About me
I have been on this platform since 2011,and started 2D clothing design as soon as 2012.
Over the years as my experience grew I also started making stuff inspired by things I like. Anime, Videogames etc. As I was not making any real-world money I also didn’t think about copyright at that time.
Starting UGC creation and DEVEX
In the summer of 2024 I started getting into 3D design, making UGC. My first big-hit was a Back-accessory based on Kacchan’s Guns (My Hero Academia), it looked quite similar but since this design is so simple and too general I think (correct me if I am wrong) it doesn’t fall within copyright law. People started flooding in, I started making UGC on request. It was around this time I noticed my pending robux going up by factor 10, and I started thinking about joining the DEVEX program. Than I had the idea to make The Creaking (a newly released minecraft mob) I modeled it and uploaded it without a second though. Definitly my mistake as this is clearly not general enough, and thus is indeed protected by copyright law.
The DMCA strike
However this is where I feel things got waaay out of hand. I got DMCA striked on this item (which I believe is absolutely fair for the mistake I made) but my account (Pokeball1997) got immeadiately permanently deleted. I uploaded over 700 2D clothing, and 33 UGC items. Prior to this DMCA claim I got a DMCA claim on two assets resulting in two warnings on one day for assets that belonged to a 2D Avatar the last airbender outfit (Also really my bad, as I shouldn’t have used the name, the arrows and I couldve just made a yellow overcoat with some red underneath).
ROBLOX’s ToS and Appeal
The ROBLOX ToS clearly states:
“Continued violations of certain policies may result in a stricter consequence (i.e., a warning, followed by a timeout**,** followed by a suspension, etc) …”
My warning was never followed up by a time-out but went to immediate account removal.
- Support team says I fall under the ‘repeat infringer policy’, I asked to define a repeat infringer, cause I only got 3 warnings in total (2 warnings + 1 ban), There were months in between where I did not get any warnings or committed any mistakes, but they never answered
- Support team says I have received DMCA claims AFTER my account has been removed, I asked for what assets but they never answered
- Support team ended conversation stating they can do nothing for me.
My Experience
In general my experience with ROBLOX is double sided. I admit that they should be strict and act when necessary if someone commits something against the rules. But at the same time I really feel like it should be more nuanced. I uploaded so many things with only 3 that actually do form a problem right now. Additionally, the copyright thing is too vague, you see people uploading so many copies of stolen models from anime or anything else that I just thought: well if I make it myself and it is not immediately recognizable from the show, I should be fine. And finally, since I didn’t get a timeout I did not know in what predicament I was, or how bad I was doing as 2 warnings can be easily clicked away.
In conclusion
Does this justify what I did, absolutely not, these were mistakes I commited and I was definitely in the wrong a few times.
Is ROBLOX flexible and nuanced and do they treat each moderation like you are an actual individual? Absolutely not, they just say the same response every time and don’t have any room for context or opinion.