Lets get straight to it,
The UGC catalog is absolutely horrid, and I cannot be the only one who thinks so.
The UGC program was created with the intent to facilitate creativity and ingenuity. It has instead become the exact opposite, a wasteland of hundreds of versions of the same items, a wasteland of blatant classic item rip-offs and a wasteland of money hungry creators who believe they can do whatever they wish.
This obviously is nothing new, in fact this has been a problem for years however, with the permanent opening of UGC applications and the presentation of Roblox’s new plans for UGC, it is now clear that if strict restrictions and guidelines are not imposed immediately, the UGC catalog will fail.
Some things to note: I am 100% for UGC being open for all, I am not for creators blatantly copying items and being able to easily upload them while the program is still restricted to applications. I understand Roblox is soon introducing new features which will entail larger profits for creators and more accessibility, which will of course be abused.
Today, the catalog is absolutely packed with hundreds, if not thousands of the same items. We have hundreds of face masks, most looking almost identical to each-other, we have hundreds of lollipops, only difference between hem being the shade of color, and that is not even a big problem compared to others. Creators are creating rip-offs of popular Roblox UGC items knowing very well it will be taken off sale after public outcry, in order to make a quick bag of cash, because of course, players rather purchase rip-offs of expensive items than the actual ones. This not only devalues already existing items, it completely throws the idea of a “Roblox economy” out the window. This specific situation also appears to be very similar… perhaps to the 2D catalog which is absolutely trashed with stolen clothing and does not allow the original creators of items to make even a dime. That is the direction which the UGC catalog is headed in.
Items which I consider creative
and many more
Items which I do not find creative
and many many more
At the end of the day, the creator that pours hours into designing and creating a unique item is often outshone by one who simply scrolls through the catalog, picks an already existing item - either one made by another creator or a popular Roblox limited- and makes a five-minute bootleg of it.
It is clear that the criteria to get into UGC was lowered, and that is completely understandable and I am all for it, the problem is that as you lower criteria you must also raise regulation (basic economics), which has clearly not been done as less than two-weeks since their acceptance into the program, we have creators making blatant Roblox limited rip-offs.
Possible Solutions
- Prevent UGC creators from selling their item slots to others. Only allow them to upload items they are affiliated with or have created. (Creators are selling their item upload slots for ridiculous amounts in order to upload items on the behalf of others)
- Cut the amount of items UGC creators are allowed to publish by at least 50% in order to account for new creators
- Create a system which pushes unique items created by smaller creators to the community
- Impose strict punishment on creators who violate set rules and create items that are blatant rip-offs of existing items or consist of stolen intellectual property
If the UGC program will not be regulated further, the UGC program is as good as done, and the creativity which the program was originally intended to facilitate will soon facilitate greed.
- I believe UGC items and creators should be more regulated.
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