Foreword: This feature request is not intended to call out users, but to present scenarios that have occurred with a private UGC catalog of about 2,000 members. The purpose is to provide a rationale for why both Roblox as a company, and UGC creators will struggle to handle a public UGC catalog, and why such a change would significantly harm members of the UGC community, both financially and personally.
As a Roblox developer and UGC creator, it is currently too difficult to have enough faith in Roblox to allow for a major change like a public UGC catalog. There are several significant points to consider that Roblox, in its current state with a UGC catalog with approximately 2,000 members, is unable to address. These reasons would be amplified if UGC were made public.
For context, and main reasoning behind this feature request, is that as part of their Roadmap, Roblox announced that the UGC catalog would go public, allowing anyone to upload avatar items in âlate 2023.â This feature request will delve into why this is a bad idea and serve as a plea to Roblox to reconsider this decision.
Section 1: Blatant copies of existing items and copyright infringement
This is the most frequently raised concern from what I have observed, and for good reason. There have been instances where certain users intentionally violate the rules by uploading copied content, either for attention or to disrespect and spread hate towards creators who put time and effort into creating unique items, or as a diss towards the trading community. The issue lies not only with these individuals, but also with Roblox moderation, as they allow such items to clear moderation and made available on the platform. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that these violations often gain substantial traction on social media. It indicates that Roblox is neglecting the community and struggling to address even the most prominent examples. Once these items become public and are available for purchase, it often takes months, if not longer, for any moderation action to be taken. As per the feature request guidelines, here are examples of items that have passed moderation and were briefly or are currently available on the catalog.
Itâs important to keep in mind that this section aims to demonstrate that these items can pass moderation, and the situation would worsen with a public UGC catalog. While occasional slip-ups are expected, the fact that these items pass moderation consistently and it often takes months for any action to be taken indicates that such incidents would increase exponentially with public UGC. We have already witnessed this in a controlled environment, where as more people are accepted into the UGC catalog, more slip-ups occur.
As per the feature request guidelines, here are examples of some severe cases, which were personally observed by myself, involving blatant copies or copyright infringements that were previously, or are presently available on the catalog:
Example 1: Copies of the â____ess of the Federationâ series.
Example 2: Identical mesh and recolour of the âDominusâ seriesâ hood.
Example 3: A blank white-coloured head mesh with the âGlowing Red Eyesâ face.
Example 4: Copies of the â):â baseball cap series.
Example 5: Identical meshes and recolours of the âSupa Fly Capâ and âSupa Dupa Fly Capâ items (courtesy of @PeakUGC on Twitter).
Example 6: The June 20th Incident; copies of various items, including the âDominusâ series, âThe Dog Whispererâ, the âSparkle Time Fedoraâ series, âHelm of the Elementâ series, âRed Tangoâ.
Example 7: Other reuploads of the bands, and complete full copies from the âSparkle Time Fedoraâ series (courtesy of @PeakUGC on Twitter).
Example 8: Nearly if not completely infringing on âMinecraftâ's intellectual property.
Example 9: Infringing on âMonster Energyâ's intellectual property.
Example 10: Copies of the âEpic Faceâ, and âEpic Vampire Faceâ items.
Example 11: Copies of âThe Void Starâ.
Example 12: Blatant reuploads of Roblox faces on long tube meshes.
Example 13: Blatant copies of intellectual property owned by different companies/movies/TV shows
Section 2: Oversaturation, discoverability, and the financial Impact
This is a point that many people have raised regarding Roblox as a whole; not exclusive to the UGC catalog, but they do still occur: the issues of oversaturation and discoverability. Currently, it is already extremely difficult for individuals to generate profit through the UGC program due to the sheer number of creators producing various items. The concern is not solely about the abundance of creators but rather the potential exacerbation of this issue if UGC were to become publicly available. Frequently, multiple variations of the same item are created by different people due to the difficulty of generating creative ideas while respecting othersâ intellectual property.
