Amazing insight Blizzei! As a fellow creator since 2021 I completely agree with you.
17 Likes
This is atrocious. I’m sorry I don’t have a more civilized word for it but it really is.
Forcing our items to become limited against the creators’ wishes Is not the right move. I made all my items with the intent for users to enjoy them to the fullest without any worries, and am disgusted by this change.
The real world has material costs and other things that justify the concept of stock.
The beauty of the digital world is it doesn’t follow all the rules of the real world. You’re free to make what you wanna make and be who you want to be.
Additionally, how does Roblox intend to care about copyright while implementing this? Won’t we see an uptick in copies once stock runs out? or will certain concepts just be doomed for eternity to be locked away behind a limited of 40 copies?
This change vastly oversteps the boundaries of trust between UGC creators and Roblox.
I implore you to reconsider.
34 Likes
This update is very disappointing, I know of so many people in this community who depends on UGC to financially support themselves and their family. I was even planning to grind for UGC for a passive income, but hearing this IS going to stop me from progressing into creating items for the catalog.
Roblox needs to cut back these new requirements to upload UGC creations.
20 Likes
There’s a number of UGC creators here, but I’ll be speaking from the perspective of a player.
First off: users want to build the avatars they want on the imagination platform. Limiteds actively discourage this by either overpricing items that could just be normally priced avatar items, or making them entirely unavailable to normal players, given you don’t trade and cannot track down a user who has the item you are looking for.
Second: Too many limiteds floods the market, and they will not be profitable. Users will resell these items, sure, and get some of their money back. But none of these will be profitable if every item is limited. That’s what made limiteds special to users in the first place, there were only so many of them. Sure, each individual item will only have so many copies, but that’ll apply to every item. Why would anybody care that only 100 people have their hat when every other user in the server has another hat that only 100 people have? Sure what you particularly want will be limited, but in terms of the whole market, things aren’t really limited, because now EVERYTHING is a limited.
That will kill the value of the items.
This next one is technically a UGC creator viewpoint, but if even I, somebody who isn’t a UGC creator can figure out all of this, there’s probably a lot more wrong with this that isn’t gonna be listed here.
Third: It’s bad for UGC creators. UGC is great for passive income, once you have so many items on the catalog, you’ll gradually make money, it’s a long-term investment. If everything is limited, those items will stop being sold. Plus the resales won’t do well either. The actual amount made via reselling is low. Most limiteds won’t be worth more than their original price, and they definitely won’t be worth 3x more. If they are 3x more, that’ll discourage users from buying them because they would be expensive in comparison to limiteds that still have stock. There will definitely be limiteds that still have stock because soon EVERYONE will be able to create. Some creators might not even break even because it costs money to upload these UGC items.
Overall, this is a horrible for everyone.
25 Likes
Also this is incredibly ironic for the imagination platform. Do better ROBLOX, you disappoint us all.
14 Likes
Limited-only UGC heavily stomps on the viability of in-experience shops, or creating items for experience tie-ins that are meant to stay in stock permanently. It would be a massive mistake to ship this feature with the restriction imposed.
28 Likes
The announced updates are such a disappointment to the point where its near impossible to even attempt any recovery for most UGC creator. these upcoming updates are a literal nuclear explosion against all current creators including myself that grinded and tested this program for the past 4 years.
limiting item stocks to rechargeable quantity is beyond insane and is a destruction to the entire economy as we speak. this will destroy most og creators that published hundreds if not thousands of items due to most of their items going resellable and will most likely require manual recharging for each individual item. and not only that. the idea of reselling normal items for 10% if not restocked is an even worse idea.
we’ve already seen the reselling market has went for limited items. implementing such system while also still having the ability to restock the items to its original price. will quite literally kill that item overnight due to the players already acknowledging the fact that a creator could at any point restock the item. hense will kill any kind of value to that item and no player will be interested on buying a resell
please reconsider these changes. and i apologize if my tone feels a bit aggressive. this update is very alarming and this needs to be heavily reconsidered.
26 Likes
In speculation, a lot of the features that Roblox has announced at RDC '23 have been supportive for the metaverse, and that’s including all of the changes to UGC. A lot more monetization is involved in UGC creation, and you can tell by how Roblox HQ made these decisions to the UGC program. Roblox has even decided that we can share how we look in real life as your avatar in the future.
