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"The Movement" by goldfishmemories on ROBLOX S&I
[Back to the home thread: https://forum.roblox.com/Forum/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=145756222]
I have good news and bad news. Naturally, I'll tell you the bad news first.
The bad news is that all of your accepted knowledge about ROBLOX is about to be turned upside down. Why? Because I've got something very important to say.
I know there are a lot of you here who feel that "ROBLOX is doing just fine how it is," and "ROBLOX is handling BC and inflation exactly how they should be." Let me first tell you that this overally accepted and stubborn false reality is not productive, and dangerous to linger in. ROBLOX is not doing fine. It was doing fine, maybe before late 2008. But after that, they made a few choices that they shouldn't have, and now we're not doing as well as we could be. In fact, ROBLOX is in constant danger every day it's online.
That's kind of a broad statement, I know. But hold on. We're just getting started.
Let me give you a quick quiz and I'll make you a deal. If you get all of these answers correct than you can just leave now and I'll be cool with it:
Question #1: Do you know what I'm here to talk about?
a. How NBCers should be quiet about more rights.
b. Operation Deflation Restabilization.
c. How I'm a noob.
d. How I plan to troll you.
Question #2: How do you feel about BC?
a. It's perfect.
b. I hate it!
c. One word: inflation.
d. I don't care.
Question #3: Do you think that ROBLOX has done everything right?
a. I think you can get out.
b. ROBLOX is doing a great job.
c. Maybe. But that could change in an instant.
d. We could be doing better.
Question #4: What is inflation to you?
a. Inflation is bad. For ROBLOX that is.
b. ROBLOX has it; but steady inflation is the goal.
c. Hate it.
d. Love it.
Question #5: Are you for or against NBC rights?
a. I sympathize with them, but they can't.
b. No NBC rights are what's killing us!
c. Oh noes.. not another one!
d. GONE.
Question #6: Tell me how ROBLOX works.
a. It's a gaming business.
b. It's a game!
c. It's a business!
d. It's dangerously different.
EXTRA CREDIT: Can you name the two threads that I come from?
a. "Ban Shrek is Love, Shrek is life." and "Please remove price floor."
b. "goldfishmemories is my name; S.W.A.G is my game." and "If we can't have more NBC rights..."
c. "here's a suggestion." and "REMOVE THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS"
d. "Behold, New ROBLOX has come [back]!" and "Inflation is bad."
Let's see how you did.
1. b
2. c
3. c. I'll also accept d.
4. a
5. a
6. d
EXTRA CREDIT: d
0/6 Are you trolling?
1/6 You need to read this. Badly.
2/6 Ooo... so close. NOT.
3/6 You only did half as bad as you could've.
4/6 Not bad, but not enough.
5/6 Ooo you must be mad.
6/6 Great job. Now scram.
7/6 Lel 1337 HAXZOR.
[Feel free to post your quiz answers and scores in your replies. Might be interesting ;)]
Looks like maybe you might stick around after all. Now that I got a little feel for my new audience, let's get to the point fast:
ROBLOX is gearing up for a currency crash and burn and/or a cash embargo. Why? Simple. Inflation of virtual, in-game currency, and the pressure they put to increase the income of their one main profit source: Builders' Club and R$/ROBUX purchases.
Simple as that.
Now that is a bold claim as most of you probably think differently (especially if you scored low on my little personality quiz). Sadly, you're going to find that it is entirely true in the next five or ten minutes (maybe twenty or thirty I don't know how long we're gonna be here).
Now, the first thing I'll do is use a different and more criticized method than most: making fake posts that I think you would say and then countering them.
1. nub19291441233769 posts:
"Price floor is so unfair! Why do you guys have to make NBCers' gameplay harder than it already is!? We already can't get any cool items or features, and you guys get everything and more! Now all my alts are naked and badly colored thanks to greedy BCers and greedy ROBLOX! Grah! I'm going to get everyone I know to leave this crappy game!"
