Roblox China Protest UI

Resources Community Resources
#1

Please do not spam!

This resource currently has a trend of repetitive replies, please be more mindful about your reply, there is no need to be hostile.

This UI is optional, as optional as the program its against, if you don’t agree with its purpose, you do not have to use it. I might feel very strongly about the Roblox China Program, but that does not mean you also have to feel the same way and I don’t expect you to, please keep that in mind.

You do not need to repeat complaints! Its unnecessary because the replies section is already very cluttered with very similar responses. Unless you have new constructive criticism, you don’t need to make a whole reply. It bumps the topic to the top of the resources category which in turn creates a lot of additional spam, which effects my ability to make improvements to this resource and takes up a lot of my time to work on other projects.

V2 (Please update to V2 as V1 has a security issue, see below)

Recent changes
  • 2/5/2021 (Major 2) - Removed potential for me to remotely execute code in the module
    • Thank you @buildthomas for bringing up this issue, this was an oversight in my personal style and I apologize for the concern.
  • 2/3/2021 (Major 1) - Add update features & out of date detection
    • Will display a warning if the Non-Compliancy UI is out of date by a major version.
    • Will automatically retrieve up-to-date text content from the latest version of the UI. This does not fully update the UI, it only retrieves the updated content, allowing you to implement the UI into your game in a more custom way.
    • Global disable switch for potential ToS-related issues that need to be addressed, or for if the UI is widely agreed upon to no longer serve a good purpose (You can opt out of this via the Configuration, though, its not recommended of course)
    • The UI’s Main frame is hidden by default using Visible and shown by its local code. This is to prevent it from obstructing other UI you may be working on. The UI can be toggled visible or invisible however you like.
    • The above leaves the ability for you to temporarily disable the UI yourself if you need to by setting its Enabled property to false. This does not prevent the UI code from running, but, it shouldn’t have any effects on your game if you have your timeout enabled, since it will automatically clean itself up.
  • 2/3/2021 - Improve wording (More neutral)
    • Does not imply a call to action (Changed “Protest Roblox China” to “Roblox China Protest”)
    • Does not imply an explicit stance/opinion (Changed “negative” to “controversial”)
    • Avoid implications
    • Fixed a typo (“https://devforum.com” instead of “https://devforum.roblox.com”)
    • Removed “Search ‘Roblox China Program’ on Google” to reduce future conflict (Search engines are weird, so, probably best not to include that part considering this topic is as controversial as it is)
    • Include ToS changes in statement

Roblox China Protest UI

I have taken a bit of time to design a UI for games that wish to voice additional protest against the current issues with the Roblox China program. This is meant to act as a unified way to express concerns.

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Platform Support

Touch interfaces (Android, IOS, & Tablet PCs), PC
This will not support console for a few reasons.

Integration

The UI is on layer one by default, just above the default UI layer (which I chose as the best default for the UI, as I am assuming most games will keep their UI on layer 0 other than loading UIs). You can of course change it via the DisplayOrder property on the UI’s ScreenGui:

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Configuring

The default timeout is 20 seconds, however, you can adjust it inside of the Configuration by expanding it and changing the Value of Timer.

If the timeout is set to 0, the timer will be disabled & hidden and the UI must be manually dismissed.

Additionally, the UI has a global switch to disable it in all games using it. This is both for the purpose of ToS compliance (e.g. in case an issue is brought up that needs to be addressed) and for the case that it is widely agreed upon that relevant issues have been resolved.

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You can get the UI here:

But, why?

A few of the current concerns & issues brought up with the Roblox china program (Some of these are not at the fault of Roblox, of course):

  1. IP (Intellectual Property) ToS differences for Roblox China.
  2. Market stability (E.g. Roblox being partly tied to political events in China).
  3. Overly strict guidelines which make most Roblox games ineligible, and restrict creativity, as well as allowing for inappropriate censorship of content.
  4. Tencent’s monopolization & game stealing tactics
  5. The China Program “money pool” & its implications, such as its potential use to reduce protest or boycott of the China Program if issues arise.

(Official Announcement) Information about the Roblox China Program

Roblox China Program Announcement

A few sources on Tencent Monopolization

Article one

China's Alibaba, Tencent unit fined under anti-monopoly law - ABC News
https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2020-12-14/chinas-alibaba-tencent-unit-fined-under-anti-monopoly-law

Article two

Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem

Article three

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Article four (This one is not about Tencent, however, Tencent is discussed)

https://www.ft.com/content/858d0312-8988-11e7-8bb1-5ba57d47eff7

76 Likes
#2

I thought you had to apply to be in the china program. It is mandatory?

Roblox could always stop affairs with China if this ends up corrupting the platform. I believe you’re being quick to assume that China will destroy the platform. I think we should all wait and see how this plays out. :slight_smile:

7 Likes
#3

No, it is not mandatory. However, I believe that the effects of the Roblox China program will spread to other parts of the platform indirectly and effect Roblox as a whole. Secondly, I disagree with the Roblox China program morally.

29 Likes
#4

The gui says

will not be joining the Roblox China Program

Implying that it is indeed optional, the gui is just for protest purposes i believe

3 Likes
#5

Brilliant, thank you for making this.