Numerous participants in the UGC program rely on it as a source of income and are already experiencing the financial effects resulting from a growing UGC community. Personally, I am fortunate to have alternative means of earning money on the platform. However, I empathize with individuals who specialize in creating accessories on Roblox, only to realize that all their hard work will soon be overshadowed by a flood of inexperienced asset creators, stolen content from other platforms (which we already observe), and instances of plagiarism and copyright infringement.
Today, sponsors (which are often hinted at as the best solution for discoverability by Roblox), for UGC items are essentially useless. Have you heard of the saying âthe rich get richerâ? That is precisely what we witness today, however that claim will intensify if the UGC catalog becomes public. Individuals with substantial amounts of disposable Robux will be able to spend disproportionately large sums to guarantee sales, while those who are already severely impacted by public UGC will find themselves in an even deeper hole, where Roblox becomes an unsustainable and unstable platform for earning money.
Now, in order to substantiate these claims, the following items and statistics were created and provided by various members of the UGC program who have given permission to share these statistics publicly.
Courtesy of @dvdko
Courtesy of @pxrplewater
Courtesy of @borringthomas
While there are more examples of UGC discoverability issues, these images demonstrate that the discoverability of UGC items is already incredibly difficult unless you are willing to spend a disproportionately large amount of Robux to inflate the number of views and purchases your item receives. Hundreds of thousands or even millions of views only to get at most ten clicks is absurd.
I am not an economist, but it goes without saying that with an increase in the number of items available (supply) and no corresponding increase in the amount of Robux in circulation, the distribution of Robux per person will inevitably decrease. Again, the decline in earnings will be extremely drastic, potentially leading to a decrease in income by thousands of percent or even more if UGC is made public.
Section 3: Content depicting rule-violating content
This section highlights the issue of Robloxâs difficulty in cracking down on content that portrays rule-violating material. Currently, there is a plethora of UGC accessories/3D clothing that violate Robloxâs Terms of Service. Personally, I have come across several common violations, including:
- Content depicting or related to exploiting
- Content depicting off-site gambling and the unauthorized selling of limited items/Robux (black market selling)
- Hate speech
- Drug-related content
For instance, the following items depict references to âAndrew Tate,â an individual known for controversial actions such as misogyny and convictions for offences like human trafficking. It is important to note that I am not here to debate his actions; however, these items violate the terms of service as they reference a notorious individual. To dwell on the irony of this issue, even his name is censored if used in chat or on user profiles.
Additionally, the following item depicts an exploit GUI:
Furthermore, the following items (note that the necklace has been deleted, but the signs remain on the catalog, albeit archived) reference the off-site limited gambling site RBXFlip:
Lastly, the following item depicts a reference to marijuana:
You might wonder why Iâm complaining and not reporting the items. I have reported them, particularly those from the first example. I provided the mods (though the term âmodsâ should be taken with a grain of salt as it is unclear whether they are real people) with an explanation of what the items were referencing and a brief overview of the individualâs actions. However, months later, these items are still available on the platform.
Section 4: Opposition to a public UGC catalog
The final point is that from what Iâve observed, the vast majority is currently in opposition of UGC going public. Roblox, you often acknowledge that developers (in this case UGC creators), are the âlifeblood of your platformâ and that everything players have ever done and will do in the future is as a result of our contributions. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that you listen to us. No one within the UGC program is looking forward to the transition of public access to the UGC catalog. I have witnessed numerous individuals, both within and outside the program, express concerns about the potential decline in quality once UGC goes public.
By all means, the current application process, with its waiting period for acceptance or rejection, may not be perfect, but it serves the purpose of filtering out the majority of bad actors who would use the UGC program to upload rule-violating content.
Section 5: Closing
I suck at conclusions but Iâll try my best.
As a final plea, and to close this post, I urge Roblox, as a platform, on behalf of myself and countless other members of the community, to reconsider and delay this change until you can assure us that the catalog can be effectively moderated and that discoverability is no longer an issue. And on a sidenote (but ironically most importantly), in the future, involve us in the decision-making process and seek our feedback before implementing changes that could be detrimental to the financial situations of many individuals.
Anyway those are all my thoughts on this issue. Hopefully it sparks some change but it is what it is. Peace.
