I just want to personally say that I’m extremely glad that Roblox is at the very minimum responding to the controversy (something they don’t commonly do), though I do think this brings up more questions then it does answers.
Like for example, if it turns out that Pet Simulator X indeed was breaking ToS, and results in administrative action taken upon the game, (either in just the NFT part being removed, or even the entire game getting taken down), what then will happen to the people who spent literal thousands of USD worth of Crypto on the NFTs? Will they get refunds, or will they be completely screwed? If they ultimately don’t get refunded, Roblox should step in and do something, since this took place on their platform.
Also,(correct me if I’m wrong might be misinformation but unsure) the owner of Pet Simulator X reportedly asked Roblox for permission to sell NFTs, and they gave the “all clear” to him to do so. Why didn’t they just resolve the issue from the beginning and not have to deal with all of this to begin with?
Regardless, this is a step in the right direction and this should serve as reference to future Developers who want to try cheating the system.
I sort of disagree. BIG Games and Preston have shown that they support the world of NFTs, and despite the backlash they received they continued to go along with it.
They should’ve known the possible consequences that would go along with their decisions and surely they didn’t think people wouldn’t think that what they were doing was against the ToS, right?! They were being careless and greedy.
They refused to take feedback from others (even YouTubers) who thought that selling NFTs with in-game perks in a game that a lot of children probably play was a terrible idea. They deserve to be punished for what they did in some form.
Now, what would that punishment be? While perhaps I wouldn’t go as far as deleting their games as people have data on them and I’m sure quite a number of people have spent a long time getting stuff in them, I would say that at the very least the people behind this NFT thing should be banned.
They got 150,000 dollars from the NFT auction by selling NFTs with in-game perks for a game made on ROBLOX’s platform so I would think ROBLOX would have some sort of power over them when it comes to that.
There’s hundreds (probably thousands) of developers who work hard to get to where they are now, and for BIG Games to figure that they can just get by with selling ROBLOX-related NFTs to make more money than most people make on ROBLOX alone? That just doesn’t sit well with me.
If this was the case then ROBLOX wouldn’t have made this announcement and worded it as though BIG Games did something wrong. This information is most likely false.
I’d highly recommend you do research into the subject, but more or less every study around NFTs (and cryptocurrency since it’s related) results in the consensus that it’s really, really bad for the planet.
For example, “the the average NFT will accrue a stunning footprint of 211 kg of CO2, equivalent to driving 513 miles in a typical US gasoline-powered car.” - Erin Davis’s study on NFTs.
And also, while yes you can do things “environmentally unfriendly”, you can take steps to do things to become "environmentally friendly*, one of which is not supporting industries like NFTs.
Our Terms of Service and Community Standards exist for the safety and wellbeing of all users.
When off-platform transactions occur that are tied to on-platform items or experiences, it is impossible for us to monitor the details of that event and it blocks our ability to validate or mediate any claims. Moreover, it can also violate the terms of our app store partners. In some scenarios, it can be okay to give away something off-platform (such as over social media) for free as part of community-building efforts.
To clarify this, we have updated the Roblox Economy section of the Community Standards to be even more explicit about what is not allowed.
This message serves as notice of the policy clarification. We are reviewing existing violations and may provide developers an opportunity to bring some concerning transactions into compliance.
It is good to hear that ROBLOX has updated their ToS to be more clear about what is and isn’t allowed, and although it still doesn’t tell us if NFTs are allowed or not (I think), it is clear now that you can not use third-party services or products to sell in-experience items.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for keeping the disgusting rug pulls from children. Now I am hoping that you will treat said developer like any other user and pull the mighty hammer on them.
This response feels a little bit vague IMO.
It says in the ToS “You also may not use third-party services or products to sell, either directly or as a bundle: in-experience items, exclusive features, or other in-experience enhancements.”
There’s no explicit mentions of NFTs anywhere, so say if someone was to make and sell NFTs that had no ingame perks at all, would that still be allowed under this new rule? (I hope they wouldn’t be allowed under any circumstances, as they’re really bad for the enviroment)
And also, say if a game was to release some merch/toys etc, and they had a code attached to it for an ingame item (I think MM2 did this a while back IIRC?) Wouldn’t that technically be breaking the ToS? As the code is bundled with something sold on a third party site? Would this new rule affect that?
I think that most people here are missing the severity of this amendment. This is not a battle about NFTs. This is a battle about a developer’s right to fully own their intellectual property, and to be able to monetize it as they please. In my opinion, this is a sad day for the platform… this change closes so many doors for the entire Roblox Dev community.
You’re the one that has missed the mark here, friend. I do agree that monetization off-roblox would be nice but it’s been against the ToS for years now. You’re still able to monetize your brand off-site, you’re just not allowed to attach roblox in-game rewards for irl currency. That’s what people have been doing for years with their Patreons and such.
You’re totally right… This took out NFTs for sure, but this also restricts plushies and developers’ own product and offering ingame codes for it. This is a HUGE step backwards for a platform which claims to host the “metaverse”.
Thank you! As much as it does tell us about you can not use third-party services to sell in-experience items or features, this does not directly tell us about NFTs, but it hopefully stops those kinds of behaviours. And I seriously wonder, what happens if it didn’t offer in-experience items or features? Would that still be allowed?
This specific rule gatekeeps creators from monetization tactics. That means creators who aren’t in the star program can’t make their own merch and include in-game codes with merch upon purchase.