Point being, they’re adding new features and changes that will expand their profits rather than fix and improve the current issues in the UGC program. I’m not even sure if they’ve communicated well enough with the lower part of the chain to consider the repercussions of public UGC.
At this point, any damaging changes to the current UGC program (reduce profit, reduce opportunities, etc.) are pointing towards their metaverse. UGC is probably going to be at its lowest point in the next year or so, but we have to hope that the impact changes Roblox’s minds about these features.
19 Likes
This happens right when it’s my turn to be UGC, what great luck :')
17 Likes
We are in the same boat somewhat it seems
18 Likes
As a long time developer with years of experience on this platform, who has had the wonderful pleasure to befriend and work with so many wonderfully talented UGC creators over the years, I have to say I am profoundly disappointed in this shortsighted and tone deaf direction Roblox wants to take us in.
Forced limiteds will have an immensely negative impact on creativity on this platform. The profits for UGC have become miniscule, 30% minus the PER UNIT upload fee is going to be rough. Does little Timmy want medium brown hair? Sorry little Timmy, haircuts are apparently experiencing scarcity now! Only 1000 people are allowed to have medium brown hair, and no one is reselling theirs. You’re out of luck. And the uploader won’t make enough profit to justify ““minting”” another copy just for you.
Want to create an item to sell in your game that is meant to be infinite stock so more people can enjoy it and express themselves? Sorry, virtual asset factory is running out of virtual materials to virtually make your virtual item.
Why are we replicating the NEGATIVE aspects of the real world, instead of embracing a fantastical future? Is the “Metaverse” just a dystopian, greyscale, version of our reality? I wouldn’t believe that listening to how fondly David has spoke of it in the past, with his grand visions and sky high ambitions that others would tell him weren’t possible, but he’d just go do it anyways because that’s the kind of person he is… But, a decision like this just reminds me of those depressing corporate views of what a metaverse is according to everyone else. It does not fill me with hope and joy for our platform, or its future.
My apologies if I sound crass or cynical, but I’ve been on this platform for 14 years, and I’ve never seen a decision that ignores what we the creators want quite as much as this one.
Developers and UGC creators alike WANT unlimited, infinite stock items. We WANT the ability to infinitely share our love and creativity with the world. That doesn’t make Flexible Limiteds a bad idea! It just means they shouldn’t be our ONLY option.
37 Likes
I don’t see how the changes ROBLOX has decided for the future of UGC will benefit us, the creators, or themselves. Buying items on the marketplace obviously uses ROBUX which is either bought with real money (to their benefit), or ROBUX that was originally bought with real money, but circulated through the ROBLOX economy into the player’s pockets in some way or another (games, UGC’s, etc.) By requiring the restocking of digital assets and lowering the revenue from restock sales, all you do is drain UGC Creators’ pockets without directly gaining any more money out of it either since it’s a digital currency that has already been bought with real money. This is just a round-about way to further underpay the developers that worked hard to grow the platform while reaping the vast majority of earnings that was basically spoon fed to ROBLOX.
hire me so i can make sure decisions like this never leave the board
9 Likes
There seems to be some oversight and misplaced obsession over growing the value of an asset to make them purchasable.
Better UI and UX can fix the “value” problem
If Roblox created a UX that lets people navigate the catalog better, perhaps buyers will find what they want and get it due to want, instead of depending on artificial scarcity. Their primary objective with avatar items should have been to improve the interface, by letting sellers have more control over their sell pages, as opposed to having an item appear once in a blue moon, assuming it will go up in value. The catalog is already moving rapidly in nature.
Scenario 1: Not enough ideas to go around
If common looking items are limited, and there are millions of buyers, what will happen is that similarities and copies will pop up. Not every item can be a hype item. Not every creation is meant to take on TF2’s Burning Team Captain, or a 90% Blue CSGO Knife Skin. This can overload the already bottlenecked moderation systems. Moderation teams will have to be split between IP theft vs asset theft, and the process will cause errors in judgement, given my experience.
