Roblox Game Official Inormation
Roblox is an online game platform and game creation system that allows users to program games and play games created by other users. Founded by David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 2004 and released in 2006, the platform hosts user-created games of multiple genres coded in the programming language Lua. For most of Roblox's history, it was relatively small, both as a platform and a company, due to both co-founder Baszucki's lack of interest in press coverage and it being "lost among the crowd" in a large number of platforms released around the same time. Roblox began to grow rapidly in the second half of the 2010s, and this growth has been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic.[7][8]
Roblox is free-to-play, with in-game purchases available through a virtual currency called "Robux". As of August 2020, Roblox has over 164 million monthly active users, with it being played by over half of all children aged under 16 in the United States.[9][10] Roblox has received generally positive reviews from critics.
Overview
The Roblox Studio application icon
Roblox Studio
Roblox allows players to create their own games using its proprietary engine, Roblox Studio, which can then be played by other users.[11] Games are coded under an object-oriented programming system utilizing the programming language Lua to manipulate the environment of the game.[12][13] Users are able to create purchasable content through one-time purchases, known as "game passes", as well as microtransactions which can be purchased more than once, known as "developer products" or "products". A percentage of the revenue from purchases is split between the developer and the Roblox Corporation.[14][15] The majority of games produced using Roblox Studio are developed by children, and a total of 20 million games a year are produced using it.[16][9]
Items and currency
Roblox allows players to buy, sell, and create virtual items which can be used to decorate their virtual character that serves as their avatar on the platform.[9] Clothes can be bought by anyone, but only players with a premium membership can sell them.[17] Only Roblox administrators can sell accessories, body parts, gear, and packages under the official Roblox user account;[18] virtual hats and accessories can also be published by a select few users with past experience working with the Roblox Corporation.[19][20] There are several individuals who design items as a full-time job, with the highest-earning creators making over $100,000 a year off item sales.[21] Items with a limited edition status can only be traded between or sold by users with premium membership status.[22]
Robux is the virtual currency in Roblox that allows players to buy various items. Players can obtain Robux by purchasing it with real currency, from a recurring stipend given to members with premium membership, and from other players by producing and selling virtual content in Roblox.[14][23] Robux acquired through the sale of user-generated content can be exchanged into real-world currency through the website's Developer Exchange system.[24] There are a sizeable amount of scams relating to Robux, largely revolving around automated messages promoting scam websites, scam games designed to appear to give out free Robux, and invalid Robux codes.[25][26]
Events
Roblox occasionally hosts real-life and virtual events. They have in the past hosted events such as BloxCon, which was a convention for ordinary players on the platform.[14] Roblox operates annual Easter egg hunts,[27] and also hosts an annual event called the “Bloxy Awards”, an awards ceremony which also functions as a fundraiser. The 2020 edition of the Bloxy Awards, held virtually on the platform, drew 600,000 viewers.[28][29] The Roblox Corporation annually hosts the Roblox Developers Conference, a three-day invite-only event in San Francisco where top content creators on the site learn of upcoming changes to the platform.[30] Roblox Corp. has also hosted similar events in London and Amsterdam.[31][32]
Roblox occasionally engages in events to promote films, such as ones held to promote Wonder Woman 1984 and Aquaman.[33][34] In 2020, Roblox hosted its first virtual concert, which has been compared to that of American rapper Travis Scott's virtual concert in Fortnite,[35] during which American rapper Lil Nas X debuted his song Holiday to an audience of Roblox players.[35][36][37]
History and development
The first Roblox logo, designed in 2004[38]
The Roblox logo from 2005–2006[38]
The Roblox logo from 2006–2017; it had numerous variations, but mostly remained the same.[38]
The Roblox logo from 2017–2018[38]
The beta version of Roblox was created by co-founders David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 2004, originally under the name DynaBlocks.[39] Baszucki started testing the first demos that year.[40] In 2005, the company changed its name to Roblox,[40] and it officially launched on September 1, 2006.[2] In March 2007, Roblox became compliant with COPPA, with the addition of safe chat, a change that limited the communication ability of users under the age of thirteen by restricting them to selecting predefined messages from a menu.[41] In August, Roblox applied server improvements and released a premium membership service named "Builders Club".[42] This paid membership feature was rebranded as Roblox Premium in September 2019.[43]
In December 2011, Roblox held their first Hack Week, an annual event where Roblox developers work on outside-the-box ideas for new developments to present to the company.[44][45] On December 11, 2012, an iOS version of Roblox was released,[4] and on July 16, 2014, an Android version was released.[5] On October 1, 2013, Roblox released its Developer Exchange program, allowing developers to exchange Robux earned from their games into real-world currencies.[46]
On May 31, 2015, a feature called '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.[47] On November 20, Roblox was launched on Xbox One, with an initial selection of 15 games chosen by Roblox staff.[6] New Roblox games for the Xbox One have to go through an approval process, and are subject to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board standards.[48]
In April 2016, Roblox launched Roblox VR for Oculus Rift. At the time of release, more than ten million games were available in 3D.[49] 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 a set of blacklisted words for other users.[50] In June, the company launched a version compatible with Windows 10. While the game platform has had a presence on the PC since 2004, when its web version was created, this was the first time it was upgraded with a standalone launcher built for Windows.[51] Also in June, the Roblox Corporation was sued by Cinemark Theatres for alleged trademark violations.[52]
Throughout 2017, Roblox engaged in a number of updates to its server technology, as the technology they were operating on until that point was out of date and led to frequent outages.[53] In February 2019, Roblox entered into a joint venture with Songhua River Investment Limited, an affiliate of Tencent, in order to create a localised version of the platform. As of November 2020, the Chinese National Radio and Television Administration had not yet issued the license required to make Roblox available in China.[54][55] In July 2020, Roblox announced the creation of “Party Place”, which functions as an online hangout. The feature was created using new technology that had been used during the 2020 Bloxy Awards, and was designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[56]
Roblox is free-to-play, with in-game purchases available through a virtual currency called "Robux". As of August 2020, Roblox has over 164 million monthly active users, with it being played by over half of all children aged under 16 in the United States.[9][10] Roblox has received generally positive reviews from critics.
