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| 02 Dec 2015 09:46 AM |
Rōblox, stylized as RŌBLOX, is a massively multiplayer online game created and marketed toward children and teenagers aged 8–18. In the game, players are able to create their own virtual world, in which they or other members may enter and socialize within the blocks of varying shapes, sizes, and colors.[3] Games on Roblox can be scripted using a sandboxed edition of Lua 5.1 to affect events that occur in-game and create different scenarios. The company's main source of revenue comes from players buying Robux, the main virtual currency in the game, and from players buying "Builders Club" access, a status which gives virtual benefits to users. Players who have created an account may purchase either Builders Club, Turbo Builders Club, or Outrageous Builders Club, otherwise known by users as BC, TBC, and OBC, respectively
David Baszucki and Erik Cassel founded Roblox, then known as Dynablocks, in 2004. After a year of development, Dynablocks was renamed ROBLOX and was launched into Beta in 2005. In 2005, people could gain the currency at that time, Roblox Points, by completing single-player minigames developed by other users. In 2006, Roblox was officially released and its popularity skyrocketed.
In early 2006, Roblox had one currency, known as Roblox Points, first used like the Player Points, then as an upgrade to your avatar, which was subsequently discontinued and replaced with "Tickets" and "Robux". In mid-2007, Roblox added more customization to user characters to allow items such as hairpieces to be worn.[7] Roblox badges were first introduced on 22 December 2006.[8] Meshes were added, and so were the abilities of sending friend requests to other players, and sending messages. Other things accomplished in 2006 were searching through players, places, and items, multiplayer places, stats, and inventories.[9]
In 2007, character customization became possible.[10] In late January, the abuse report queue was introduced, with the ability for any user to report content as inappropriate through the "Report Abuse" buttons disseminated throughout the site.[11] In March 2007, Roblox became compliant with COPPA, with the addition of safe chat, a change which made users who indicated to be under the age of 13 at registration only able to communicate by selecting predefined messages from a menu.[12] In August 2007, Roblox added Builders Club, a premium membership, and applied server improvements.
In 2010, Roblox began creating body shapes which Builders Club members could purchase using virtual currency.[14] These body shapes were available in the catalog as packages, which included many items that were all obtained when the package was bought. These packages varied in size and price and occasionally went on sale.
In the year 2011, more than 5.4 million games were created by users.[15]
At the Roblox Game Conference, Roblox released a system that allowed members with a premium membership to trade collectible items with other users who have Builders Club. Over time, other features have been added to the system such as increasing the value of a trade, adding Robux to a trade, and owning and trading multiple copies of the same collectible item.[16]
On 13 January 2012, Roblox announced on the blog that their first Hack Week had been held. The post announcing it described it as a week where developers worked on projects they chose that they then had to present to the company and that, if considered interesting, could be put further work on.[17] Projects worked on by developers were later described by blog posts during the rest of the year. They included the implementation of the possibility for user interface elements to rotate,[18] which was later added to the game engine, the exploration of a system for crafting items,[19] the suggestion of a system that would allow game developers to connect many games together,[20] which was also later added to the engine[21] and the creation of a mobile website to replace the normal website for tablets and cell phones.[22]
On April 1, 2012, Roblox suffered site issues that caused players to get incorrect amounts of Robux. Some assets were uploaded without being reviewed by the moderators. The catalog and the trading systems went offline. The site returned to normal after a day or two.[23]
On 5 June 2012, Roblox announced that a new water material was released to add to the existing collection of "high scalability" terrain cell materials.[24]
On 11 December 2012, Roblox released the ability to play games on iOS.[25][26][27][28][29] The current iOS devices compatible with running Roblox games are the iPad 2 and newer devices including mini, iPhone 4 or newer, and the iPod touch 5th generation. The mobile Roblox application gives users the ability to customize their character, shop in the virtual catalog, play games, view their profile, and respond to messages. Previous to the release of the mobile Roblox application, the company created 20 virtual Roblox tablets. Players who purchased one received a brand new iPad 3.[30]
On 21 December 2012, featherweight parts were introduced. This feature enhanced game performance greatly by decreasing the usage of file space for each part in a place.[31]
Contemporary history (2012–present) The co-founder of Roblox, Erik Cassel, died on the morning of 11 February 2013 after a three-year battle with cancer.[32]
The safe chat feature was removed and was replaced by a system based on a whitelist for users under 13 years old and on a blacklist for other users. This new system allows users under the age of 13 to create content on the website, which they were not able to do previously. It applies to all parts of the website and to in-game chat.[33]
The lighting system was improved with the addition of dynamic lights implemented in a voxel-based fashion.[34][35] Dynamic lights were later added to the mobile version of Roblox.[36][37] On 2 October 2013, animations made a debut in Roblox, with an overhaul of the default Roblox character animations along with user made animations allowed.
