Roblox is a free massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) virtual playground and workshop designed for children aged 6 and over. The game is made up of building bricks of various shapes and sizes. Roblox has no pre-defined goals, unlike some games.[1] Players could build anything such as houses, churches, cities, swimming pools, and more and share them to the Roblox community.[2] Roblox users can program the places they create with a simplified version of Lua 5.1.[3][4] Roblox is part of the TRUSTe privacy program[5] and the Better Business Bureau as a rating of A.[6][7]
Customization
Places
Players in Roblox have the ability to construct up to one place with a regular account, ten with Builders Club, twenty five with Turbo Builders Club, and 100 with Outrageous Builders Club, out of an unlimited supply of virtual building blocks.[12] These blocks can be customized to each players liking. Every user starts out with a home of their own where they can customize it using materials such as bricks, scripts, and other user created models.[13]
Avatars
Players in Roblox are given an avatar, which is used by the player when visiting each virtual world, that they can customize with new hats, heads, clothes, faces, and gear. All of these are available to purchase with Roblox's two virtual currencies, in the Catalog.[14]
Badges
Roblox provides users with achievement awards called badges. For example, Roblox has three combat badges that are awarded to users with high amounts of lifetime Knockouts. There is also 3 Builder's Club badges, one for each type of Builder's Club, given to the player when they join the premium paid service. There are a total of 15 badges available to users.[15] On August 13, 2009, Roblox allowed users to create their own badges that they put in their game that others could work on getting, or even as a freebie.
The Catalog
The Catalog is where players purchase and sell creations for Tickets and Robux. When selling, there is a 10% sales tax, so 10% of the money it is sold for goes to the virtual economy, and 90% goes to the seller; for example, selling a shirt for 10 Tickets will give the seller 9 tickets. Some items, such as hats, can also be bought but can only be uploaded by an administrator.[16] However, players can now sell limited edition hats for Robux and get 75% of the sale.. On May 8, 2009, gear was introduced. This introduced weapons, boosters, etc. that the player could bring to the game.[17] On June 3 2009, players were allowed to specify which types of gear would be allowed in their place.[18]
Premium Offers
Builders Club
Although Roblox is free, it offers premium membership in the form of Builders Club, Turbo Builders Club, and Outrageous Builders Club.[19] With any form of Builders Club, Roblox provides players Builders Club features, like the following:
| Benefits | Builders Club | Turbo Builders Club | Outrageous Builders Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom Maps | 10 | 25 | 100 |
| Daily Robux | 15 R$ | 35 R$ | 60 R$ |
| Sell Items | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| See Ads | No | No | No |
| Virtual Item | Hard Hat | Turbo Hardhat | OBC Hat, Eyes of the Everworld, Outrageous Aetherspectacles, and Hood of the International Order of Buildmasters |
| Bonus Gear Item | No | Yes | Yes |
| Starting Robux | 100 R$ | 100 R$ | 100 R$ |
| Create Groups | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create Badges | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| BCBeta | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Outrageous BC Theme | No | No | Yes |
| Amount Of Groups | 10 | 20 | 100 |
| Outrageous-Cast | No | No | Yes |
Central Bank
On September 26, 2008, Roblox added the "central bank", where users can buy Robux for cash.[20] Builders Club members get more Robux with paying the same amount of money with non-Builders Club members. Also, Builder's Club members can buy smaller amounts of Robux (which is cheaper) while free members cannot.[21]
Gameplay
Roblox users can bring their avatar with them into the 3D worlds that have been constructed by other users.
Games
In Roblox users are allowed to visit other users places and see their creations.[22] A game is built up of bricks and Lua scripts to allow users to make whatever they wish. People are free to build anything they want, such as obstacle courses, paintball, demolition games, capture the flag, hang-outs, churches, team fights or tycoons.
Meshes
Meshes are the shape of an item. Since 2008, people have not been able to upload meshes to Roblox except through exploiting which would get the user banned. People can however change the size, color and texture of meshes in Roblox Studio. Textures for meshes are uploaded as Decals.
