This really doesn’t sound like how a company and a government should be operating together. I don’t see this partnership taking off
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As much as this benefits the Roblox Corporation, the users are ultimately who create the content and keep it so busy and exciting.
As @CanadianCrepe said, I don’t think “complying” with Chinese regulations should be a mandatory part for developers who are interested in this program, not because the content goes against TOS, but because it limits how many people can express themselves.
Roblox is a platform not only to create games, but to express oneself, and doing so puts that expression in massive jeopardy.
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What’s with the payout pool? If China was such an amazing opportunity, wouldn’t developers all be flocking to try to get their games compliant with Chinese law for free? Roblox, I think you know how this was going to be received. You’re only contributing to the gaming monopoly Tencent has.
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If you don’t want to comply with China restrictions, just don’t open your game to China market???
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Will we be getting any responses to the valid criticism’s given in this thread? Seems like it’s all fell on deaf ears for quite some time now.
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You have to follow US/UK/etc. laws when making a Roblox game, you can’t break the laws of a sovereign nation.
Another question for Roblox:
Is there a certain defined set of criteria for this? If so, is it based on monetization? Visits?
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It is unlikely that I will participate in this program. There is too tight of a restriction on what we can include in a game and too many drastic workarounds that I would have to implement. I would have to turn my game upside-down and they would be only husks of their former self. For this reason I advise other developers, too, not to participate in this program.
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So it appears that this is the rules regarding China’s regulations, so just a few questions.
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Will there be a way to tell if a game is in China so we can disable notifications telling users to check our Twitter accounts for codes in-game, since this is a common practice in-game? Same with our game’s descriptions?
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Regarding lootboxes, is this the requirements for paid lootboxes, or for all random rewards. For example, a random daily login bonus, random rewards when you level up, ect.
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What platforms will launch in China?
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You can also give your opinion of the US government in China.
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But not of the Chinese government in China.
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Yes, we get it now. Some of you don’t want to work with the specified region due to certain concerns - you guys really don’t need to constantly post about it. Give a like on a post someone else made. Additionally, if you don’t want to work with this region, then don’t launch your game to this market and don’t take up these programs. Leave these for the people who are willing to work with the region.
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This is exactly the problem. Are you not bothered by how China plays a part in almost everything we have? Are you not concerned that the government can control those businesses and can take all of that away in a snap? This is more than just “China bad.”
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To answer your first question, GetPolicyInfoForPlayerAsync has been around for a while, and has a dedicated flag to check if a player is in China (and subject to their policies).
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It’s not about opening the game to the Chinese market. This entire partnership will prove to be very critical in upcoming developments such as these in other places and will put all of those in jeopardy.
I believe that it’s inevitable that when people see that the content that they create is moderated, they will leave. This hurts both parties and it makes it incredibly difficult to create, particularly when the Chinese government is known for censoring every minute detail.
The entire framework of the partnership is not flawed, it’s only the “comply with local regulations” part, and I think getting off the wrong foot here is dangerous.
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Roblox China is separate entity, nothing will change for you if you don’t open your game to China market.
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This seems like an interesting opportunity, however, there are some concerns/questions I’d like to address/ask.
How do things work for games accessible to the Chinese player-base? Will they have servers exclusive to their region or will they join in with everyone around the globe? For games that have external systems, how would one go about ensuring the game’s compliance, for example, if leaderboards are hosted externally, would there need to be two different leaderboards for the Chinese player-base and non? – this is to ensure that questionable content (Usernames, chat, in-game UGC, etc) by other players do not affect the game.
Mullets also asked a very important question, if I will run the risk of having my content used without my permission because of this then it’s difficult to justify opening the game to this.
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Probably why a lot of people aren’t directly jumping in this program (the apply links got 50 clicks): because they don’t want to support China.
I was arguing over that with a friend on whether he chooses “ethics or possible revenue”.
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No thanks, I’ve heard a lot of controversies about China’s censorship of certain topics/things. I think this would restrict me from making a lot of things that I want to do because how the Chinese government is not a country with free speech(and other laws that are restricting me to do some other things), plus I don’t even know if my IP is protected or not.
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Question: Is the default Roblox death, where all body parts split up, acceptable? Will that count towards body parts flying apart or dead bodies?
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I’ve submitted a game that’s fully translated to Chinese (simplified and traditional - AND already compliant) and a newer experience that will need to be translated. I’m very excited to see this program take a new life that will allow us to launch!
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