UGC Catalog is Now Live!

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#448

I have mixed feelings about some of @tarabyte’s recently published hats. I’m currently trying to grasp as to why ROBLOX would allow these items to be published due to the following reasons;

The BiggestHead has been an idea that dozens users have cited overs the years. Just search the hat name under Roblox’s asset library and you will find users who pioneered this idea nearly a decade ago.

Biggesthead
An asset creator (especially a former staff member) shouldn’t be able to lift ideas from the websites asset library and call them their own. Sure, you can say that said user created the individual mesh for the published item themselves, but the items idea itself was formed from that of a previously created asset by Roblox, which should immediately disqualify it from being published as a UGC item to begin with.

Adding onto this, the Despacito Spider, an item which was originally created by one of the developers of ROBLOX High School as a meme nearly two years ago, was just recently published to the catalog and bears no obvious signs to the assets homage.

In my opinion, it is plain wrong to allow users to create UGC assets which blatantly take ideas that are known to be other users creations and then monetize them simply because they are able to and said users cannot. What if one of RHS’s creators went on to become a UGC creator, only to find out that the content they wanted to publish had already been lifted and published to the catalog to none of their gain? Developers could potentially lose thousands of dollars in ROBUX earned due to the asset being sold by another user, and quite frankly I find that unacceptable.

33 Likes
#449

When I saw some of the amazing hats put out by UGC developers I thought it was amazing.
However as other people already mentioned there are some issues with some UGC hats one of my biggest issues is with items like BiggestHead and Typical Texan Tycoonist is them being intrusive.

I would love for people to wear whatever they want but if hats like that pass review I think more and more developers choose to create/use a system where they decide what the players wear and not the players themselves due to hats being annoying/in the way, making for an unfair advantage or breaking the style of the game. Almost all hats made by Roblox had the same quality and style and only very old hats were intrusive with the exception being the portrait hats that are already used for trolling/griefing.

Even with the few people that have access to UGC the problems are already showing themselves.
I do believe that UGC is a great thing and should stay but the moderation team needs to be very strict and have clear guidelines to what and what not should be accepted.

6 Likes
#450

Hmm… I have been reading a lot of the comments and have looked at a lot of the UGC. It seems that when this was first released, everyone was happy with it. I guess everyone thought everything would be mostly original, or they didn’t think much of it. I now see that a lot of people are mad at the way Roblox has released this update (i.e. little regulations).

My opinion:

The UGC Catalog in general is… Meh. Of course, there are those silly hats that everyone complains about, but I find that they add something to appeal all Roblox players, which is why I don’t really mind them. Now, I do think Roblox should have the following regulations in place to assure that there is very little upset in the community:

1.) Prevent re-uploading of already made items, or items that are close to the same as others.
2.) Have name regulations. When hats are submitted, have someone review the name to make sure it seems “Official” (a.k.a. preventing things like “20% OFF!” or “LIMITED ITEM!!” or things named close to other hats.
3.) Have items be regulated by preventing continuations of items(see example A). When people do this, it just makes the previous item that Eoblox or another user made useless and/or lowering the value of said object.
4.) Have a quality stander for items. Meme hats are good and all, but Roblox should try to stay somewhat professional(see example B and C).
5.) Have a size limit for hats. Don’t allow hats to be massive or exceed out of a player’s general body too much(see example C)

Example A - This item just makes the Bighead and Bigger head worthless to anyone who bought it.

Example B - This item is just blatantly(sorry if this seems rude) horrible. No characteristics at all. I like the concept of the silly art, but this could have been done much better than just a block with duplicate decals on all sides.

Example C - Again, this item just shouldn’t be allowed as a hat. It’s too awkward in-game, with it poking through walls(although again, I do like the concept).

Roblox should have tighter rules around this. Community creations are great and all, but we want at least models players can wear to looks somewhat professional. Don’t get me wrong, I love meme hats and stuff like that, but just the lack of detail, ignorance of what might happen in-game is someone wears it, and not considering what will happen to other hats if it’s released is just not right.

Of course, everyone has their own opinion and that’s mine, so feel free to share what you think about my idea of having tighter restrictions around UGC.

14 Likes
#451

I agree 100%. Like I said in my post, there should be tighter restrictions and regulations. The whole point of the UGC is for users like you and me to upload custom items that people might enjoy. Not to hop on the bandwagon of another item or blatantly steal an idea that was already made.