Now, you've just encountered a wild nub. I doubt any of you guys are gonna just let him mook around on his own since he's such a good target to show off your forum superiority. I'd imagine most of you would respond with something similar to this to trounce that fool:
Anonymous posts:
"First off, let me just say that your post was cancerous and annoying beyond compare. Secondly, I don't think that you understand anything about ROBLOX.
ROBLOX is a business, not a service. ROBLOX needs to make money to survive. In case you didn't know, businesses don't keep all of their earnings. They keep maybe 10% of their earnings as profit for their team after covering costs. So if you think they all buy jacuzzis and private jets and Ferraris then you're wrong. How they make money is basically ads and BC. Think that right now you're playing a demo of ROBLOX and BC is the whole thing. Why should they give away everything in the full version for free in the demo? Then what would be the point of buying the full version? BC gives more features because you PAY TO GET IT. We make ROBLOX money! The only way you can make money is through ads and that's only if you click them! And anyone can do that! So basically you are worthless to ROBLOX and you don't even need to be here. If anyone's the greedy one, you are! I'd like to see you make a game like ROBLOX without a paid membership! It'll probably get shut down in no time because you won't be able to pay for it! You can leave! No one will miss a freeloader like you!"
nub19291441233769 posts:
"BLEH!"
Well if that was you, then you blasted that nub and sent him crying in a rage that he will later bottle up and channel by posting it on YouTube as a confusing, bad quality video rant. But your victory over the price floor hater nub will be short lived because--Ohp! Too late!
All of a sudden a wild goldfish appears:
goldfishmemories posts:
"You really shouldn't be that close-minded. I agree with you on some level, but at the same time, no. Partly because some of your points are false as you were given false information. BCers are indeed moneymakers; but to say they're keeping ROBLOX alive? Wrong. BC is a source of profit. A small profit of the whole that is divided up between the staff, along with some leftover ad funds, which they also use to develop the site and engine even further. Now it is important, but it isn't as irreplaceably important as, let's say, the playerbase that Mr. Nub here belongs to. Rejecting his entire kind and brushing off his wishes is not the way to handle this situation."
Now I imagine that you wouldn't be too happy with me for saying something like that, and acting like an "NBC activist" or a "noob lover," so I imagine this is how it would play out:
Anonymous posts:
"So you're saying that BCers should bend over backwards for NBCers just because if we lose them, then ROBLOX falls? That we should give them what they want? If we do that the game is ruined anyway and I'll just leave! BCers mean a lot to ROBLOX; and they like to show it. What's wrong with that? If you guys are so against being treated like this then just get BC! For God's sake it's $5.95 a month! NBC gives you everything you need to make money anyways! It just takes longer. There are plenty of ticket hats for you! Why are you complaining?
You haven't given me any reasons to believe anything that you say. Just saying that something is going to happen doesn't mean that I'll automatically believe it will. You should really learn more about how businesses work. They need to be ruthless sometimes. They have to make MONEY.
Sorry, but no!"
Now some would believe that I just owned myself with that last post, but really opposition makes me excited in the reality (even simulated opposition that I create myself). Sorry, but I've been holding out on you. I'm up a little higher than that; if I wasn't I would've never gotten as far as I am today.
goldfishmemories posts:
"What I'm saying is that you can obviously see that they're stuck in craphole. And instead of helping them up, you're trying to tell them reasons why they should sit down and play in it! Demo players don't dedicate themselves to a game like these guys do. They play this game everyday, and the truth is in the traffic income that ROBLOX gets daily. I'll say it again; everyday kids makes up well over half of the playerbase, and they can't afford to lose them! But they're literally forcing them away! You probably feel like they can sit around in crap until they spend $200 on this game a year like you did, but to be honest, I've spent over $100 on this game myself and I can honestly say that I don't exactly feel special, and I don't want anyone else to feel like less than a player just because they didn't pay for a game that advertises all its features as free to play and yet doesn't advertise Builders' Club at all. They have simple demands; demands that we can no longer meet because we're digging ourselves into a hole and need to force the issue on someone to help ourselves up. But if we continue to strain them, they'll realize how much more like pawns they are instead of players and leave. And when they leave we'll fall deeper and deeper into this hole until we can't get out. I'm not saying that we should give them what they want; because removing the price floor as of now is no longer an option. BUT, I'm not saying we sit around and wait for this to happen to us. I'm saying that we come up ways to prevent and fix this problem as it can destroy ROBLOX. Don't keep on acting like we're doing OK! We're not!"
