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Preface
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This is definitely going to be an extremely long post. If you have absolutely no interest in graphic design in ROBLOX, your time would be better spent doing basically anything else. I don't mean this in a bad way; I just don't want folk getting bogged down in something they don't really want to read. However, if you are a budding retexture artist on Roblox, or even a veteran, I beseech you to continue reading.
Appendix (Copy the topic, then CTRL+F to jump to these topics)
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Introduction
1) The Selection Pool Problems
--[1] Survey Format Submissions
--[2] More Contests
2) The RAOC Bottleneck
--[1] More Admins
Conclusion
Introduction
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I'll begin with a brief introduction. I am TheEasterZombie, a former Retexture Artists Official Channel admin, a user who began on Roblox in 2010 and successfully had seven hats published to the Catalog. Prior to this, I did have an account where two more of my items were published (hilariously, I learned later, joined the same day as BrightEyes). This account was eventually deleted due to several repeated rule-breakings. I do take responsibility for my actions on that account; I was young and foolish. My point of even mentioning the earlier account: I have been around since before retexturing was even a past-time for users. I'm going to document my personal experiences in the field, primarily.
The year is 2009. As a couple of admins were playing Ultimate Paintball with users, as they would occasionally in those days, a user called GeneralCheese mentioned a book called "Cheeseburger, The Complete History" he had made. This hat eventually became real, and propelled a new form of graphic design on Roblox. This hat was one of the very first published re-textures on ROBLOX. Granted, Buxsplosion was earlier, but very few knew this was a user retexture. This sparked a flurry of re-textures, as in those days, the administrators had the idea of publishing one a week, calling the event Book of the Week. This was back in a time where hats being added to the catalog was a rare enough occurrence that we actually had blog posts about it. The Hatsplosion was in its infancy, and so was re-texturing. Back in those days, the names of users who created the hats were even credited in the descriptions! It was an amazing experience for the users involved. I even tried my hand at a terrible book back then.
Fast forward to Halloween that year. I had seen the likes of RangeMeleude and HanSolo996 get a few published items under their belts, and finally I was getting a turn. I received a message from ROBLOX, asking if they could use my Uncle Zom's Hat and that I'd receive more than enough to pay for a copy. Let me say, there was nothing more surreal than receiving a message from the account who usually tells you your friend request was accepted. I was given ample Robux to buy it when it came out, and I was a happy little retexturer. By this point, they had stopped crediting people in their descriptions, but that wasn't a big deal to me, I was enjoying doing it, seeing user responses.
Another time leap to St. Patrick's Day 2010. My second hat was being published! Another Uncle Sam re-texture. I was certainly a one-trick pony back then. 3/4 of the Uncle Sam retextures were my fault. But I digress. This time was different; it just sort of occurred. I didn't get a message, didn't get any Robux, but mysteriously, a copy of the hat appeared in my inventory. Strange, as it was limited. At some point before this, the Retexture Artist's Official Channel was formed. I believe I joined after the publication of Uncle Sean's Top Hat. My memory is hazy in that regards. All I know is that I was allowed to waltz into the group.
Now, we switch to TheEasterZombie. Created originally as a joke account during the 2010 Egg Hunt, I began uploading a bunch of retextured eggs and following people around to games, never talking but always causing great interest wherever I went. I did enjoy those days. After the servers blew up during the hunt, a second round of the hunt was introduced, and one of those eggs became the Golden Fabergé Egg of Hivemind, the rarest egg of all. I was given either 500 or 1000 Robux for its publication. I think the former was standard in those days. It took a public appeal to Shedletsky to be given the egg-- I knew I wasn't going to get it myself without some sheer dumb luck. Again, for the third time, different processes were followed. After this, I was re-added to RAOC, and I found that it was increasingly easy to get items published, as my objects were readily available for the taking, without much searching by admins.
By now you probably are wondering what my point is. How these random events in my personal retexturing history matter in the grand scheme of things. Well, there are a few points which need to be addressed.
1) The Selection Pool Problems
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One of the largest problems with retexture publication as it stands is the lack of easy availability of items. This is highlighted by the items taken for St. Patrick's Day-- all old names that have been hanging around RAOC forever. I have heard that for April's game card items, the same pattern will be followed, which is unfortunate. Checking RAOC is easy, but checking other sources can be ridiculously time consuming. It's a convenience issue. Having thought about this for a while, I believe there is a much more convenient method that is fair on everyone, through use of surveys.
[1] Survey Format Submissions
Currently, the three main avenues of retexture submission for publication are; the RAOC wall (this is problematic for standard users), messaging Brighteyes, and tweeting items to her. The latter two obviously are highly inefficient as the retextures are lost in a deluge of other irrelevant messages. This makes things difficult from both perspectives: Brighteyes cannot easily find items, and users cannot easily be found by Brighteyes. There is also a 'right place, right time' effect by this; if you're not perfectly timed you can be missed.
However, these three inefficient sources could be replaced with a single efficient method; the survey submission format.
Once before, a survey was used to gather retextures explicitly; http://blog.roblox.com/2013/03/calling-all-artists-three-design-contests-are-up-and-running/ and it was definitely a successful method.