5 Likes
#452

Are there any updates as to when new creators will be allowed to upload hats? I have to say I’m a little disappointed that after over 3 weeks this feature is still limited to people who have had a tie-in with roblox. Especially seeing as there are so many great creators on the #RobloxUGC twitter tag who have good ideas. Alternatively it seems the least roblox could do is bring down the weekly hat limit so that the catalog isn’t saturated by the time others are granted access. Let this feature benefit many instead of the few privileged.

6 Likes
#454

They’ll open it up soon, it won’t be too long before they do. 3 weeks isn’t enough time to get what they’re looking for (these are things they need so that they can actually open it up to more users), all we need right now is patience.

2 Likes
#455

In general, this sounds like a great feature however the people added to the system are countering my opinions. The UGC items in my mind should show the power and creativity of the community rather than contribute to the countless meme avatars. No offense to anyone but I feel ‘tarabyte’ and ‘Bethink’ are big factors in downgrading my thoughts of the new system and as big as it is now, the Roblox catalog as a whole.

Some may agree, some may disagree, this was just my honest opinion of the current state of UGC.

16 Likes
#456

I’m not sure what you mean. What are they looking for exactly? Sure i would say a few more weeks is reasonable but also with the lack off information they’ve given us it seems like most modellers won’t be given a shot at UGC until next year.

1 Like
#457

ROBLOX has been so vague that I can’t really understand it either. Just my personal theory, they need data and some more testing before they add any more people than they do now. It also deals with they chose people they knew for sure they could trust, I believe they’re keeping this group small because they don’t want to ruin what they have right now just because someone could push the envelope too far. In general, all of us who want to be a part of it just has to wait a bit.

2 Likes
#458

Are hats able to have their model updated? If so I’m a little worried about cases like the BiggestHead when something you bought gets turned into something else you might’ve not wanted.

3 Likes
#459

I’m curious to find out how Roblox plans on detecting copies of already existing hats.

I doubt using scanning methods from a database of existing meshes would be effective considering people could easily modify an edge or vertex to circumvent moderation.

1 Like
#460

Roblox has already been adding in users that have ‘inside ties’ with them into the program. Best example I can cite would be @EvilArtist being added within the past week.

Not trying to personally call her out, but when you have as many users as Roblox does asking when an application process will be instated, it seems blatantly redundant to add more users into the program and not expect people to notice.

Can’t say I’m a big fan of this whole ‘we know the people behind the scenes’ group that is seemingly able to just slot themselves into UGC at will when other users are busting their asses trying to get approved. Makes Roblox look like a company that promotes favoritism over actual talent.

Edit - it has been brought to my attention that what I’ve suggested here is not what’s going on for a variety of reasons. Perhaps I should of put more effort into making sure I have substance to back up my claims, as well as been more subtle with my words. My apologies.

6 Likes
#461

I know not everybody has the equal opportunity to get into the program right now. And right now, that’s just to test the waters. I asked a while back if I could potentially be let in, and lets just say I was a backup in case somebody else wasn’t fulfilling their role.

It’s not easy for Roblox to trust everyone who’s good at modeling just because they’re good. I was already an intern so getting hold of me was easy to do, I was already hired so I was trusted and just needed to sign another contract, and I literally sat across one of the people running UGC so once again, easy to talk to me straight away lol.

…Uh huh

Correct! ^ The reason why they aren’t letting in xXJimmyFan2453Xx and his grandma in at the moment. @natethegreat2009

10 Likes
#462

UGC is in really early testing phases and they just take in people who they can trust and contact ASAP whenever something’s wrong. Just like Vivi said, they’re testing out the waters now. They can’t let in a JohnDoe into the program now since there are clearly no boundaries to what UGC creators can and can’t do. Having it more public now, would result in most of the catalog being constantly monitored by Roblox just because there would be a risk of someone uploading rule-breaking items and let’s be honest, the employees have better things to do than moderate the catalog.

5 Likes
#466

What is a big problem with this, is that the biggesthead totally ruins the value of the bighead and biggerhead. The bighead/biggerhead is valuable because it is rarely on sale, and even though they don’t cost much, they are still valuable because of that. Now that we have a biggesthead that is always on sale and costs only 400 robux, it’s totally ruined the “bighead economy”. I wouldn’t have a problem with this if the hat cost ~10,000 robux and was only on sale for a few minutes each year.

And for being the biggest hat and being very cheap and extremely common (cheaper than the biggerhead) and totally being out of place, I think this hat needs some changes.

It seems like players creating hats are just making them as “overpowered”/quirky as possible to get sales.

