Robux System

ROBUX SYSTEM CONTEXT MAPPING RESEARCH METHOD

CA R I S SA FA I T H P OT TS

cONTENTS 1

INTRODUCTION

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THE GOAL OF THE STUDY SAMPLING MEATHODS

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LITERATURE REVIEW

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TOOLKIT DESIGN THE SESSIONS

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DATAT GATHERING DATA ANALYSIS: IMMERSION ON MIRO

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THE GAME WORLDS AND THEIR COMMUNITIES

CONCEPTUALIZATION CLOSING REMARKS

INTERVIEW

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Introduction

AN OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

Context Mapping is a type of participatory and generative research that helps add context to a user’s experience. This type of research is important when thinking about the still developing and evolving metaverse because it helps to develop a vision that is needed for steering this development. This paper will be covering a Context Mapping research method focused on the importance of communication for the development of a participants digital identity, financial identity, and communication skills as well as their relationship across two different roblox games under different categories: + Social Game: A game created for hanging out with people without any fee to play. + Paid Access Game: A game that users must pay to access the gameplay (note: these games are typically survival games).

Through these games The research had a few sub-goals, such as: 1. Communication without commerce involved: with the help of social games users will explore the game without using their Robux analyze their communication between players.

2. Think about how users use their finances within a game that requires communication.

3. Look at the differences between new and experienced users.

4. Analyze the users ability to adjust across different games and the change in their responses to the different environments.

To solve the question of “While communication becomes more and more indispensable in the metaverse; to what extent does communication affect financial decisions in the metaverse for new players? How do their digital identities develop from their choices in the game?“ This paper will show the literature that inspired and influenced the approach to research, the methodology- such as toolkit design, sampling methods, and data gathering, an in depth analysis of the information collected and a conceptualization of the betterment of the platform.

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The Goal of the study The goal of this research is to be able to better define the extent to which communication can affect the financial decisions made in the metaverse and deduce whether or not communication alone is enough to support and sustain an economy in the metaverse. This will help to learn about the experience of players in developing their financial and digital identity. As a result of this gathered information the research hopes to be able to gather effective data that can inspire design and better functions to allow for optimal financial based communication that can be applied across platforms.

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Sampling Methods User Sampling The target of this study is young adult users aged between 18-35 who have a relatively high digital literacy and have little experience with roblox and users that also have moderate experience with roblox. Users were originally attempted to be recruited and screened through a google survey but due to failure to gather enough users in time the participants were pulled from opportunity sampling method- friends that were in the same vicinity. In the end a total of two users were recruited for the research and awarded 25,000 won each. Both chose to buy 800 robux (12,800 won) and pocketed the rest of the given funds to use as they pleased.

User 1 was a 20 year old, female, Chinese student studying Science Technology Policy in Yonsei University, Underwood International college.

This user described themself as a big picture thinker.

User 2 was a 21 year old, female, Kazakh student studying Information and Interaction design in Yonsei University, Underwood International College. This user described themself as a creative, detail oriented person.

It is to be noted that there may have been a gender bias because of only relying on female users despite users having such different thinking styles.

Game Sampling

On the other games were chosen from the context basis.Context basis can be explained as the surface level communication witnessed through observation of the researcher from youtube videos and first hand experience. While searching for games that related to communication there was a distinctive difference in communication in free games, paid access games, and paid access plot based games(i.e. Story plot based).

Originally this study was to take on three different game worlds inside Roblox, However After deliberation and pilot testing it was decided the third game, which would be a paid access plot based game, would be dismissed from the study because of the environment undermining user communication; therefore data from this game would have been irrelevant to the study.

Plot based games tend to be solo play so the user does not have the opportunity to utilize communication.

Then with the categories rounded down to two different and distinctive sectors all that was left to decide on the final games. After some desk research and more exploration the final two games were decided to be MeepCity and Game Dev Life.

All of this was based on the researchers first hand experience and observation.

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The game world and its communities However, within the Roblox sphere there are thousands of games at the user’s disposal and each game has a unique community and world. My research covered MeepCity and Game Dev Life as game environments for users so the different communities were vastly different.

