I am hereby opposing the removal of the asset marketplace, and have some reasons why I think it’s a VERY bad idea
Reason 1 -
Simple - There needs to be separation between portfolios and items for sale. It was so organized before between the two, and now it’s harder to find people to hire because many more people post assets for sale daily than portfolios…it’ll make it so devs have to scroll even FARTHER to find candidates suitable for their job
Reason 2 -
I don’t understand why roblox did this, and as I mentioned everything was better before, this kind of change is a change that shouldn’t be looked over for simply the sake of roblox users. As the owner of a team myself, I found it VERY easy to look for assets to buy if I couldn’t make them myself. Now, I’m gonna have to scroll by all the people who have portfolios up and check them out as I search. Devs can get distracted VERY easily when looking for assets, and it makes it even MORE distracting now that there are a whole bunch of portfolios to look at as well. This is time that could be spent on finishing a purchase and adding it to your game with ease
Anyone who sees this, including anyone in the Developer Relations committee that helps decide stuff like this, I encourage you to vote for or against this change below -
I am opposed to this change! Change it back!
I am all for this change, and think it is what’s best for the community
With full honesty and respect to you, this isn’t nor yours or the communities call. The forum moderation removed it for reasons that are most likely really good.
I think one of the reasons Roblox decided to remove the section was because it was often flooded with new and inexperienced devs selling models that looked as if they were made in under an hour/ could easily be replicated, and the more experienced devs pricing them at incredibly low prices that basically made the whole post a waste of time.
Back when this section was up, I saw that constantly, and I’d bet it made the section a hassle for any dev to use if they wanted assets.
That being said, there were also (at the time of removal) a bunch of devs that were looking at GOOD quality items, and now they can’t even look at those items anymore unless, for some reason, they remembered the sellers username…
Though I don’t necessarily follow your reasoning for bringing back the asset marketplace, I completely agree that it should be brought back in some way, unless it turns into a members-only section. The asset marketplace was an important part of the DevForum community, and though it had some flaws as other forum members have pointed out, it was still beneficial in its entirety. I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again, even if builds/assets are being sold at extremely low prices, I don’t believe that that should be a problem and the removal of the marketplace means that all assets cannot be sold or purchased, regardless of the asset’s quality or price. Also, I do have to agree with @Krunnie here, there isn’t anything we can do about it and there probably was a valid reason for the marketplace’s removal.
The only valid way I can see Roblox’s removal of the marketplace being justified is if the moderators were being flooded with messages about users being scammed.
I personally think the removal of the asset marketplace was a good thing because it was doing more harm than good:
There were far too many assets being sold that were made in under one hour. These sorts of assets could be easily remade or found in the toolbox and most of the time being sold for literal cents.
The support categories were getting flooded with pricing and rate my build threads.
There was lots of arguing over pricing which lead to a chain of spammy replies stating the exact same thing.
I am guessing a lot of work was being put on the developer engagement team because they had to deal with scamming and other related issues with flagged posts.
I think the main reason why the asset marketplace was removed was because it was putting out a bad message about Roblox’s developer community. There was far too much spam and low-quality assets being sold there. This forum is meant to be a semi-professional environment.
It is usually better to get a contractor in to make assets for you rather than buying them from a marketplace because contacted work generally has to stick to specific guidelines. Rather than buying an asset from a marketplace and having to remake half of it to make it fit into your game.
Based of the prices assets were being sold for in the marketplace you are more likely to earn more money from doing contracted work.
P.S: For anyone reading this please don’t post asset sales in other categories because the asset marketplace was removed for a reason.
I disagree with reason 1. One category being filled with trash because the other category that the trash used to be posted in has been removed isn’t a good reason to bring it back.
Flag posts that are in the incorrect category and help to teach new members to pay more attention to the categories they are posting in.
The asset marketplace was so full of scams and low quality assets and free models that it’s better if people just commission work and use contracts if necessary instead of buying premade. Also helps devs spend their time more effectively instead of gambling whether or not anyone will want to buy some random model they’ve decided to make.
While I myself actually benefited from the Asset Marketplace, I can see why it was removed.
Inherently, the category was with good intentions, but their was a decent lack of quality with these builds, often with many beginners in developing attempting to jump to sales almost immediately, rather than attempting to improve skill.
Of course, other developers did benefit from this section. Perhaps it could be introduced again, but restricted like #platform-feedback. Members can create topics, and New Members can, with approval.
Rather than bringing the section back at all, I think Roblox should use this debacle to further teach aspiring game developers how to use mature practices when selling there assets.
Strategies such as creating a Portfolio with the aspirations to land a contract, or simply sharing your development on a social medium (Twitter, Twitch), should be seen as a viable solution to anybody trying to make more than a few bucks at a time.
I brought up some other reasons in the post PeZsmistic referenced to why you shouldn’t sell something you made as-is.
I didn’t think about moderation when creating this post. Considering becoming a New Member is fairly easy and posting in the asset marketplace was open to everyone, I could see this being a problem. My guess moderating fell on the responsibility of DevRel instead of Customer Support, and Custom Support didn’t help in cases where people lost money or didn’t pay.
Contracting work is definitely what should be done over using the asset marketplace. I also went over this in another post in more detail.
As someone who had actively used the marketplace up until about a week before its removal, I am very thankful it is gone.
While there was an odd gem admist the rust, most of it was stuff that would simply never sell.
I found in the category I was a lot more critical then it was necessarily fair to be, and while I have now refined the posts I make and the contents within them with the removal of the category I hope less people will fall into the same trap of negativity I was introduced to upon joining this wonderful forum.
Now dont get me wrong, I have a baseplate with hundreds of random goods i’ve bought and don’t need. I enjoyed collecting cool things from the category. But I feel this change is for the best and I am personally experiencing the forums as a much more positive community.
Furthermore the way this change encourages people to use portfolios I think its great, since it gives developers a better chance to build a reputation and charge fairer prices, rather then being outclassed by the dirt cheap assets in the category.
Asset Marketplace was a subcategory on the developer forum for buying assets off of other people. They’re removing it because some people were making low-quality builds that were probably made under 20 minutes, could easily be replicated, and pricing was an issue too.
Oh and they don’t want us to use portfolios for asset selling either.
The alternative I can think of is just take commissions. Assets should be reusable most of the time and not be too specific. Taking commissions means the person hiring you gets what they want. The build you make suits their needs. This often wasn’t the case through asset marketplace
Is “low-quality assets” really a legitimate reason for its removal? I wouldn’t think it’s that difficult to ignore crappy posts (they are literally everywhere) and move on with your life. I browsed that forum frequently and I can’t say that “low-quality assets” ever caused me a problem.
I’m with a majority of voters here.
It’s better practice to commission someone for something specific than to look for something and hope it fits your needs.
My first experience on the asset marketplace was a set of gun models that had been sourced by the seller here, from another seller on another site and was being distributed illegitimately. This seems to be a common thing in places like this especially when there is nothing in place to stop it.
There is still a risk of this with a commission, but at least it is possible to guard yourself from potential scams. I won’t go into how I do that, because I’m not sure what the rules are here regarding the reference to third party sites.