User blog:BundleofYoy/What I think Roblox should or might do with UGC Hats

Recently a lot of leaks have come about showing clear proof of Roblox testing a new feature for users to upload their own hats. (This has been proven with the recent release of the Fresh Red Baseball Cap by .)

This brings up a lot of questions and issues, such as: ... and much more!
 * 1) How would bots be prevented?
 * 2) How would stolen assets be handled?
 * 3) How would Roblox prevent users from uploading the same copies of expensive limiteds?

So, how should Roblox handle this to prevent any of this from happening? (Shoutout to the mess that is the clothing catalog.)

1. Well, I think an Application process is a no brainer. An application process would filter out any bots and people with bad intentions. All someone needs to do is show a small portfolio of items they have a concept of creating/already made (that isn't IP) and would like to sell. Not only will it stop bots, but it may also prevent any asset stealers from trying to steal someone's hard work. A cool custom badge saying that someone is a hat creator would also be cool to show on a profile.

2. Heavy moderation of the items uploaded would prevent any bad actors trying to upload unsafe/adult content. There is a huge fear of users believing that someone that may have the ability to upload their own hats may use it for bad, but heavy moderation will prevent that (and it may even take away that user's ability to upload items!!) So fear not. Roblox is not stupid, and contrary to popular belief they will eventually catch on.

3. Giving the option to toggle public/private access to its assets (mesh and texture). Roblox has shown that they can do this with other assets, like models, so I wouldn't be surprised if they did it again. And, if a user wanted others to create retextures, they could have the option to make the assets public before uploading the hat!

4. Don't give the ability for users to make an item limited. Roblox can choose for themselves if an item should be limited. They've done this in the past (such as with the Shaggy and the multiple eggs from 2008 and 2010).

5. Have a system in place to detect copies. I'm sure some sort of algorithm can figure out if a copied hat has been uploaded by someone who isn't the original uploader of the hat. AI is REALLY smart if you train it to do anything nowadays, so it shouldn't be an issue to train AI for copies of a Dominus for example.

Some more minor things they could do is obviously make it a BC or Premium-only benefit to attract more users to purchase those (smart thing honestly from a business standpoint) and allow users to advertise their hats. They could also allow users to do timed releases (maybe release a hat later in the day at a specific time, like on YouTube where you can premiere a video at a future date and time). Another thing they could let users do is mass upload hats, but not maliciously. They could probably upload like 5 of the same retextured hair at once if they wanted to. I know people won't take that too well, when from a creator standpoint it's quite useful.

If they do have restrictions like this, I hope they carry it over to the clothing catalog.