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Re: Thoughts on Developer Products and Player Points

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ihaveamac is not online. ihaveamac
Joined: 27 Jan 2009
Total Posts: 7511
21 Apr 2014 11:57 PM
So, recently, Roblox released Player Points. When a player buys an item in-game, be it a game pass or developer product (or something else), the developer will get a percentage of the sale in "points", which are then distributed to players in a way that the developer sees fit. Points are displayed on a global leaderboard (look at the header).

The way that Points are distributed, however, is open to wide abuse. Points should be distributed when players achieve something, such as kill streaks and rare findings and anything that takes work. This is not moderated however, and that can become a big issue.

Since developers can distribute points at will, there is a very high chance someone will (or has already) added a feature to "Buy Points". If leaderboards were per-place, I personally wouldn't care. They aren’t, however; it’s global.

If you look at the video gaming industry, especially mobile gaming, you’ll see lots games that are now incorporating microtransactions. There are many examples of microtransactions being used to grab all the money they can, including but not limited to: Clash of Clans, Dungeon Keeper Mobile, and the recently released Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 Mobile. Many of these games feature the ability to buy in-game currencies, points, etc. Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 Mobile has one of the worst uses of microtransactions: the game has two currencies, and you can buy “a lot of it” with $125. Combined with the fact that there are two currencies, that brings us to a total of $250.

Microtransactions are not inherently bad; Team Fortress 2 uses them in one of the best ways I’ve seen. You can buy nearly any weapon, piece of clothing, hats, tools, hats, and more; however, you can find many of weapons (and hats) by item drops, which you get by playing the game. Weapons you buy are also still balanced, therefore it’s next to impossible to buy power.

Roblox’s implementation of micotransactions is known as Developer Products. Already I have seen them used to buy in-game currencies, levels, you name it. I’m not going to name specific games here, though. Don’t forget, player points are given to the developer when players purchase items for a game, such as developer products and game passes. If we combine player points, developer products, and a global leaderboard, users can pay the developer of a place for player points. This is basically letting the user buy their way up the leaderboard, pay for “fame”, and go past the players who have actually earned their points.

How can we fix this? Player Points need to be a) given only by trusted developers, b) on place-specific leader-boards, or c) moderated. We can’t allow users to buy power. Player Points is a broken system that needs to be fixed.

tl;dr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvdf5n-zI14
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EverlastingTimic is not online. EverlastingTimic
Joined: 31 Dec 2010
Total Posts: 33
21 Apr 2014 11:57 PM
oh my lord what inspired you to type this this should be a congressional speech
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ihaveamac is not online. ihaveamac
Joined: 27 Jan 2009
Total Posts: 7511
21 Apr 2014 11:59 PM
@EverlastingTimic player points - if you can't be bothered to read it, go somewhere else
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ArceusInator is not online. ArceusInator
Joined: 10 Oct 2009
Total Posts: 30553
22 Apr 2014 12:12 AM
Yes, yes, yes! I agree with everything stated here. When points first came out some of you may remember I ran an experiment. I sold points to a bunch of people to robux and make about 1k (I was NBC) in thirty minutes. I think it's massive evidence for the fact that people prefer to buy them rather than earn them.

Look at the two most popular point places right now - My SFOTH and another SFOTH. Both are Bc places because only bcers have any money to spend, and both are making tons of money off people who want points. These people don't want to earn them, they only go along with it because it's against the rules to sell them right now. Once the beta ends and we're allowed to sell them, though, you're going to see a sungle game on the front page 100% of the time that only serves the purpose of converting game points to robux.
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ArceusInator is not online. ArceusInator
Joined: 10 Oct 2009
Total Posts: 30553
22 Apr 2014 12:13 AM
* converting robux to player points

That's what I get for being in a rush
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Naruto9200 is not online. Naruto9200
Joined: 18 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 21997
22 Apr 2014 12:15 AM
A good side is that they are resetting the Player Points at the end of the BETA.
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ihaveamac is not online. ihaveamac
Joined: 27 Jan 2009
Total Posts: 7511
22 Apr 2014 12:22 AM
It's against the rules to sell points right now? Needless to say, it should stay like that permanently. Lots of people will go the lazier path of just buying their way up. I see real, full-priced games on consoles and PC that include microtransactions, and it's just discouraging to play the actual game for hours when someone can buy things and be where you are in a minute.

I think the fault is mobile gaming. A generation that hasn't played typical video games (consoles and PCs) was able to try games on mobile devices such as iPods, iPhones, Android devices, and more, and some developers thought it would be easy to exploit them and get extra cash out of them.
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FatalDesires is not online. FatalDesires
Joined: 02 Jul 2011
Total Posts: 17945
22 Apr 2014 12:26 AM
I'll admit I only skimmed this. But I like your dedication to proving something so I want to comment and get this to the top. Nothings worse then spending quite a lot of time on a thread and receiving no recognition.
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ihaveamac is not online. ihaveamac
Joined: 27 Jan 2009
Total Posts: 7511
22 Apr 2014 12:58 AM
I'm not one who usually does this, but I feel that people need to see this now.
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emporerj is not online. emporerj
Joined: 23 Nov 2010
Total Posts: 39351
22 Apr 2014 01:02 AM
The way it's going to end up is probably:

- Few games will offer player points
- Game developers will have the most and there will be a huge drop between them and average players, because they can award them to themselves
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ihaveamac is not online. ihaveamac
Joined: 27 Jan 2009
Total Posts: 7511
22 Apr 2014 01:47 AM
I don't see a bright future of player points in its current state. Good idea, poorly executed.
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ihaveamac is not online. ihaveamac
Joined: 27 Jan 2009
Total Posts: 7511
22 Apr 2014 10:07 AM
This is the morning bump. I really need as much people as possible to read this.
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Scootrbro is not online. Scootrbro
Joined: 12 Apr 2008
Total Posts: 11145
22 Apr 2014 10:18 AM
and the Leaderboards are just for so called "experience gamers" to show off their player points and make fun of others for having low points
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ihaveamac is not online. ihaveamac
Joined: 27 Jan 2009
Total Posts: 7511
22 Apr 2014 05:21 PM
Afternoon and final bump. I'm sorry for doing this, but this needs attention.
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fred man is not online. fred man
Joined: 06 Sep 2006
Total Posts: 8403
22 Apr 2014 05:49 PM
i agree
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ihaveamac is not online. ihaveamac
Joined: 27 Jan 2009
Total Posts: 7511
26 Apr 2014 02:06 PM
Roblox really needs to take a good hard look at this system. There is already a place that lets users buy player points. I'm not going to post the link (personal attack?), however.
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