Good job me. First off, I would like to say that I know that you thought that above post was full of nonsense, which is understandable. I just wanted to use it to provide an overview as to what I will be talking about. And basically what I'll be doing is telling you why ROBLOX is gearing for a big currency crash/cash embargo. If we don't do something. There are currently too many ways that ROBLOX can fall and they need to realize this and you need to realize this before it happens so we can do something about it. Ok? Ok.
If you were the one yelling out "goldfish you didn't play me right!" then maybe we have more in common than I thought. But, to all the people who I nailed, willing to admit it or not, there are some things you need to know about how ROBLOX works.
This is the widely accepted theory about how ROBLOX makes money. This may sound familiar:
"ROBLOX makes money from its purchases and ads. Builders' Club makes the most money from purchases and is essential to ROBLOX; without it ROBLOX would collapse as they wouldn't be able to hold up servers. The only way you can help ROBLOX stay up is by buying from them, or clicking ads, which are all over the website. Ads are only valuable when someone clicks it and takes them to the link. So, if you don't do any of these you can consider yourself lucky to even be playing."
I know plenty of you know better, but this is really what some people believe. It's ignorant and dangerous to be thinking this way. And this philosophy has spread throughout the forums and helps decide how people react to threads now. I'd be OK with this, if it were actually true. Are any of you guys interested in knowing how ROBLOX actually makes money? Well, gather 'round, because I'm about to tell you:
ROBLOX's yearly income is estimated to be a little bit over $50 million; not quite $50 and a half million, but close. Now how are they making this much money a year? Simple:
Advertisements and traffic
Purchases
Now, ROBLOX makes money off of both ads and traffic. Traffic means basically how often a site is used. This income is thanks to the surplus amount of BLOXians playing ROBLOX, most being just everyday kids. So let me be the first to say that if you think that these NBCers who have never contributed anything to ROBLOX aren't making ROBLOX money then you're DEAD WRONG. These are the actual margins for income:
Advertisements and sponsorships: 50+%
Ads and Traffic: 35-%
Purchases: 5-%
Builders' Club: 10-%
Let me also be the first to say that if you think that Builders' Club acts as ROBLOX's life support to keep the site up you are only half right. ROBLOX does need Builders' Club, but definitely not to keep the site up. If that were true we'd already be shut down. They need you for profit. At the end of the day, when ROBLOX has to pay, leftover ad funds (which are decent) and Builders' Club are what they take for their salaries and bank to use for later development and updates. So you guys are pretty important, but not only you; they need EVERYONE. Now I'm sure many of you think that traffic doesn't make sites money it just provides a gateway to advertisement deals. And you'd be entirely right, if it weren't for the fact that ROBLOX gets paid by CPM.
CPM (cost per a thousand impressions) is what ROBLOX gets paid by for traffic. I'm not sure how much, but it has to be a lot: ROBLOX makes almost $50,000 off of traffic a day.
Who pays them? CPM agencies. Why do they pay them? If you get massive amounts of traffic like ROBLOX does, and consistent traffic like browser-based MMOs do, then they'll come to you. They want you for advertising purposes and for negotiations; they are businesses that be getting that mad sick flipping stupid paper by advertising for companies and making their product go up, because they already have big influence over the Internet, so companies spreading their good word through CPM will find their ads all over the web; single deals optional. Of course for a king's ransom. Short story is short the CPM guys are probably pretty beast at a game of Monopoly (since they have a pretty big internet monopoly going). They pay ROBLOX based on the amount of ads they have on their site to the amount of traffic ROBLOX gets. And for ROBLOX they came in dozens. ROBLOX has deals with dozens of these agencies. That's the only reason why they can make so much money off of traffic. And imagine what would happen if the everyday playerbase just up and left: they'd be screwed. The CPM agencies would lose interest and leave. But like I said before, at this point they're forcing them away, and there are people who are encouraging it!