Sounds
Different sounds can be programmed to occur at certain times and durations. There are built in sounds that download to the computer and sounds that have been previously uploaded to Roblox. As of 2008, only administrators can upload sounds.
Roblox Studio
Roblox Studio is a program very similar to Microsoft Visual Studio, used to build, edit, or test places.[23] It is an essential program in order to do things such as scripting and advanced building.[24] With Roblox Studio, the user does not have a character and he/she uses the arrow keys to scroll around the game. The player can pause, cut and copy in Roblox Studio. People are allowed to copy or edit other places if their game's status is "Shared" or, more commonly called, 'uncopylocked'.
Economy
Roblox has its own virtual economy. Players can earn and trade two currencies, Tickets and Robux.[25] Users are awarded Tickets by getting people to visit their virtual places, Tickets, Robux, or both from selling their user made clothing, or by trading their money on Roblox's stock market. Players are also given a login bonus of 10 Tickets. Builder's club members get a daily allowance of 15 Robux or 35 Robux if they are in Turbo Builders Club.[26]
Players can also advertise their clothing and places by uploading advertisements that they have created. They can then Bid Tickets, and their bid will compete with other users' bids. The higher the bid the more likely that the ad will appear.
Roblox also has a built-in Trade Currency system in which you can trade Tickets for Robux or Robux for Tickets.[27] The Trade Currency has a system in which the rate can change. This rate is what decides how many Tickets you get for Robux or vice-versa.[citation needed]
Interaction
Chat Modes
To enhance security of kids, there are two kinds of chat modes, Filter Chat and Menu Chat. Filter Chat users are allowed to say anything they want as long as it does not contain profanity. Menu Chat users can only use words or sentences chosen from a pre-determined list. Users under the age of 13 and Guests can use Menu Chat only.
Guests
When Roblox has users that could make games, upload shirts, buy clothes, and more, added in mid-2008 there are "Guests" that are all around Roblox. However, they have Super Safe Chat, which means they cannot talk unless if they use the blue chat bubble in every game with a list of words they could click and say.[21] However, some people made scripts in games that let guests talk. Also, it is prohibited to impersonate a guest.
Social Features
Groups were released on July 30, 2009, allowing users to have clan wars, petitions, face clubs, etc.[28] Roblox also added a feature called a Shout, which allows users to change their personal status in a similar fashion to popular online social networking websites Twitter and Facebook. Other additions included the option allowing users to chose best friends, and be able to see the status change of your best friend in your feed.[29] As of August 13, 2009, the amount of groups users could own was five for free members, ten for Builders Club members, and twenty for Turbo Builders Club members.[30]
On the same day, there were many group updates. There was group search (under "People"), you could also give your group ownership to others, and group status updates, where a group announces an update, and everyone in that group receives the message.[30] On September 2, 2009, they added "Facebook Connect", where people could share their character, places, and status updates to friends on Facebook's wall.[31] On the same day they added "Roblox live chat" where people could chat with their friends.[32] However, due to technical problems with the live chat, it was removed a few weeks after.
ROBLOX, "Online Building Toy", characters, logos, names, and all related indicia are trademarks of ROBLOX Corporation, ©2010. Patents pending.
ROBLOX is not sponsored, authorized or endorsed by any producer of plastic building bricks, including The LEGO Group, MEGA Brands, and K'Nex,
and no resemblance to the products of these companies is intended.
Use of this site signifies your acceptance of the Terms and Conditions.
ROBLOX, "Online Building Toy", characters, logos, names, and all related indicia are trademarks of ROBLOX Corporation, ©2010. Patents pending.
ROBLOX is not sponsored, authorized or endorsed by any producer of plastic building bricks, including The LEGO Group, MEGA Brands, and K'Nex,
and no resemblance to the products of these companies is intended.
Use of this site signifies your acceptance of the Terms and Conditions.
