Random shitty things that ROBLOX has done over the years

[Bannanachair]

I decided to just make a thread for everyone to complain about random little shitty things that they noticed ROBLOX doing over the years. This isn't for big things like removing tix and the forums, but for littler, more insignificant things.

For instance, official ROBLOX groups. They recieved a lot of hype for a while but were mostly left on their own without any of the framework actually required to survive. RedCliff and Korblox were around for longer than I've been on ROBLOX, but I was around when the science-fiction official ROBLOX groups came around: Ne'KotiKoz and the Orinthians. I, like presumably hundreds of other interested kids, wanted to be high-ranked in a group run by ROBLOX staff themselves. So I sent a PM to Tarabyte when Ne'Kotikoz was being set up and was promoted to one of the higher ranks, looking forward to collaborating on the stories and ranks and rules... And then it was just me and the other guy who was high-ranked on our own to sort things out.

There was the initial announcement of the official science fiction ROBLOX groups, some catalogue items, and then literal no continued support. It was not run the way that RedCliff appeared to have been run from the outside (though I suppose that Benzo is the only one who can tell us if RedCliff ever had any of the ROBLOX admin support that people seemed to think that it had).

Like, honestly, why the hell did they bother to announce the groups as "Official ROBLOX groups" if all that that meant was a package in 2013 and being owned by a ROBLOX admin who can't be bothered to do anything with the group? If they're going to be hands-on in creating lore like that, they should be involved and help out. If they're going to do nothing, they shouldn't have made an announcement seeming like they were trying to make official lore. It's frustrating and annoying and I was confused as a thirteen-year-old (or maybe I was even younger, I don't remember anymore) as to why it was so poorly run and yet now I can see with retrospect that that was just par for the course for ROBLOX.

Hell, ROBLOX's entire design philosophy seems to boil down to "Hey, why don't we, instead of doing anything, get a bunch of kids and teenagers to make entertainment for kids and teenagers, and then charge everyone money as the middle-men while pretending that we're doing stuff? From time to time we'll remove features that people love to use to pretend to be making adjustments and changes, but really, this is just a giant paycheck to us!" All the stories and RPs in the forums were made by kids, all the successful groups were run by kids (unless Sorcus helped out with RedCliff - once again, Benzo's probably the only person here who can answer that), all most of the items in the catalogue were made by kids and, of course, all most of the games were made by kids.

[Benzo]

Sept 25, 2018 12:24:37 GMT -4 Bannanachair said:

I decided to just make a thread for everyone to complain about random little shitty things that they noticed ROBLOX doing over the years. This isn't for big things like removing tix and the forums, but for littler, more insignificant things.

For instance, official ROBLOX groups. They recieved a lot of hype for a while but were mostly left on their own without any of the framework actually required to survive. RedCliff and Korblox were around for longer than I've been on ROBLOX, but I was around when the science-fiction official ROBLOX groups came around: Ne'KotiKoz and the Orinthians. I, like presumably hundreds of other interested kids, wanted to be high-ranked in a group run by ROBLOX staff themselves. So I sent a PM to Tarabyte when Ne'Kotikoz was being set up and was promoted to one of the higher ranks, looking forward to collaborating on the stories and ranks and rules... And then it was just me and the other guy who was high-ranked on our own to sort things out.

There was the initial announcement of the official science fiction ROBLOX groups, some catalogue items, and then literal no continued support. It was not run the way that RedCliff appeared to have been run from the outside (though I suppose that Benzo is the only one who can tell us if RedCliff ever had any of the ROBLOX admin support that people seemed to think that it had).

Like, honestly, why the hell did they bother to announce the groups as "Official ROBLOX groups" if all that that meant was a package in 2013 and being owned by a ROBLOX admin who can't be bothered to do anything with the group? If they're going to be hands-on in creating lore like that, they should be involved and help out. If they're going to do nothing, they shouldn't have made an announcement seeming like they were trying to make official lore. It's frustrating and annoying and I was confused as a thirteen-year-old (or maybe I was even younger, I don't remember anymore) as to why it was so poorly run and yet now I can see with retrospect that that was just par for the course for ROBLOX.

