Roblox: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:11, 12 December 2016

Revision as of 03:59, 14 December 2016

Line 22:

Roblox was created by founder and co-founder David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 2004 and officially launched into its beta version, titled "Dynablocks" in 2004. Soon, "Dynablocks" was renamed to ROBLOX in 2005 and the website was officially launched in 2006.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=32789865|title=Roblox Info on BusinessWeek|publisher=[[BusinessWeek]]|accessdate=20 September 2009}}</ref> It was named after a portmanteau of the words ''robots'' and ''blocks''.<ref name=":3">{{cite news|url=http://blog.roblox.com/2009/09/interview-with-telamon/|title=Interview with Telamon|publisher=Roblox Corporation|accessdate=20 September 2009|date = 14 September 2009|last = Herndon|first = Becky Lee}}</ref>

After a year of development, Dynablocks was renamed ROBLOX and was launched into beta in 2005. In 2005, people could gain the currency at that time, ''Roblox Points'', by completing single-player mini games developed by Roblox admins. As the game was released publicly in 2006, people came to the game slowly, but eventually the game started growing exponentially to its noticeably large 6 million account base.

=== Early history (2006–2009) ===

Line 86:

In 2010, Roblox began creating body shapes which ''Builders Club'' members could purchase using virtual currency.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://blog.roblox.com/2010/05/do-you-need-any-body/|title=Do You Need Any Body?|date = 14 May 2010|last = Shedletsky|first = John|publisher = Roblox Corporation}}</ref> These body shapes were available in the catalog as packages, which included many items that were all obtained when the package was bought. These packages varied in size and price and occasionally went on sale.

In the year 2011, more than 5.4 million games were created by users.<ref>

{{cite news

| url=http://blog.roblox.com/2012/02/5-4-million-games-created-in-2011/

Line 102:

On 5 June 2012, Roblox announced that a new water material was released to add to the existing collection of "high scalability" terrain cell materials.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://blog.roblox.com/2012/06/the-water-is-running-in-roblox/ |title=The Water Is Running in ROBLOX |publisher=Roblox Corporation |date=5 June 2012 |accessdate=26 June 2013|first = Andrew|last = Haak}}</ref>

On 11 December 2012, Roblox released the ability to play games on iOS.<ref>{{cite news|title=ROBLOX Mobile Is Out of Beta: Download and Play Today!|url=http://blog.roblox.com/2012/12/roblox-mobile-is-out-of-beta-download-and-play-today/|publisher=Roblox Corporation|accessdate=14 December 2012|date = 11 December 2012|last = Bromley|first = Dylan}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/26/mmo-family-roblox-ceo-david-baszucki-talks-mobile-app-plans-fo|title = MMO Family: Roblox CEO David Baszucki talks mobile app, plans for the future|last = Bryan|first = Karen|publisher = Massively|date = 26 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/12/roblox-mobile-ipad-iphone-now/|title = Roblox goes mobile in time for the holidays|publisher = VentureBeat|date = 12 December 2012|last = Grubb|first = Jeffrey}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.maclife.com/article/news/roblox_brings_millions_user_created_games_ios |title=ROBLOX Brings Millions of User Created Games to iOS |date=12 December 2012 |website=Mac{{!}}Life |last=Clark |first=Matt}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2012/12/12/the-worlds-most-popular-kids-site-take-its-games-mobile/|title = The World’s Most Popular Kids Site Takes Its Games Mobile|date = 12 December 2012|publisher = Forbes|last = Konrad|first = Alex}}</ref> The current iOS devices compatible with running Roblox games are the iPad 2 and newer devices including mini, iPhone 4 or newer, and the iPod touch 5th generation. The mobile Roblox application gives users the ability to customize their character, shop in the virtual catalog, play games, view their profile, and respond to messages. Previous to the release of the mobile Roblox application, the company created 20 virtual Roblox tablets. Players who purchased one received a brand new [[iPad 3]].<ref>

{{cite news

| url=http://blog.roblox.com/2012/12/ipad-activity-we-look-at-what-users-traded-to-get-ipads/

Line 116:

