As others have stated, unless there is a proper permission system in place AND if the plugins and have hidden source code, nobody wants to use this. This also brings us back to why closed modules were shut down in the first place, because you couldn’t see what they were doing.
Now there is another thing that does this, so is Roblox making another mistake by releasing hidden source plugins that can cause even more harm?
If they feel comfortable enough to add a plugin system like this they sure should add private modules back because then there is almost no difference between them, other than the private modules being “more safe” since they don’t actually edit the game itself but can only do things at run-time.
Other than that rant I like where we’re finally headed with a native system in place. This has been wanted for a long time, and the support for it is here soonTM, and now we all have much better times ahead of us.
Now it’s clear that it’s up to Roblox on how to fix the sustainability for sold plugins, but an example way to fix it could be through letting the plugins run on their servers, and send instructions to the studio sessions.
That way they can’t get a hold of the source of the plugins, but “only” what it is doing.
Actually, one solution over people trying to appear in top position with spam-purchase or similar is to make a Permanent Price, where once you set a number, you can only put the Plugin OnSale or Offsale.
The bad side to this is that only Paid Plugins would be trustable due that only people accessing it have rated the plugin, it would be very similar to Paid Access game, the project is being voted by actual users, and not Bots. for almost 100%, Most likely won’t happen, but i guess it would cost quite alot to bot-purchase it, hence making it not-worthy to do.
Is there source protection? Someone could easily reupload a plugin and steal all revenue from a hard working developer. Also, uploading plugins should be a more mainstream process.
Pretty nice but it will be kinda hard to make sure others don’t copy work unless you figure out a way to fix this I think it will be fine. But I was looking forward to a feature like this so I’m glad they actually made a marketplace for plugins. Possibly, we could have models in the future!
Q: Do you have plans on allowing subscriptions to plugins in the futures? Similar to how VIP Servers work currently.
I personally wouldn’t really like to see this as a feature as I don’t believe developers should pay monthly to use a plugin.
Relating to the topic about plugin source security:
Also I do believe that there now is some sort of security towards a plugin’s source code. Before, if you ran game:GetService("InsertService"):LoadAsset(PLUGIN_ID)[1].Parent = workspace inside of Roblox Studio’s command line, it would give you the plugin source code.
I used @AlreadyPro’s Character Loader as an example
I now believe that when you run this piece of code, it will output a 403/bad request error:
However, I’m still not too sure if a user can get a plugin’s source once they have it installed.
As stated by other users
On the other hand, I don’t think that this should be prevented as the user wouldn’t know if they’re installing a malicious plugin or a safe one.
I have a few questions, most of which have already been stated.
What would happen if the plugin creator made a plugin paid that you already had installed? would you need to pay to continue using it or would it be locked on its current version, or something else?
as many others have stated; how can we verify the plugins are safe, and that they really contain the thing we paid for?
It’s a good step, but needs more work before it should be made fully public.
What about developers unable to afford anything? Not that I have this problem myself, but many people go develop games because they need more money for a limited or something. They rely on others to support their financial needs.
For devs making plugins, I think it’s important to still have free plugins available. As a plugin developer myself, one thing I am considering regarding the price is how much R$ a user with a membership gets a month.
Right now, having to buy a plugin to know what it really is doesn’t seem a good option for me, I think methods of paying as you go with the plugin may be more appropriate, such as a freemium model.
One question: Are there any plans that Marketplace plugin installation method will replace the old method where you had to open up a browser inside Studio to get installed?
As much as I am happy to see that other sections of the platform will be possible to monetize and asset creators receiving a new source of income. Digital goods markets are challenging to get right, and the clothing catalog we have today is proof of this.
As a developer, I always scan the code of any plugins I install because we have had people uploading plugins with malicious code added. Of course, I cannot guarantee that this will happen. However, if looking at the clothing catalog, you can tell that people will create and sell an original item at a price, and shortly after, you have someone simply stealing the item and uploading it again for a lower price. As it is at a lower price, people will be bound to buy that item instead.
Taking that into account, if I am unable to review the code of a plugin and verify its legitimacy, I will honestly be quite spooked to install plugins and using them while working on my games. For this reason, I am not all too happy with the idea to hide the source code, as suggested by others above.
I am just really worried that we will get a clothing catalog 2.0 here.
This is great to hear! Now you will no longer have to do trades that might end up in a scam, now we have a offical way to do it after years. Its also great to hear that closed-source might be returning with hopefully a permission system of some sort. But heres my concern, how will closed-source plugins be stored, currently all plugins are saved at yourappdatalocationhere\Local\Roblox\InstalledPlugins. What protection will there be to that if closed-source becomes a thing again? Would it be on the server so you would have to always be online or would the files be encrypted? I see closed-sourcing the only way to prevent this, or maybe matching if the code is almost the same as a plugin that already exists, but that would require a lot of server resources for a lot of people using it at the same time and on top of that you could most likely be able to trick this system by modifying the code enough but its still using the same model, this is already a issue with free models but how bigger will this issue get if there paid models?
Is the percentage cut (I’m assuming there’s one) the same 30% that Roblox takes as with every other item?
I know the FAQs briefly mention support for other assets on the Marketplace in the future. Would there be any system in place that would prevent someone from just re-“sell” (putting it on the marketplace again for free) the model/asset? I know this is an active issue with clothing items, as many items can be stolen very easily.
Edit:
Adding on for clarification on my second question: I am looking for a system that might potentially “lock” models from having their children looked at/stolen that could protect the original seller?
I take back my hatred for the weird Robux icon, this is much worse.
This removes one of the big things Roblox had over Unity, extensions being entirely free. You didn’t have to spend anything to get a quality plugin that would help you develop better. Now all of the sudden, having useful tools can cost you money? This is actually a terrible idea, and it’s just wrong. I wouldn’t be surprised if an illegal plugin blackmarket pops up sooner or later. Considering the plugin stealing was already an issue, I can see this amplifying that more, not to mention the fact that I’m sure there will be scam plugins if this ever goes beyond just a select few. I get plugin devs work hard to make stuff, but it’s making Roblox less valid as a platform. You already make less (?) than what you would on Unity, and now you might have to pay for plugins. I don’t see this as benefitting newer devs either. This harms new devs and has no real benefits for anyone but devs (right now, at least).
Hopefully this comes with better copy protection for marketplace assets.
Currently the only secure items are models.
Decals, audio, and meshes can easily be stolen. Plugins can also be stolen, but it’s a little harder.
Animations are still locked to the owner (unless it’s Roblox).
On the contrary, free plugins actually managed to breach many games undetectably, injecting malicious scripts into games at such a scale that a whole movement was put in place a few months ago that involved malicious script finders and an open collaboration between developers that shared malicious plugins. Sure, a few scam plugins might exist here and there, but it’s easier to refund a few developers money than trying to patch a bug that thousands of developers could be using because of a malicious plugin, which could already exist in even more games, depending on how many games that developer has opened up.
Sure, having paid plugins does have its downsides, but so do free plugins. In fact, I feel like the downsides of free plugins can often outweigh those of paid plugins.