Hell, ROBLOX's entire design philosophy seems to boil down to "Hey, why don't we, instead of doing anything, get a bunch of kids and teenagers to make entertainment for kids and teenagers, and then charge everyone money as the middle-men while pretending that we're doing stuff? From time to time we'll remove features that people love to use to pretend to be making adjustments and changes, but really, this is just a giant paycheck to us!" All the stories and RPs in the forums were made by kids, all the successful groups were run by kids (unless Sorcus helped out with RedCliff - once again, Benzo's probably the only person here who can answer that), all most of the items in the catalogue were made by kids and, of course, all most of the games were made by kids.

*Hint Hint* We/It didn't. Sorcus stopped being involved after about a year or so, if that. Once I had the ability to run the group with 99% power, he pretty much bailed.

Although, I guess for whatever reason audit logs weren't a thing until we asked for it. And we *kind of* (But not really) had input on some if the items made at first, but that's literally it as far as Staff support went.

You want to know the actual purpose of the group(s)? I'll give you a hint; I imagine it's part of why you tend to see a RedCliff or similarly themed figure in most of Roblox's images now, and why owning themed items gets you promoted. (Something I tried to question very loudly to no avail.)
They were low-key advertisements toto spend money buying these items.

Idk why I had stayed so long, but you kind if not the nail on the head. I liked the egotism and "fame" being in said group got me, especially since I seemed to be literally the only one Sorcus would actively talk to. Even if that pretty much just meant I was his bottom-bitch doing anything,& everything he asked.

[Bannanachair]

Oct 10, 2018 2:05:04 GMT -4 Benzo said:

Sept 25, 2018 12:24:37 GMT -4 Bannanachair said:

I decided to just make a thread for everyone to complain about random little shitty things that they noticed ROBLOX doing over the years. This isn't for big things like removing tix and the forums, but for littler, more insignificant things.

For instance, official ROBLOX groups. They recieved a lot of hype for a while but were mostly left on their own without any of the framework actually required to survive. RedCliff and Korblox were around for longer than I've been on ROBLOX, but I was around when the science-fiction official ROBLOX groups came around: Ne'KotiKoz and the Orinthians. I, like presumably hundreds of other interested kids, wanted to be high-ranked in a group run by ROBLOX staff themselves. So I sent a PM to Tarabyte when Ne'Kotikoz was being set up and was promoted to one of the higher ranks, looking forward to collaborating on the stories and ranks and rules... And then it was just me and the other guy who was high-ranked on our own to sort things out.

There was the initial announcement of the official science fiction ROBLOX groups, some catalogue items, and then literal no continued support. It was not run the way that RedCliff appeared to have been run from the outside (though I suppose that Benzo is the only one who can tell us if RedCliff ever had any of the ROBLOX admin support that people seemed to think that it had).

Like, honestly, why the hell did they bother to announce the groups as "Official ROBLOX groups" if all that that meant was a package in 2013 and being owned by a ROBLOX admin who can't be bothered to do anything with the group? If they're going to be hands-on in creating lore like that, they should be involved and help out. If they're going to do nothing, they shouldn't have made an announcement seeming like they were trying to make official lore. It's frustrating and annoying and I was confused as a thirteen-year-old (or maybe I was even younger, I don't remember anymore) as to why it was so poorly run and yet now I can see with retrospect that that was just par for the course for ROBLOX.