===Contemporary history (2012–present)===

On April 1, 2012, Roblox suffered site issues that caused players to get incorrect amounts of Robux. Some assets were uploaded without being reviewed by the moderators. There was a mysterious face uploaded to the catalog named "c:". The only person who has it is user "stickmasterluke". The hackers were able to access a few moderators accounts and make them say very graphic and inappropriate things. Soon after, users "Pheedy" and "are17", both accounts under the control of "DracoSwordMaster", became moderators, and used their elevated powers to unban "Minish", who is a well known hacker on ROBLOX. The prices of hatsuser inhacked the catalog went down tremendously, and players on the site were stuck in two possible situations; one being undeservedly earning ROBUX spontaneously, and the latter having their ROBUX lostforums. The warning banner for the top of the site would flutter in chaos, changing colors and bestowing objectionable content, examples being "thank you minish for messing up the economy. nub." and "always share your passwords with strangers, kids!" Items in the catalog had prices changed and renamed. The entire website was soon shut down. After the hack attack was over, people were pointing the finger at users "Minish" and "DracoSwordMaster", who are also well known hackers on the website for the hacks. After all this activity had occurred, ROBLOX staff brought the site offline, reporting they were still attempting to patch upfixed the currency system. Administrators John Shedletsky and Matt Dusek had discovered a way to regress the everything that happenedissues, and once the entire system was restored to its previous form, all the accounts that were tampered with were permanently banned, including "DracoSwordMaster", and the "c:"users faceresponsible was pulled fromfor the cataloghacking.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://blog.roblox.com/2012/04/april-1st-site-issue-and-update/ |title=Site Issues |publisher=Roblox Corporation |date=April 1, 2012 |accessdate=April 2, 2012|first = David|last = Baszucki}}</ref>

The co-founder of Roblox, Erik Cassel, died on the morning of 11 February 2013 after a three-year battle with cancer at his home located in Silicon Valley, California.<ref>{{cite news|last=Baszucki|first=David|url=http://blog.roblox.com/2013/02/in-memory-of-erik-cassel/|title=In Memory of Erik Cassel|publisher=Roblox Corporation|date=12 February 2013|accessdate=12 February 2013}}</ref>

Line 188:

=== Builders Club ===

Roblox is [[free to play]], although members may purchase monthly memberships to enhance their game experience. One membership option, ''Builders Club'', grants players multiple amenities, including a daily virtual currency stipend of 15 Robux per day. Other membership options include ''Turbo Builders Club'' and ''Outrageous Builders Club'', with; each option gettingis more expensive than the last. Depending on the tier of ''Builders Club'' a player buys, the player can unlock more places to build in, more money to spend, more groups to join, and the ability to create and sell clothing. Recently, ROBLOX has given non-upgraded users a severe disadvantage which has been subject to criticism. In August 2015, ROBLOX discontinued the 6 month and lifetime versions of Builders Club, Turbo Builders Club, and Outrageous Builders Club.<ref name="auto"/>

== Relief funds ==

In 2010, Roblox published two hats in the virtual catalog that players could purchase to fund for [[earthquake]] relief for the [[2010 Haiti earthquake|Haiti earthquake]]. They were named the "Blue Hat for Haiti", and the "Red Hat for Haiti". For every player who bought the blue hat, Roblox had donated 10 cents to the Red Cross Relief Fund to help Haiti recover.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.roblox.com/Blue-Hat-for-Haiti-item?id=20721202 |title=Description of Blue Hat for Haiti On Roblox.|publisher=Roblox Corporation |date=15 January 2010|accessdate=6 March 2014|first=David|last= Baszucki}}</ref>

For every player who bought the Red Hat, Roblox had donated 65 cents to the [[American Red Cross|Red Cross]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.roblox.com/Red-Hat-for-Haiti-item?id=20721217 |title=Description of Red Hat for Haiti On Roblox.|publisher=Roblox Corporation |date=15 January 2010|accessdate=6 March 2014|first=David|last= Baszucki}}</ref> Roblox donated at least $5479 to the Red Cross Relief Fund because of this, after a week of the hats being on sale.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://blog.roblox.com/2010/01/roblox-players-raise-547900-for-haiti-disaster-relief/|title = ROBLOX Players Raise $5479.00 For Haiti Disaster Relief|date = 21 January 2010|accessdate = 25 June 2014|website = Roblox Blog|publisher = Roblox Corporation|last = Shedletsky|first = John}}</ref> In 2011, Roblox also published two hats that players could purchase to raise money for Japan after the [[2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami]]. The Rising Sun Cap and the Japanese Baseball Cap were put into the catalog for players to buy. For every Rising Sun Cap that players bought, Roblox had donated $1.00 to the Red Cross. For every Japanese Baseball Cap that players bought, Roblox had donated 10 cents to the Red Cross.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url = http://www.roblox.com/Rising-Sun-Cap-item?id=47697235|title = Rising Sun Cap Page|date = 11 March 2011|accessdate = 25 June 2014|website = Roblox|publisher = Roblox Corporation|last = |first = }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{cite web|url = http://www.roblox.com/Japanese-Baseball-Cap-item?id=47697264|title = Japanese Baseball Cap Page|date = 11 March 2011|accessdate = 25 June 2014|website = Roblox|publisher = Roblox Corporation|last = |first = }}</ref><ref name=":6">{{cite web|url = http://blog.roblox.com/2011/03/generosity-by-the-thousands-for-japan/|title = Generosity by the Thousands for Japan!|date = 17 March 2011|accessdate = 25 June 2014|website = Roblox Blog|publisher = Roblox Corporation|last = Baszucki|first = David}}</ref> After only two days of the hats being on sale, $10,445.80 was raised, from 23935 hats being sold.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" />