Overview
The Roblox Studio application icon
Roblox Studio
Roblox allows players to create their own games using its proprietary engine, Roblox Studio, which can then be played by other users.[11] Games are coded under an object-oriented programming system utilizing the programming language Lua to manipulate the environment of the game.[12][13] Users are able to create purchasable content through one-time purchases, known as "game passes", as well as microtransactions which can be purchased more than once, known as "developer products" or "products". A percentage of the revenue from purchases is split between the developer and the Roblox Corporation.[14][15] The majority of games produced using Roblox Studio are developed by children, and a total of 20 million games a year are produced using it.[16][9]
Items and currency
Roblox allows players to buy, sell, and create virtual items which can be used to decorate their virtual character that serves as their avatar on the platform.[9] Clothes can be bought by anyone, but only players with a premium membership can sell them.[17] Only Roblox administrators can sell accessories, body parts, gear, and packages under the official Roblox user account;[18] virtual hats and accessories can also be published by a select few users with past experience working with the Roblox Corporation.[19][20] There are several individuals who design items as a full-time job, with the highest-earning creators making over $100,000 a year off item sales.[21] Items with a limited edition status can only be traded between or sold by users with premium membership status.[22]
Robux is the virtual currency in Roblox that allows players to buy various items. Players can obtain Robux by purchasing it with real currency, from a recurring stipend given to members with premium membership, and from other players by producing and selling virtual content in Roblox.[14][23] Robux acquired through the sale of user-generated content can be exchanged into real-world currency through the website's Developer Exchange system.[24] There are a sizeable amount of scams relating to Robux, largely revolving around automated messages promoting scam websites, scam games designed to appear to give out free Robux, and invalid Robux codes.[25][26]
Events
Roblox occasionally hosts real-life and virtual events. They have in the past hosted events such as BloxCon, which was a convention for ordinary players on the platform.[14] Roblox operates annual Easter egg hunts,[27] and also hosts an annual event called the “Bloxy Awards”, an awards ceremony which also functions as a fundraiser. The 2020 edition of the Bloxy Awards, held virtually on the platform, drew 600,000 viewers.[28][29] The Roblox Corporation annually hosts the Roblox Developers Conference, a three-day invite-only event in San Francisco where top content creators on the site learn of upcoming changes to the platform.[30] Roblox Corp. has also hosted similar events in London and Amsterdam.[31][32]
Roblox occasionally engages in events to promote films, such as ones held to promote Wonder Woman 1984 and Aquaman.[33][34] In 2020, Roblox hosted its first virtual concert, which has been compared to that of American rapper Travis Scott's virtual concert in Fortnite,[35] during which American rapper Lil Nas X debuted his song Holiday to an audience of Roblox players.[35][36][37]
History and development
The first Roblox logo, designed in 2004[38]
The Roblox logo from 2005–2006[38]
The Roblox logo from 2006–2017; it had numerous variations, but mostly remained the same.[38]
The Roblox logo from 2017–2018[38]
The beta version of Roblox was created by co-founders David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 2004, originally under the name DynaBlocks.[39] Baszucki started testing the first demos that year.[40] In 2005, the company changed its name to Roblox,[40] and it officially launched on September 1, 2006.[2] In March 2007, Roblox became compliant with COPPA, with the addition of safe chat, a change that limited the communication ability of users under the age of thirteen by restricting them to selecting predefined messages from a menu.[41] In August, Roblox applied server improvements and released a premium membership service named "Builders Club".[42] This paid membership feature was rebranded as Roblox Premium in September 2019.[43]
In December 2011, Roblox held their first Hack Week, an annual event where Roblox developers work on outside-the-box ideas for new developments to present to the company.[44][45] On December 11, 2012, an iOS version of Roblox was released,[4] and on July 16, 2014, an Android version was released.[5] On October 1, 2013, Roblox released its Developer Exchange program, allowing developers to exchange Robux earned from their games into real-world currencies.[46]
On May 31, 2015, a feature called '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.[47] On November 20, Roblox was launched on Xbox One, with an initial selection of 15 games chosen by Roblox staff.[6] New Roblox games for the Xbox One have to go through an approval process, and are subject to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board standards.[48]
In April 2016, Roblox launched Roblox VR for Oculus Rift. At the time of release, more than ten million games were available in 3D.[49] 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 a set of blacklisted words for other users.[50] In June, the company launched a version compatible with Windows 10. While the game platform has had a presence on the PC since 2004, when its web version was created, this was the first time it was upgraded with a standalone launcher built for Windows.[51] Also in June, the Roblox Corporation was sued by Cinemark Theatres for alleged trademark violations.[52]
Throughout 2017, Roblox engaged in a number of updates to its server technology, as the technology they were operating on until that point was out of date and led to frequent outages.[53] In February 2019, Roblox entered into a joint venture with Songhua River Investment Limited, an affiliate of Tencent, in order to create a localised version of the platform. As of November 2020, the Chinese National Radio and Television Administration had not yet issued the license required to make Roblox available in China.[54][55] In July 2020, Roblox announced the creation of “Party Place”, which functions as an online hangout. The feature was created using new technology that had been used during the 2020 Bloxy Awards, and was designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[56]
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