Roblox is about to let users sell custom-made avatar bodies and heads

theverge.com:

By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.

Roblox will let users sell “full avatar bodies and standalone heads” that they create by Thursday, Roblox said in a post on its developer forums (via VentureBeat). The new line of creator-made virtual goods (something Roblox calls user-generated content, or UGC) could help more people build businesses on Roblox, which might keep them from making things for competing metaverse platforms like Meta’s Horizon Worlds and Epic Games’ Fortnite.

There will be some limits on what users can sell. The bodies and heads must follow the company’s community standards, marketplace policy, and “pass proactive checks against Roblox IP,” so you won’t be able to sell an obvious Shrek look-alike. Bodies will need to have “modesty layers built in,” which is a good restriction for a platform that’s very popular with children. The sellable parts will have to be within the limits of a maximum and minimum size so that the avatar functions properly across different experiences.

To encourage creators to sell virtual bodies and heads (this is weird every time I write it), Roblox says that they have “no upload fee and no minimum price.” (Accessories and clothing typically have an upload fee of 750 Robux, according to a Roblox webpage.) Creators will get 30 percent of the sale of an avatar body or head, and an additional 40 percent will go to the owner of where the virtual items are sold. So, if you make your own Roblox experience and sell an avatar body or head in that experience, you’ll get a 70 percent cut of the sale.

The event that brings together the most influential voices in tech