What could be done: Roughly two weeks before any major holiday, with a clear closing date a few days before the event, a survey could be produced and advertised through RAOC, Twitter, RA and BE's personal "following" message on her profile. The survey could ask for their best item in the category, and then a set of other items they may have. This allows an opportunity to see dozens of items from a variety of users in a short space of time. Having the backup set allowed gives an opportunity to get more than one item published if Brighteyes likes what she sees in the individual item.
For definite objects such as Bandana of the Month, a survey could be started asking for just the specific item. There were only roughly 20 Bandanas of the Month produced for March, so this would not be an arduous method.
The benefits of this system are obviously an ease of access from a reviewer's point of view, and an open platform for all retexturers regardless of group involvement. It also gives a static, ever-present link on Twitter which means nobody will miss "calls" for retextures. I cannot imagine taking a look at the #1 choice of the submitted retextures in a certain category would take more than an hour. It's certainly a fairer and more efficient method-- and in this way, last-minute calls for retextures will not be necessary. There'll always be a supply on tap.
[2] More Contests
I'm gonna quote that blog post again: http://blog.roblox.com/2013/03/calling-all-artists-three-design-contests-are-up-and-running/ I cannot even begin to describe how much fun this contest was. More importantly, it brought a variety of graphic designers I had never heard of out of the woodwork. This time around, when I heard that the egg hunt was going to be in usermade games, I thought "by community, for community." All years prior bar 2008, some usermade eggs have made it into the hunt, mostly in the form of Fabergé eggs. But it was still user contribution to the events.
Here's the strange thing about contests, particularly ones with events in mind: it bridges the gap between event hosts and users and makes the event feel more like THEIR event. Stuff the general public made being used does promote a positive atmosphere in the retexture community.
So here's an idea: using the survey format already mentioned, one could potentially throw up a survey and, say, ask for some Fabergé eggs for a hunt, perhaps a random item to be published such as "some cool hair for earth day", or maybe more user-made faces, which would be super. A model I based this idea on was the website Freelancer's graphic design contests, which provide a cash prize to the successful victor of an open-floor of logos or designs they called for specifically. If this style of competition can motivate a huge amount of adults in the graphic design business, motivating younger talent is easier! All that needs to be done is a fair playing field set out.
2) The RAOC Bottleneck
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I'd like to open this part with a testimony from a retexturer;
"Retexturing used to be fun, it never felt like work to push out a retexture every now and then.
I'd actually enjoy retexturing.
But not anymore.
When I retexture now, it feels like work. Tedious, monotonous work.
I have to struggle to come up with something, and I have to work hard to make sure it's up to RAOC standards.
Even though I'm not in RAOC, I've been trying at it for almost 2 years.
I have no interest to retexture anymore.
As I've stated earlier, it's more work than pleasure at this point, so I see no reason to continue."
This was written by a person who, in my opinion, should have been in RAOC a long time ago. Their items are certainly above the standards of many other staple users in RAOC (even my own). However, note that they have been waiting and re-submitting for two years, attempting to get into the group. Two years to get a reasonable chance at hat publication on Roblox. Two years is a long time in youth.
Now, as the only reasonably active or not-ridiculously-busy RAOC admin is currently DarkGenex since my departure from the role, let me first and foremost say, he is not the problem. I commend Dark for his longevity in the role, his maintenance of standards of application, but there's the rub: What he likes would be different to what I would like, for example. Imagine if every movie was reviewed by one critic, every book by one critic. Naturally, this isn't a feasible system. The solution is a simple one:
[1] More Admins
"If X is in short supply, add more X". It's a basic principle; Dark can't do it all alone. Addition of extra administrators would make some of the strain off of him. However, should more admins be added to the group, the active admins should act as a singular body; acting as a council to judge the new applicants. Majority would rule in this case, provided there is no major dissension about a user's suitability for RAOC. This would open the avenues for other users, who may not meet Dark's criteria in a member. It would do some good to assist the bottleneck in the retexturing system that has evolved over the years. However, should the guidelines of Issue 2: The Selection Pool Problems be followed, RAOC, while still an important part of the retexturing hierarchy, would not be the be-all and end-all of potential designer's hopes.
Conclusion
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Roblox was a website which fostered an interest in graphic design for me. More than that, having items published gave me confidence in my abilities in graphic design. As of now, I do volunteer graphic design for a college society, designing posters, Facebook ads and several other forms of media. It's something I greatly enjoy.
Going into the future, when I shall no longer use Roblox (I mainly only showed up once again when I had heard about the egg hunt), none of the changes I have suggested will affect me personally. What I want is for other people like myself to see Roblox as a place for them to exercise their creativity in graphic design. I want users in the future to have the same opportunities I was presented. It saddens me to say that as time has passed, the window of opportunity has basically vanished. Graphic design on Roblox in all forms has suffered; a lack of contests, clothing sales were extremely damaged by the price floor, and the usermade ads which were once submitted no longer are. I chose only to focus on retexture artists, as it was the area I have most experience in.
I hope the suggestions I have set out in this post will be considered, as I believe they are designed to fix the inefficiencies in the system, and would greatly improve the circumstances of the art. Several gifted artists in this field have given up due to the issues addressed above; this is not conducive to a creative atmosphere, which first and foremost is the objective of Roblox. |