Scenario 2: Not enough production to go around
The reduction of talented creators and creations is also a concern for us. I doubt that there is enough output to fill in the demands of millions of buyers. Creators will be burnt out. Especially if restocking costs Robux itself, and if it’s one of several hundred items an experienced creator has made, it is an asset management nightmare. Again, better UX and UI will fix that, but this appears to not be a priority on Roblox’s end. If we had more control over the management of our assets, especially without punishing our investments, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
Closing Remark - Games vs Accessories
It appears that Roblox wants items to be directly connected to games. This is strange, because if we do need a game to make an accessory have value, then they are asking for an everything-person to make an entire ecosystem for them. As per both scenarios, these types of people are very rare here, and they are still just one person. I believe games with catalog accessories are a bonus, but they are two different identities of work.
I would rather Roblox not advance the idea of making all items limited, and ask that they do more with the website’s interface to increase accessory ownership.
EDITS: Structure improvements and more clarification on emphasis.
19 Likes
I agree with this post wholeheartedly, it’s unfair the way that they are treating the community.
9 Likes
the proposed updates to the ugc system are a negative end to what is essentially roblox’s biggest creativity ground.
there was little wrong with the old system, most ugc creators and developers alike would’ve have preferred having to just buy premium so we can keep uploading. however, forcing our hand by proposing that not only will our items go offsale if we don’t upkeep premium, but then also stating that we have returned to limited slots and that at some point we’ll have to restock our normal items is not the way to go about this.
it seems like there were countless other options less egregious and harmful to the state of the marketplace, but by picking this one as the be all and end all, they’re not listening to the suggestions that have been proposed by the very community that blossomed this avenue of creation.
there does not need to be forced artificial scarcity in a marketplace where you can look how you want, when you want, and at a price that’s affordable. under this new system, that will not be possible and may prove detrimental towards the current state of the marketplace economy.
there’s still time to fix things before it goes south, i hope you’ll listen to us eventually and let us share our feedback. the proposed changes do not bode well with anyone that i’ve spoken to, and it seems like every creator loses here.
this is beyond disappointing, I hope those who appointed these changes take time to reconsider and look at the situation from our view.
11 Likes
Thank you for speaking out on this, Roblox really needs to listen to us and our concerns and do something asap.
10 Likes
How making UGC public is being handled is being done extremely poorly. I really don’t get just about any of these rules. This really seems more like what Roblox would come up with long ago in 2014 than right now in 2023. Why do you need Premium to publish UGC, when all other features were removed from BC/Premium already? I thought it was made pretty clear that it wasn’t intended for developers anymore, but this seems to contradict that.
Making all UGC items having to be restocked, what…? That’s a lot of really unnecessary manual work for no good reason and would allow perfectly good items to die for no reason either, just because the developer isn’t logging in daily to “restock” it. There’s also the fact that the marketplace fee is already quite high compared to standard content, does this mean it’ll decrease with this update? I’m not a fact of monthly publishing limits either, but I would some more details on what the limit is before going too much further on that. I would hope it’s like the Creator Marketplace limit where if your a known developer, you’re given a really generous limit (which only applies after an item is made on sale), but that isn’t immediately clear. But if we’re expecting something more like a 3 month limit like how they announced it would be for videos, that would be a bit crazy.
It would also be nice to know what is actually going to happen to the UGC Program because they haven’t clarified that either yet. Will those members not be subject to these limits, will you still be able to apply for it after UGC is public to not get these limits if not, is the program just being fully sunset? etc.
18 Likes
Can’t wait to see bugged accessories you kept offsale for a long time to be on sale again (you know the one you reworked) because Roblox will force everything in limited.
10 Likes
Can’t wait to have MY WHOLE REVENUE dried up by this tone-deaf “future” of the UGC program! Im so hyped! /s
18 Likes
I support this and stand by with all creators on the platform that have commented on this. Roblox’s future vision for the UGC marketplace presented at RDC23 isn’t built on the years-long feedback from thousands of creators in the program that have expressed their concerns and suggestions.
Yes, everyone should be able to create anything and help empower the platform. There are plenty of amazing and talented creators who deserve an opportunity to showcase their creations. All of us support that very change in particular, cause all of us were in their shoes.
But the “healthy marketplace” presented at RDC is not healthy, and that’s something ALL OF US don’t support. Just like everyone in this post have said, these changes will leave a negative impact and have to be reconsidered.
Roblox has connections to thousands of creators in the program who have been building the future of the marketplace since the very beginning, and this is not the way to reward any of them now that UGC is going public. Not just them, any future creator who wants to make a name for themselves.
Keep speaking on this.
16 Likes