13 Likes
#467

I made it clear that the only reason your name was mentioned was because it was the most recent event that I could cite related to new users being added to the program. If there were to be another prolific user who was recently added, I would of made sure to tag them instead of you. I apologize if you took this as a personal attack.

While I can now see why you were directly sought after by Roblox to be added into the program, I still question the complete absence of information pertaining to UGC since its release date. The reason users like myself have speculated about the subject is because Roblox has relayed little to no information about the feature, yet they continue to add (and possibly subtract, seeing that you were a backup) users into the program and push more items into the community catalog.

I’m not saying that Roblox should indulge on every aspect of the feature from alpha to release, but it would be nice to know which users have been added to the program, as well as have a timeline of when we can expect the feature to ship completely.

Heck, if they could even release a monthly post (similar to the monthly recaps we already have here) pertaining to the best selling user created assets of said month, and include updates to the feature in the series of posts as well, I feel like that could be a big step in the right direction.

If no information is ever released on the feature, the public is left to nothing but their own theories, which is exactly what has happened in this thread over the past month.

9 Likes
Please add a UGC application process
#468

UGC is still currently new and in testing, but there are already items that are very similar to ones already in the Roblox catalog.

1. Biggest Head to Big Head and Bigger Head

  • There is even an old model that similar to the Biggest Head we have now.
  • The first version of the Biggest head was originally a rip off from Bighead

2. Downtown Denizen to Classic Fedora
I’m glad there is an affordable decent looking fedora that is onsale, but I’m just noting that it looks similar to the CF.

3. Triple Headstack to Red Headstack
I don’t need to say anything about this.

In general, the addition of these items has devalued their original counter parts, Biggerhead and Bighead feel less special as there is a bigger alternative that’s available 24/7, Downtown Denizen to me is somewhat original but the price of CF has been slashed. Perhaps momentarily, but nonetheless the price of the item has dropped significantly. Triple Headstack is just a blatant copy that’s riding the originals hype for sales.

Seeing similar items at a reduced price/being available constantly gives UGC more of an appeal than Roblox made items. It gives me the mind set of Someone could make this for cheaper. It also removes the feeling of owning a rare item as those could be remade with the argument “it’s offsale”.

I know the QA team is being lenient on the types of hats being created as they need to test the waters. But it gives Roblox a bad look when someone basically reposts their item on the catalog. Reminds me of the clothing section of the catalog seeing that.

In conclusion, I am worried for the future of the catalog.

17 Likes
#471

Roblox has always been inclined to trust people they’ve already worked with over new people. As, I believe, every company is. I’m not sure why you would expect talent to be the only qualifier for something that impacts millions of people, but I suggest you reign that part of your views back. Being in constant communication and trusting someone is more important for initial testing than the actual skill of someone. Not to say that the people currently in the UGC program aren’t skilled, but them having worked with Roblox before is more important.

As for the lack of information about UGC since it’s release… It’s been less than a month. Even if they went with your idea for posting monthly recaps, they haven’t had the time to do that yet. It’s obviously frustrating to not get any public response to issues, but bemoaning them for not saying things about a less than a month old program is silly (and shows ignorance for how Roblox usually operates :eyes:). Heck, I’m willing to bet that the main reason they haven’t said anything is because the program is in flux. I know for certain they’ve already changed the behind-the-scenes guidelines for hats. It would look even worse if they posted about every hiccup or change, since there’s nothing else to share.

12 Likes
#472

I’m now aware that most current UGC creators are associated with Roblox professionally in some fashion. I’ve come to understand why they’re currently selecting the users that they are. When I had originally questioned Vivi being added into the program, I was unware of the fact that she had previously been associated with Roblox in the past, and when she made that clear, I tried clearing that up as best as possible and apologized.

Never did I say nor do I beleive that every bit of information about the feature be published. In fact, I said the exact opposite of that in my most recent reply.

I don’t think these bits of information are too much too ask for, even if the program is still in ‘flux’.

As for the monthly recaps, that was simpily a suggestion of how information can better be relayed to the public. Just because a suggestion is made doesn’t imply that it should be implemented immediately, or that it will be implemented at all. I put that there in hopes that someone on the program would read it and hopefully consider it as an idea at some point in the future.

7 Likes
#475

Seeing this makes me wonder, if you were to create a game and put up a R$ 5,10 or 25 paywall to enter a room to obtain a UGC badge. You would have a game that would easily reach the front page as you can profit by selling UGC items to hoards of people at a lower price than the catalog. Would there be any prevention for this? or would UGC badge walks become the new norm once UGC is released.

1 Like