Hell, ROBLOX's entire design philosophy seems to boil down to "Hey, why don't we, instead of doing anything, get a bunch of kids and teenagers to make entertainment for kids and teenagers, and then charge everyone money as the middle-men while pretending that we're doing stuff? From time to time we'll remove features that people love to use to pretend to be making adjustments and changes, but really, this is just a giant paycheck to us!" All the stories and RPs in the forums were made by kids, all the successful groups were run by kids (unless Sorcus helped out with RedCliff - once again, Benzo's probably the only person here who can answer that), all most of the items in the catalogue were made by kids and, of course, all most of the games were made by kids.

*Hint Hint* We/It didn't. Sorcus stopped being involved after about a year or so, if that. Once I had the ability to run the group with 99% power, he pretty much bailed.

Although, I guess for whatever reason audit logs weren't a thing until we asked for it. And we *kind of* (But not really) had input on some if the items made at first, but that's literally it as far as Staff support went.

You want to know the actual purpose of the group(s)? I'll give you a hint; I imagine it's part of why you tend to see a RedCliff or similarly themed figure in most of Roblox's images now, and why owning themed items gets you promoted. (Something I tried to question very loudly to no avail.)
They were low-key advertisements toto spend money buying these items.

Idk why I had stayed so long, but you kind if not the nail on the head. I liked the egotism and "fame" being in said group got me, especially since I seemed to be literally the only one Sorcus would actively talk to. Even if that pretty much just meant I was his bottom-bitch doing anything,& everything he asked.

So... Should we try to write an exposé exposing that bullshit? With your name attached to it, arguing against everything that ROBLOX has done through RedCliff, you could easily be a PR nightmare. I don't know if my criticisms about the oft-ignored science fiction groups would carry as much weight, but for years you, Sorcus and The13thHippie were the main public faces of RedCliff (I think you and The13th were the only ones ranked as Elite Commanders for a few years that I can remember). Hell, I remember reading (poorly made) RedCliff fanfiction on the ROBLOX forums about half a decade ago - people might listen to what you have to say.

Also, kudos for managing to develop all the lore that you did around ROBLOX's marketing stunt and for running the group so professionally that kid-me thought it was actually run by ROBLOX staff. Like, you should really pat yourself on the back for that.

[Benzo]

How would it be a PR nightmare? A lot of games out there have pay-to-win mechanics that make it literally impossible to compete else-wise.

There was another EC, Flaminblade, but for various reasons I got him kicked/demoted. But no, there's nothing new going on that I would consider shady. Maybe they did have big plans at one point or another, and it'd be another thing entirely if they kept hinting at it still happening, but that stopped after the first year. Everyone who has been in those groups for any amount of time knows there's not going to be any sort of "official" event regarding said groups. Whether they choose to ignore that, plead blissful ignorance or cling on hoping that one day the project will once again be revived is up to them. But to act like it's some massive scandal is, to be blunt, kind of asanine. At most, I'd call the encouraged (but not mandatory) initial promotion via owned themed items a bit of a dick move.

There's nothing wrong with a developer abandoning their project, it happens all the time. The only way I'd call it remotely scandalous is if one day everyone woke up to find the groups all deleted with everyone removed. If people want to play with the whale's corpse, they are free to do so.


And thinking about it, I don't think it's about the actual "official" groups as much as it is to show how "cool" it is to have uniforms for your respective clans which, with the removal of tickets, are a lot harder to get in any clan since they can't be given out for free. Especially with that price floor they implemented however long ago.

In short, Roblox has pulled some shitty things and may have used those groups to indirectly promote those ideas, but that's nothing new for any company. We were just their poster children, so to speak.

[Benzo]

Unless you meant a PR nightmare for RedCliff itself, in which case... Yeah, I could probably very heavily damage everyone's morale, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun with my excessive stay with them. A lot of those folks had or maybe still have their heads a mile up their own asses, but the collaboration among the group was enjoyable. If anyone else is able to get that same enjoyment out of it, I don't necessarily have any interest in ruining it for them.

[hhhappy]

I HATED it when I realized that you could no longer search with genres. I used to be able to find games I felt like playing at any time using the genre filters, but at some point a few years back it stopped existing.