In December 2013, an animation plugin was made available to be used. Users also became able to insert basic humanoids through the interface of the studio.[38]
Around August 2013, the minimum price for catalog items increased from 1 ticket or 1 Robux to 300 tickets and 25 Robux for shirts or pants and 120 tickets and 10 robux for T-shirts.[39] This was met by criticism from the community and it was reduced to 100 tickets and 10 Robux for shirts and pants and 20 tickets and 2 robux for T-shirts.[40]
On 1 October 2013, Roblox released a feature called Developer's Exchange. The feature allows users to exchange their Robux into USD. The requirements to use the program are a minimum threshold of 100,000 Robux, Outrageous Builders Club, and a valid Paypal account. The current trade ratio is 500 to 1.[41]
On 11 October 2013, body packages became available to all members of Roblox, including those who did not have a premium membership.[42]
On 22 October 2013, players became able to change their usernames to an unused one for 1000 Robux. The feature also allows the player's original name to be saved in case a user wishes to change back.[43] On 14 October 2014, one badge was retired and all other badges were redesigned.
On 24 October 2014, three Roblox employees were fired after an incident that occurred at the end of the 24 hour Twitch.tv live stream. They thought the live stream had finished, however it was still recording the audio which thousands of children were listening to. For over two minutes, the three admintrators started chatting about the website in a very negative way. They were heard swearing numerous times throughout the two minutes and disrespecting the site and other players. After 20 minutes, the administrators quickly pulled down the live stream.[44]
On 31 May 2015, a feature named Smooth Terrain was added, increasing the graphical fidelity and changing the physics engine from a blocky style to a smoother, more photorealistic, style[45]
In Summer 2015, All combat related badges were discontinued.[46]
On August 4, 2015, Roblox discontinued purchases for lifetime and 6 months Builders Club, Turbo Builders Club, and Outrageous Builders Club.[47]
On October 15, 2015, there was a new chat system that replaced the old one. Also fixed many issues with the old chat and party systems.[48]
On November 10, 2015 Roblox announced a new Physics Material Properties that allows blocks to be pushed around easier, another object being pushed more easier, and blocks being pushed depending on the terrain type.[49]
On November 24, 2015, Roblox introduced a new shadows for Humanoids that made players' shadow look realistic.
Players can customize their virtual characters with hundreds of different hats, head shapes, body shapes, clothing, and gear. Players may create their own articles of clothing, which allows for a more personalized in-game experience. However, selling player-created articles of clothing and collectible items require Builders Club, but non-premium players may still create T-shirts, which are decals attached to the front of a player's torso.
A second generation (2.0) ROBLOX character. Social interaction Players can add other people they meet in the game to their friends list. Since 2011, this can be done inside a game.[51][52] On 4 February 2015, a new update to replace the Friends and Best Friends system, named Friends and Followers,[53] was introduced. This allows more personal game play if wanted. This update also allows 200 Friends and infinite Followers. Players also have the option join community groups.[54] After joining, players can then advertise their group,[55] participate in group relations,[56] and set their primary group.[57] On the website and in game, users who are under 13 years old can only use specific words that are part of a whitelist maintained by the Roblox moderators. In contrast, users who are over 13 years old can use any word except words that are part of a blacklist.
