Roblox is not a very transparent company, and we are fully aware of that. Recently, I was discussing with someone some issues regarding certain features and how Roblox has failed to inform us on how these features are coming along, while always giving the response of “soon.” After this discussion, I realized how Roblox has little to no transparency and how this, in turn, frustrates the developer community as they are all tired of hearing the same response while getting no response.
The two things that drove me into writing this “request for transparency” were the “Soon TM” reply of a Roblox staff member after being asked about when the Regular promotions are coming back and the famous Developer Awards: Phase 2, which we have heard no news from. That being said, having heard no news and never seeing any results leads me to believe that the Roblox team has completely abandoned their efforts into these two issues. The Regular promotion issue has been an ongoing issue for a year and a half now, and we have yet to hear any news from it apart from the “Soon TM” reply. As for the Developer Awards: Phase 2, no news have been heard from that spectrum except from the fact that the program has been suspended.
I do understand that coming up with a release date is something that might not be possible, and that is not what I am asking for. What I ask for is that Roblox increases their transparency with their community and keep us updated on stuff we ask rather than giving everyone the same reply. If a timeline isn’t possible, which is understandable, I would like to hear about the progress being made. Something like, “We are actively working on the issue and trying to find a solution. We have brainstormed the idea and have engaged a team into implementing it, although we have come across a bunch of errors. The main framework has been finished and a little bit of tweaking is left before release,” is much better than “The feature will be released soon.” Of course, Roblox would not write a message like that, but something along those lines that has just enough information gives us, the community, reassurance that the specified issue is actively being worked on. As of right now, a “soon” reply gives no information whatsoever apart from the fact that it is acknowledged as an issue and that it will be fixed sometime in the future.
So, to wrap things up, what I request for is more transparency. If I ask about the Regular promotions issue, I do not want to hear that it will “soon” be fixed, I want to hear where the issue is currently standing (specifics are not needed of course), and how much progress has been done. This way, when another developer asks the same question in the future, we will be able to see that it is actively being worked on. I do not ask for specific details such as what script is being worked on or what line of code the developers are on, I am just asking for a bit more transparency on the progress of stuff when the community asks. This way, not only does the person asking get a satisfactory answer, but the community increases their trust towards the corporation as it engages more with its audiences. Please, be a little more transparent and I am certain that the community will be much more appreciative of the work being done.