Something like this really is a two-faced issue.
I used to support paid-for assets on the marketplace, but the issues that stand out to me include the following:
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Reuploading assets
–This is a given topic of conversation. Obviously in the current state of things anyone can access anyone’s source code, however in the context of a paid-for marketplace, this simply cannot be the case. People will work hard just to have their assets stolen and released for free the day after it’s release. -
Discovering Plugins
–The toolbox sucks. Let’s be honest. You can’t search the word “Trees” in your inventory and have all the models relevant to the word “Trees” appear. It just doesn’t happen. The search engine is so trash, people couldn’t find good plugins and models if they wanted to. There are plenty of high quality assets on the platform already, but you’re never going to find them without knowing the right people and communities to help point you in the right direction - this is something roblox admins will never experience because they’re involved in the entirety of roblox, not the clans / communities within it.
Search in toolbox, still bad after many years - #8 by ToldFable -
Killing small & beginning developers
–Devs like myself teach themselves everything from example. TurboFusion’s gun script is how I learned how to code, and from there I explored other free models. The problem is that by making every good free model pay - to - use, small developers (what roblox currently revolves around, I haven’t seen many AAA studios around here) have no outlet to see new applications of code in action, and the cookie cutter games that roblox produces for beginners are too simple to learn enough to make a steady game. Successful devs are born through experience and teaching themselves how to stitch the pieces of the puzzle together. -
Killing communities that revolve around certain assets
–Take the car community on roblox, for example. Their whole existence revolves around the existance of Blender and A-Chassis. If the A-Chassis developers suddenly decided to make the price of their assets cost R$1000, all the members who didn’t have robux would have nothing to use as a chassis, pushing them back to modding other games like Assetto Corza or something.
–The same goes for the military community. The military community would not exist had there not been TurboFusion’s gun script back when it was first made. I haven’t been a part of this for a long time, so I do not know if they have diversified from it or not (I believe they have), but from what I do know, there are many, many communities on roblox which heavily rely on public free models. This would kill those. -
Backdoors and clickbait
– We all know that exploiters use infected plugins to inject scripts into victim’s games so people who buy their exploit can inject server-sided code, but with something like this where it is a paid-for plugin, it is very easy to be a semi-respectable developer, get paid by an exploit developer, and publish a paid for plugin with disguised source code with a rat in it. @berezaa said that this could be fixed with permissions prompts, but to a newbie developer who has no experience with exploit protection or cautious practices when making a game, or an experienced developer who is too lazy to double - check his code, this could easily become a vulnerability. Obfuscated code, indenting off the screen & using require(assetid), etc. There are a million ways to exploit without invoking a permissions prompt; you’re really giving any plugin maker access to your game in studio. Any exploiter with half a brain could see this as a real money-making opportunity. Services like HTTP Service could have a legitimate use to the plugin, but also be used as a backdoor at the same time, and there is no way to vet that out.
–Clickbait is already a problem on roblox and we all know that. It would be very easy for a “developer” of a clickbait, empty plugin to sell it to some unsuspecting kid who is told it will give him robux and doesn’t know up from down. Let’s remember this is roblox we are talking about. I’m not going to go into major details because we all know the facts about this, but keep it in the back of your mind.
There are three types of roblox players - the kids who play games and spend a lot of money, the middle ground who participate in group activities and make small - time assets for personal use, and the full - fledged developers who make games. This (uncalled for) update would kill the entry to that middle ground and basically eliminate all the 12-16 year old players on the platform. I think pretending roblox is unity is a very bad, risky move.
I don’t remember this being on the roadmap…