Sources:
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/4654/how-to-make-money-with-cpm-advertising/
http://www.roblox.com/Forum/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=63778211
http://www.worthofweb.com/website-value/roblox.com
So CPM agencies enable ROBLOX to make money off of a chunk of their ads and all of their traffic. There are other ads and sponsorships from other companies that contribute to even more of their income: over 50%. And then there are purchases, which make its expected amount: 15%. Purchases are probably what they take their profit out of since it's such a low percentage of their actual income. So in a way you could argue that they're getting greedy for more money, since they revolve the entire game around their paid membership. But at the same time you can argue that they need to; it's not entirely known for their reasons. But all you need to know is that they're wrong for doing this. Why? They're isolating the playerbase and then applying direct pressure to a certain part of them. Too much pressure if you ask me, because they're LEAVING. The diversity of the forums doesn't reflect the actual playerbase. Where it used to be thousands playing top games at a time, it's down to hundreds. Where it used to be everyone buying clothes, it's down to maybe half of them still consistently buying clothes. Where it was everyone loving ROBLOX, now it's only the BCers, the old players, and the developers. Everyone else joins and quits within months. And the loyal playerbase is getting tossed by them with these new updates; it's not much longer until they crack under the pressure. The only ones who aren't are the ones who aren't exposed; the BCers and developers. And the BCers make ragtag efforts to put down the others and control them into staying. THIS ISN'T HOW A GAME SHOULD WORK. ROBLOX IS STILL A GAME. THEY CAN'T FORGET THE IMPORTANCE OF THEIR ACTUAL PRODUCT'S ATTRACTION. Once everyone gets sick of the bull, they'll leave; and it's already begun! It's hard to tell, since the real numbers are kept confidential, but the effects are showing! They're losing players on developed places, more ranting reviews are being made of ROBLOX's product all over the web, and more are coming here to tell you that it's not getting better. And you're not even considering! The problem is that with the CPM agencies and ads pouring money into their income, they can't afford to lose the attraction of their product! They can't afford to lose all these players! And they are! But what happens when they lose too many of their players? You really want to know? OK. But you're not going to like it:
Once all the everyday players leave ROBLOX will be in shambles of its former "glory." They'll have to start destroying the accounts of the people who left to destroy their money so that they can fight off inflation. They'll need to shutdown almost all of the servers and have maybe a few hundred possible servers running at a time. So you won't be able to play what you want whenever you want anymore. They'll probably destroy almost all places. The game will probably become pay-to-play, and once you're in there's no need for a membership. But all the interest in the game will be gone; no developer or business or CPM agency will work with ROBLOX because it won't be worthwhile. So their funds will plummet EXPONENTIALLY. By almost 90%! They won't be able to update or fix bugs, there won't be any new places and you won't be allowed to have your own places anymore, there won't be anything. You won't be allowed to build because servers won't be abundant anymore. And ROBLOX will shutdown very soon after, if no then right after. Whoa, right? Didn't think those stupid NBCers had that much power over ROBLOX, did you? And you don't want them realizing it as is. That'll just speed up the process. But it gets worse.
What can be worse? The fact that ROBLOX isn't willing to do much about it. Why? Because they're in a hole. That hole is called the inflation of video game currency. And you're really going to get a kick out of this: these are the three things causing the inflation:
- Selling of a R$ stipend through Builders' Club.
- Selling of R$.
- The current Developer Exchange.
Talk about a plot twist, huh? Didn't see that coming, did you?
But why? What's the big problem with this? Because:
The only reason why inflation is here in our currency on ROBLOX is because of this fact;
ROBLOX sells R$ for real life money, therefore putting real value into it, which restricts it as a video game currency. Why? Because it takes out two key attributes that all video game currencies need:
1. Infinite abundance and the staff's ability to control and adjust the amount in circulation.
2. Fair distribution
That's why inflation is bad in this case! ROBLOX wants R$ to be a moneymaking currency, and yet also it needs to have these attributes, which they're starting to realize through their other currency, which has been affected as well: tickets!