MeepCity is a free social, hang out game where users can mingle and explore different areas, like school, playground, or users can enter parties where they can role play and listen to music. Meepcity has a vast list of activities users can participate in from fishing, 8

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adopting a pet, or even car racing; therefore with so much to do within the game the environment was hectic and could be isolating.

The game lacked a sense of focus and the community could be unwelcoming at times.

This community was particularly full of younger users who tended to enter the game with friends they already knew- so they were not looking to particularly make new ones. Users claimed it was immature and the chaotic nature made older users feel isolated.

Game Dev Life is a paid access game where users spend 50 robux to enter the game. The

game is currently in Alpha mode so it is constantly being updated and revised. This game focused on creating and running a game development startup company with typical work oriented tasks so it gave off a very serious feeling as users focused on work accomplishments. The community tended to consist of teenagers and young adults. While the game had a clear focus it lacked a large community. The paywall acted as a restriction for players who would be disruptive to the environment so the environment was isolating due to its small nature. This community was welcoming and easy to integrate into compared to Meepcity.

While The game worlds and their environments were the the main things users participated in the planning for the research began with desk research.

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(a) Bronstein, Manuel The future of communication in the metaverse. Roblox Blog. (2021, September 9). https://blog. roblox.com /2021/09/fu ture-comm unication-metaverse/ . (b) Rox. “How Identity Affects Your Finances.” FinanceRox, 13 May 2020, https://www.financerox.com/2020/05/13/ how-identity-affects-your-finances/ . (c) Social Exchange Is in the Game: Communication and Resource Flow in a Xbox Gaming Clan, https://firstmonday.org/ojs/ index.php/fm/article/download/8316/7550 (d) N;, Weaver AJ;Lewis. “Mirrored Morality: An Exploration of Moral Choice in Video Games.” Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, U.S. National Library of Medicine, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/23017118/ .

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L I T E R AT U R E REV I E W The idea of the metaverse is still relatively new but the development of it has been well documented and the different attributes and characteristics are argued about based on the importances as they play their role in the development. In this research the main focus was communication, financial identity, and digital identity. For the different users that play roblox there were different communication needs based on their experiences.

The person develops their communication skills in the real world but within the metaverse there is a level of fantasy that detaches people from the real world. This basis develops the way people approach people within the metaverse (a). Most relationships start on the basis of cost-benefit, also known as the social exchange theory so it is the argument that this also happens within the digital sphere (c). But this theory poses the question of moral ambiguity involved with in game choices and how it affects the overall enjoyment and emotional reactions. This tends to reflect the decisions instigated by the interpersonal inter-

actions.(d) While these interaction styles and communications skills are developed in the real world, along with digital identity, the same can be said about financial identity and how it affects one’s life. It follows the trend of for example, if one identifies as a spender they will tend to save money and this is likely to affect a person’s decisions (b). This brought the question of if one identifies as something in the real world that will be shown in the metaverse through their different decisions and communications?

Because of the representation of the same ideal within the metaverse, the theory of the direct translation into the digital sphere, it was the researcher’s opinion that it would be as close to the real world identity as possible.

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Toolkit design The goal of the toolkit in this experiment was a means for participants to share their understanding of an experience and the finciaes and digital environment communication they are familiar with is compared to real life so the users answered brief worksheets.

The users used a multitude of tools to progress through the research session. Users used Roblox as the main platform to play games on, the sessions were held over google meetings, and users used Miro Board to answer the worksheet questions. The primary tool that helped during the sessions were the sensitizing ma-

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terials.

Sensitizing material The data drawn on evaluated the Roblox metaverse. With this idea in mind the toolkit was designed to get users to think about their knowledge and experiences before playing the designated games and engaging in the different communities.