World construction
Editing using Roblox Studio 2013. Players construct games with building bricks or blocks that vary in size, shape, and color using Roblox Studio, a program used for customizing places. Players can use the programming language Lua to dynamically change the environment of the game.[58] Also, plugins can be developed with Lua to be used in Roblox Studio.[59] Roblox Studio was at February 2013[60] replaced with its successor, Roblox Studio 2013. The second version of Studio features a more organized layout, static code analysis, and a new design. Players were initially having problems with the screen shaking, the inability to select parts, and crashes during the first few weeks of the release which was fixed eventually.[61]
Economy and currency Roblox includes two virtual currencies: tickets and Robux. They can be converted from one to the other with the currency exchange.[62][63] Tickets are earned for a variety of activities, such as when places are visited, as a daily login bonus, or for item sales including clothing. In-game items can be sold for either a set price in any type of currency, allowing the buyer to choose which currency they pay with. Robux is earned daily by premium members in varying amounts depending on the user's type of membership. Robux can also be earned through sale of virtual goods or can be purchased directly with money.
DevEx The developer exchange, widely known in the game as DevEx, is a feature that exchanges the game currency, Robux, to real cash. This option is only available to users that hold Outrageous Builders Club and at least 100,000 Robux. Users of the developer exchange can make from $250 USD (100,000 Robux) to $20,000 USD (eight million Robux) in a month.
Mobile gameplay Roblox can be played on many Android devices, as well as the iPad 2, the iPhone 4, the iPod touch 5th generation or any successor to one of those Apple devices.[64][65][66] This is done with the Roblox application which can be obtained from the application store. The application allows purchasing items from the catalog that are not available for users not using the mobile application using the currency system of iTunes. The application can be used to view the user's inventory, friends, groups and messages. It can also be used to purchase upgrades (premium memberships or Robux) with the currency system provided by iTunes.
During the alpha period, only selected places such as Crossroads, Paintball!, ROBLOX Snowmobiling, Dodgeball!, etc. could be played from the application.[64] The application is now stable and allows any place to be played. However, many places are not adapted to be played on the mobiles, which can result in games being too slow or some games being impossible to play because of the controls that are not available on mobile.
Holiday traditions During holidays like Easter, Halloween, or Christmas, Roblox will adapt the website to resemble the season. For example, during Halloween, the website theme will be black, orange, and purple, with a pumpkin representing the "o" in Roblox. During Easter, Roblox sets up a level where players can search the world for "eggs" to collect and earn as hats for their character. On Halloween and Christmas, Roblox creates "gifts" that the players can earn or buy. After the gifts are no longer obtainable, they will open after a set period and give players a specific unique item. Unlike other holiday traditions, the 2015 egg hunt had featured games made by developers, other then a Roblox map done the years before.
Moderation As Roblox moderators work to maintain a safe environment for children, many aspects of the site are moderated, such as the game's forum and chat logs.[67][68] If a player violates the conditions of use, a moderation action may be taken on the account, which may be terminated or prevented from using the website for a determined period. When a player's account is deactivated, other users are no longer able to view the user's profile, statistics, or inventory (the profile will be replaced by the message "The item you requested does not exist"), though they can still play games created by the player. Inappropriate usernames are changed to "[Content Deleted]" with several numbers afterwards and the usual removal of the ability to view the profile; similarly, the name of content also deemed inappropriate is also changed to "[Content Deleted]".[68]
Website: Rōblox Web address: http://www.roblox.com/ Slogan What will you build? Commercial: Yes Type of site: Online videogame platform Registration: Optional but required for most features Available in: English Owner: David Baszucki Launched: January 30, 2004 The ROBLOX.com website is the home of Roblox. It contains most of the features that Roblox has, including: the catalog, groups, forums, trades, the blog, and more. The only feature the website does not have is the game client. However, to access the games for the client, you must use the website.
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