Tickets can also inflate because although they aren't sold, they are linked to a currency that is sold, which gives them value. And the fact that they are distributed by quintillions each day makes inflation even worse. Price floor isn't even a good help to this; there are plenty of people who still let there tickets pile up either to wait to be able to buy something or because they're boycotting clothing. So it doesn't exactly make it all better. It was taken to an extreme; it was made to stop salebots, but they saw it as an opportunity to force the NBCers yet again to cough up more of their freedom. "To encourage people to buy R$" says ChiefJustus. Boom there it is.
R$ and TIX are like this because they are based on an open money system, where money is traded and created by player's actions. All other video games and internet MMOs operate on a closed money system (and ones that operate on an open money system certainly don't bring in any real life money conversions into play--that's dangerous!), where any earned money stays with the player who earned it and their progress in the game or purchases create their money--the game creates the money. Inflation is impossible for closed system video game currencies (it isn't deflated, but it can't inflate because it isn't shared with a community that can be affected), but since ROBLOX has an open money system and always will, it is a candidate for inflation! And it has inflation!
And tix inflation isn't going to stop until R$ inflation does. And how will it stop?
...
STOP SELLING ROBUX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Video game currency isn't a good vessel for inflation, it is a mascot for DEFLATION. What's deflation? The opposite of inflation. Where in inflation real life value is in currency, in deflation there is no value in the currency. Where in inflation too much money makes prices go up and money value go down, in deflation you can do whatever you want to the currency and prices and it doesn't matter. Games can do this because unlike in the real world, resources are infinite. Did you forget? That's why video games work! That's why they're fun! They have infinite currency for infinite progression! You need to make money around your currency, not with your currency! That is the whole freaking reason we're doing so bad right now! Because someone thought this was a good idea!
"Let's make R$ only earnable by buying it, but then let's make it achievable through our new currency; tix! Heh, what could go wrong?" - Some fool.
And how is it buy able? The R$ stipend in Builders' Club and R$ purchases! That's the whole reason R$ and TIX are inflated. And don't get me started on the bozo who came up with this:
"Heh, s'up I'm back! I heard the developers need some dough so let's make R$ be able to trade back into real money guys! But that's OP [as everyone knows] so let's taboo it out the @$& so that not everyone is doing it! Make sure our Big Builders can get that guap, know what I mean?" - Some fool
"... Redneck genius. ADD IT!" - The ROBLOX Team
I'm not saying the goal was a bad idea, but all DevEx does is encourage R$ inflation which is why it needs a rehaul. This is actually going to hurt ROBLOX the longer it is added as more money gets taken from the income. Not to mention this makes a path for some pro hacker to break the game, which is always an over the top, close to impossibility.
But still. Have I even told you why R$ inflation is bad?
That would help my case, so I will.
Not to give ROBLOX any (*cough* terrible) ideas, but Trade Currency is one reason. It allows anyone to get a currency that costs money for free in time. That hurts their income. But no biggy because we're swimming in it, right? As you already know, that could change overnight (Everyday kid makes a comeback by never coming back. Remember?), not to mention that owing money isn't a good way to make money. But that's not even the point.
The point is that in this game, R$ is everything.
You need it to play games, win in games, and buy stuff from games. You need it to buy gear, hats, packages, almost everything. You need it for groups. You need it for game passes. You need it for EVERYTHING. ROBUX, ROBUX, ROBUX! It's obvious such a big part of the game needs to go around, right? The problem is that it doesn't, even though it is a very small possibility right now, they can't afford it to. Less than a third of the playerbase actually has R$. And you know what that means! Everyone else can't do anything! That's one reason why my first point is such a real predicament. And ROBLOX can't do anything about it either because if they overinflate the currency then guess what? Come on guess. I'll give you a moment.
.
.
.
Yep! It crashes the economy. Players will get a small taste of freedom, but it comes at a price: ROBLOX crashes as all of a sudden their moneymaking currency isn't making them money anymore. What they tried so hard to build comes crashing down. And then what happens? Either one of two things:
1. They crash and burn. They have to either shut it all down or make big changes. Changes similar to the changes that I have suggested in the past for a way lower consequence.
