creators?
- While this policy goes into effect on September 27, we are also working very hard to consider a more holistic approach to ensure a consistent experience for our players and to help our creators. We can’t commit to anything yet, but we are evaluating the possibility of providing additional tooling in the future.
I found an experience that appears to be violating this policy (the Experience is using off-sale avatar items, Roblox’s items, someone else’s items, etc). How do I report this developer?
- To report an experience, enter the experience, and navigate to the Reporting tab of the menu. Follow the prompts for reporting the Experience and Reason for Abuse as “Inappropriate Content.” In order to help our moderation team more accurately identify and handle your report, be sure to include descriptors and keywords in your text input, such as “UGC,” “Marketplace,” “Roblox IP,” “off-sale,” or “avatar item.”
What happens to violating experiences and developers?
- Developers who violate this policy are subject to moderation as they would be for any other violation of the Community Standards. This may include warnings, removal of your experience from the platform or suspension of your account.
How do I inform Roblox of an agreement I have with a creator for using their creations in my experience without requiring it to be on-sale and purchasable?
- If Roblox receives a user report of a potential violation in your experience and you receive a moderation warning or action, you should appeal the action and provide evidence of your agreement with the avatar item’s creator to use their content.
How can I protect my IP?
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IP owners are the ones best positioned to tell Roblox what is infringing. And only the rights holder can report content that infringes on their intellectual property rights. If you find content on Roblox that you believe infringes your IP rights, please see our DMCA Guidelines for additional information on how to submit an IP takedown report to us.
Roblox investigates each report and takes appropriate action, which may include removing or disabling the infringing content, and permanently terminating the accounts of users who have repeatedly infringed on the IP of others.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions.
Thank you.