Roblox is a massively multiplayer online game creation platform that allows users to design their own games and play a wide variety of different types of games created by the developer or other users. Sometimes compared to Minecraft, Roblox is a website and app that hosts social network virtual world games constructed of Lego-like virtual blocks.
Co-founder and CEO David Baszucki started testing the first demos in 2004 under the name DynaBlocks. In 2005, it was renamed Roblox and became available for PCs. The platform was officially released in September 2006 by the Roblox Corporation. As of 2017, Roblox has 64 million monthly active players.
Video Roblox
Gameplay
Roblox is a sandbox game which allows players to create their own games using its proprietary engine, Roblox Studio. Games and assets for games are built by using "bricks", similar to those of lego bricks. Players can use the programming language Lua to manipulate the environment of the game and program their own games.
Users are able to advertise and sponsor their own game on the website by bidding. Users are also able to create gamepasses, which can be used to give consumers perks for buying the gamepass. "Developer Products", which can be purchased unlimited times, are similar to the likes of microtransactions and provides the player with in-game perks. A percentage of the revenue from gamepasses and Developer Products is given to Roblox.
Players
Roblox allows players to buy, sell, and create virtual items. Shirts, T-shirts, and pants can be bought by anyone but only players with a Builders Club membership can sell shirts, T-shirts and pants. Only Roblox admins can sell hats, gear and packages on the platform. Hats with a "Limited" status, or "Limited" hats, can only be sold on the Roblox catalog or traded with Builders Club.
Robux is Roblox's virtual currency that can allow a player to buy gear, hats, appeal, and in-game perks. Players can obtain Robux through real life purchases, another player buying their items, or from earning daily Robux with a membership.
Groups
Roblox allows for the creation of groups. After joining, players can then advertise their group, participate in group relations, and set their primary group. Players that own groups can also manage roles, make shoutouts, post on the group wall, moderate the group wall, etc. Groups can only be created and owned by Builders' Club members although if your Builders' Club membership expires, players still own groups that they previously created.
Groups can publish their own clothing (Shirts, T-shirts and Pants) and games can also be published as a group game and all revenue from group clothing and games goes towards group funds. Group funds specifically are used to run ads to promote groups and can also be paid out using the "Group Payout" system which could contribute to creating new roles, etc. Clans can also be created. Clans are groups that compete against each other in Player Points Leaderboard rankings. Player Points are points that can be rewarded for achieving a certain goal, etc. and can be given out by developers to players.
Maps Roblox
Events
Roblox occasionally hosts real life and virtual events. One such event is the Roblox Developers Conference, which regularly takes place in San Jose, California. They hold virtual Easter egg hunt events annually and previously hosted events such as BloxCon.
Development
Roblox, as a beta website, was created by co-founders David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 2004, with the initial name of DynaBlocks. Baszucki started testing the first demos that year. The website became available for PCs in 2005, when it was renamed Roblox - a portmanteau of the words "robots" and "blocks". The website was officially launched in September 2006.
In March 2007, Roblox became compliant with COPPA, with the addition of safe chat, a change that limited users under the age of thirteen to communicating by selecting predefined messages from a menu. In August 2007, Roblox added Builders Club, a premium membership, and applied server improvements.
In December 2011, Roblox held their first Hack Week, an annual event where Roblox developers work on innovative outside-the-box ideas for new developments to present to the company.
On December 11, 2012, Roblox released an iOS version of the game. In an interview with Massively, CEO David Baszucki stated he also wanted the game to be available on the digital stores of "Android, Windows, Steam, Mac, Chrome, [and] Amazon..."
On May 31, 2015, a feature named Smooth Terrain was added, increasing the graphical fidelity of the terrain and changing the physics engine from a block-oriented style to a smoother and more realistic style. On November 20, 2015, Roblox was launched on Xbox One, with an initial selection of 15 games chosen by Roblox staff. New Roblox games for this console will have to go through an approval process, and are subject to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board standards.
In April 2016, Roblox launched Roblox VR for Oculus Rift. At the time of release, more than ten million games were available in 3-D. Also by this time, Roblox had 30 million monthly active users, and a peak of 900,000 concurrent users. Around the same time period, the safe chat feature was removed and replaced by a system based on a whitelist with a set of acceptable words for users under 13 years old and on a "black list" 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.
In June 2016, the company launched a version compatible with Windows 10. While the game has had a PC presence since 2004 with its web version, this is the first time it was upgraded with a standalone launcher built for Windows. The following month, during an episode of The Next Level, it was announced that Roblox would be ported to the PlayStation 4.
Legacy
During the 2017 Roblox Developers Conference, officials said that creators on Roblox (about 1.7 million) collectively earned at least $30 million USD in 2017. Alex Balfanz, a creator on the site, told Business Insider that funds from his creation covered his undergraduate education at Duke University.
Toy line
In January 2017, Jazwares, a toy fabricator, joined with the Roblox Corporation to create 40 toy minifigures based on user generated content created by large developers on the platform. The toys were announced to the player base of Roblox via their blog, on February 1, 2017. The minifigures had limbs and joints similar to that of Lego minifigures, along with the fact that their limbs and accessories are interchangeable. The first series contained 40 minifigures in all, being sold in sets of three or six, or individual minifigures. All of these sets included a code that could be used to redeem virtual items.
Later that year in August, Roblox announced the second series of minifigures, introducing 40 more minifigures of characters from popular games on the platform, along with the online avatars of popular developers. There is also a 'blind box', that contains a random minifigure and has a chance to contain a 'Mystery Figure'.
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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