2. A cash embargo. They have to destroy tons of R$ and tickets and then restart.
3. A cash embargo for NBCers. They take away any way of earning tickets for NBCers while they sort out the money issue. This will cause many of them to quit as well as stop consumerism almost entirely.
Either way this will call for an extremely slow, and near impossible recovery. They'll need to stop moneymaking/their income altogether and R$ buying all together, which will cause a major upset. Many will leave. And this will hurt ROBLOX badly. They'll have to take similar measures to the first scenario. They'll probably leave in debt.
Basically the problem is ROBLOX made the mistake of using their in-game currency as a moneymaker while at the same time every single player needs it to be able to get anything that they want in-game and on the website as ROBLOX continues to revolve more and more around their currencies. This upsets the players into quitting, and too many players are leaving and the number is growing. ROBLOX is continuing to dish out updates to help the playerbase that makes them a profit (BCers and developers), but yet makes it worse for the rest of the playerbase, which make priceless contributions to their income, which they need to keep the site up and prevent everything from crashing down. However ROBLOX doesn't see any logical reason to stop this because of their "no removal of updates" policy as well as their inflation containment measures, even though they messed up a long time ago. So either way we end up going down. It's only a matter of time.
If they continue to allow inflation and just run all up and down the NBCers backsides then it's game over anyway, right? Wow, we really screwed ourselves over with all of this, huh?
Yeah we did. Glad you're finally getting it.
And now for the good news.
The good news is that unlike most, I'm not going to poke all these holes in without offering ways to patch them up. And I have been for a couple of months now. In my previous threads "Behold, New ROBLOX has come!" and "Inflation is bad." I've suggested ways that we can solve this problem. Now there were people who got it, but there were people who just didn't understand and were hung up on the"Eww! This is terrible! What do I even get out of this!?" But if you have a better plan to save ROBLOX, then you better lay it on us, then, because it is either this or bye, bye, ROBLOX!
The point is that I have a solution. It's a simple solution, really:
1. Deflate R$ and tickets and have them work alongside real life money.
2. Invent a new profit source to work alongside Builders' Club, while deflating Builders' Club or find another use for Builders' Club besides selling it.
I call it--yeah, yeah! Operation Deflation Restabilization! And I've invented a few ways we can do this. I'll link my latest one:
[Attention kids of the near but distant future; this is probably out of date. But relevant to this post so ok. ROBLOX doesn’t have an edit post, soz… too bad ;)]
“Behold, New ROBLOX has come!” (The orginal!):
http://www.roblox.com/Forum/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=136648410
“Inflation is bad.” (w/rap!):
http://www.roblox.com/Forum/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=141079669
I'll have to ask you to read at least one if you're interested in prevention measures that are possible to be taken. But, I also have one more thing to ask you.
I'm asking you for your help (Yes. I need your help!). This is a deadly flaw in the system and the fact of the matter is, not many people know about it and not many people are willing to accept it. I made this thread to spark a movement: We need to instigate a change. That's why I'm enlisting you; I need YOU, to help me. But, how can you help me?
Easy. I just need you supporters of my ideas and this thread to do simple things. Like if you see someone with the wrong idea, can you point them in the right direction, and maybe bring them to one of my threads about ODR so I can help them? I would also appreciate it if you spread the word about this thread or even make your own thread! Make your own solution to this dilemma. And then post it, link me to it, and I'll come read it and most likely support and help defend it from the masses who would go against it.
I thank you for reading and I hope that you become a part of this.
"Now you can see this is on quite a grand scale.
If you have concerns, arguments, or questions, please entail."
Since you stuck around;
I'll let you know you that I'll be posting some more things, but they will be less serious possibly more interesting. Give me time though. I do have other things to do. And if you don't care that's fine, too. I'm out.
-goldfish the Entertainer
Catch you later, guys! ;)
[The main thread of this post is "Behold, New ROBLOX has come back!" You'll find the link back at the top of this post. Thank you for even more of your time. -The Time Stealer]
Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it |