6 Likes
#6

I don’t support Roblox going to China as well but I do think that it’s a little overkill. The sad truth is that kids don’t care whenever or not you support China or not. Politics like that is best resorted to Twitter where people actually care.

14 Likes
#7

Brilliant work and I also disagree with the Roblox china program.

4 Likes
#8

I support this, but I’ll be making this a gui slider on the side to not affect player experience.

3 Likes
#9

This is definitely true, however, it depends on your demographic. My community is mostly older players, and, there definitely are a lot of games like that on Roblox. The point is less so to get players to agree anyway, and more so to voice disapproval on the platform, and get the attention of Roblox.

6 Likes
#10

While I support what this stand for, I don’t believe this belongs in games. Majority of the player-base is not going to know what this is, what its for, and it wont actually make any sort of impact. They made the program optional as I am sure they know a lot of developers are not going to be participating or even be against it. They don’t care about the maybe handful of games that will put a UI like this in it.

But that’s just my two cents. I am going to be patient, if it doesn’t end up affecting the rest of the platform then I have no reason to care. Should it become a problem, or restrictions are places on the platform for other demographics then maybe being more vocal is the way to go, but its better served on twitter or other sections of the forums. But again, that’s just where I’m at right now. I understand where this is coming from

12 Likes
#11

I won’t add this UI into my game because it’s not necessary. Kids don’t know much about political stuff but if they do it’s usually simple ones like equal rights and kids tend to not care much about politics. Kids like to have fun. Let kids be kids. The kids today will be adults tomorrow.

I would put details in other social media services for 13+ users because they will understand more.

There is a more kid friendly alternative, make an announcement stating that this game will not be available in China. That is it.

This GUI is okay if your game target audience mainly targets preteens and up. (Ages 10+). If it targets under that age, don’t add it and use a kid friendly message.

7 Likes
#12

This UI is just overly petty. Theres no reason for this to exist at all, none of your players (or anyone at all) will actually care if your game is in china or not. You won’t lose sleep over it at all.

9 Likes
#13

While I do agree that what Roblox is doing with China is terrible, it’s pointless to put this into your Roblox game. There is a near zero percent chance of Roblox removing the Roblox China program, because Roblox is just doing it for the money and doesn’t really care about the human rights issues that come with it. Besides, most Roblox players are young children and wouldn’t understand.

5 Likes
#14

As a short note too, I feel like this UI also breaks the terms of service as it’s very political. I do suggest either not adding it to your games or making it milder.

6 Likes
#15

@CrispyBrix
@OutlookG
@Fire540Games

I actually responded to these points in an above reply, you are missing the point of this. You are all absolutely correct in your points. My community demographic is older players who will care about this, so, personally I had more of a reason to want to create something like this.

Regardless, the point is not to get players to agree anyway. There is no real point in getting your players to also be in on it, the point is to voice disapproval, and get the attention of Roblox. If a lot of games are voicing their objections, Roblox will see it. It’s a lot more of an obvious visual for how widespread disapproval is than a couple of devforum replies.

The players themselves agreeing is not what creates the change, its the sight of games with a lot of players with the same message.

If Roblox sees a lot of games joining together with something consistent like this, it will have a much bigger impact. Its psychological and simply just a better visual indication.

2 Likes
#16

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#17

You make a good point. (I have improved this, as mentioned below)

I did take this into consideration, and its a valid concern. I made sure that I did not make any direct political statements, or imply explicit negativity through my wording, its as neutral and professional as I could make it.

I do not think mention of the Roblox China Program in this way should create any ToS issues.

@twinqle Thanks haha, its now fixed. Apologies for the typo.

I’ve also taken the opportunity to reword some things to ease up a little and make the wording a little more neutral.

3 Likes
#18

The point to voice disapproval is good and I agree with that but I’m letting you know younger kids won’t understand much if not none, about the real political stuff with China having silly rules of what’s allowed or not.

So in my opinion developers should still have the option to make their games playable in China without the player base worrying about getting into legal trouble with their silly video game rules.

So, what do you mean with “much bigger impact”. So, do you expect Roblox to not allow their games to be published to the China market after a lot of developers voicing their opinion with China’s silly video game rules?

3 Likes
#19

I’m mostly referring to the issues that are under Roblox’s control. The difference between devforum replies and actual games using something like this is that if enough games begin to do it, its significantly more obvious what the impact will be on the platform. If a lot of front page game developers (not that I expect front page game developers to jump at the thought of putting something like this in their game) are including something like this, its basically a direct show of the people who are making you all of your money disagreeing with you.

I don’t expect Roblox to retract the China Program, but, I do want Roblox to make attempts at improving some of the worst issues, the ones under their control, because, those are the issues that are most concerning.

This isn’t just about morals either, personally I am concerned about the effects on the whole platform. This could potentially create economic instability on Roblox if large games involved in the program are wiped out by something like the IP change in ToS. That doesn’t mean its going to happen, but the potential existing in the first place is what worries me.

3 Likes
#20

Oh now I understand. You mean, IP change in the TOS as in making it easier for other people to make bootleg versions of their game and make money off of it. My assumption for that reason is because China has weaker IP laws than western countries like America.
That is probably why China has a reputation of a lot of bootleg movies, video games, or other mediums.

So, how does it cause economic instability?