The toolkit consisted primarily of sensitizing material that was completed during each session within a time constraint before playing and then verbally explained by the participants after playing. It was to support the users quick thinking and prompt them to think deeper during the playing time. The time constraint was in place to reduce the risk of users relying on search engines to help them. The material asked questions in regard to how users felt about their digital identity, their financial identity, their financial choices in a given situation, their general knowledge on currencies, their communication styles and general importance of financial decisions and communication instigation. All of these topics were brought up over the course of four sessions that the research oversaw and observed participants.

Due to COVID-19 sessions were held remotely so the researcher could not directly see their screens. The sessions were all designed and structured to engage the participants in the research as much as possible.

The Sessions

A total of four sessions were held in which participant were introduced to the research and the agenda for that day- after the first session, the following three sessions then covered the playing in the users free time, followed by some playing time and then a short individual interview where users could explain their worksheet answers, explain their gameplay, and then answer a few questions on their experience. There were minor varieties in the initial plan and the execution- typical questions about the users worksheets answers and their gameplay.

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Data Gathering Data was mainly collected from the researcher’s observation of the participants and their playing and their interview answers.

Users produced a total of 4 individual interviews and almost 6 hours of playtime (including individual playing time). During the session the users were reasonable for recording their screens and turning it into a designated google drive. Since the sessions were conducted remotely The researcher was responsible for going back after the sessions and watching both users screen time.And making observational notes based on the decision and approaches the characters made. During the session neither user gave permission for face recording, so only audio recording was taken. The audio mainly Of the introduction.Explanation of.Worksheet answers and play time as well as interview answers.During the playtime, the audio recording was turned off. Since the users were expected to use in-game communication only. During the sessions, the latter interview progressively got longer as the users learnt the functionality of the tools at hand, such as Roblox and Miro board. Because of the confidence growing in the technical literacy the users’ approaches became more honest and confident throughout the sessions.Further details will be given in the analysis.

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Data analysis Many of the themes that will be discussed in the analysis often overlap because some of the overarching themes do affect one another.

Desire for Uniqueness

Throughout the games researched the users were instigating a need for uniqueness, whether they express that through the changing of their avatar’s looks or through the ownership of different in-game items such as cars. There was a clear desire for uniqueness or individualism within the game. The importance of this desire is that it shows. Users still retain a sense of identity or self within the digital environment. This helps to illustrate that Users do tend to represent themselves within the digital environment and that their real-life identity may be connected to their digital identity. Desire or want for a sense of individualism also demonstrates that Digital identity is a unique identity owned and created by an individual. This proves that it can develop and grow in a natural way within the digital environment, whether that be within a game or social media, for

instance.

Isolation

Both Participants expressed a different sort of feeling of isolation throughout the research.

While user one expressed feeling isolated with a very hectic environment From Meepcity, user two expressed feeling isolated with a very calm environment and in an area where people were scarce. That was shown in the second game. This idea helps to promote the. Illustration of having different communication needs. No one person is exactly the same. The same thing can be said for the participants of this research since they were two different people, despite being of the same gender they did approach it with different ideologies. Because two different people have two different needs It comes to communication.

It also is apparent that in the digital environment this remains the same. The growth of experiencing a sort of discomfort within an environment and learning how to cope, or move on from that is a pivotal source of development for people.

Need for clear goal

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Both of the users wanted a very specific set of instructions or a step-by-step guide on what they should do and how they should do it. So when they were met with a situation in which they were instructed to just play, they struggled a bit to adjust to the new environment first. This definitely shows that entering the digital environment. Users typically expect to be faced with a need or want that they want to accomplish. This may prove the ideology of the social exchange theory, but not necessarily socially exchanging with each other, but with the idea of a digital environment. And how we interact with that environment. When first entering an unknown environment, whether that be a digital environment or a physical environment, a person needs to know where the essentials are or What their purpose in that area is. During.the sessions Where MeepCity was explored. Users found it difficult not to utilize the audio that was being used overcall. Especially since they were unsure of where certain things were and what exactly their goal in the game was. Without this goal and without a purpose, both users found it very frustrating and quickly lost interest in the game.

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Reflection of real life identity

Users often explained their in-game experiences by comparing them to their real-life experiences, such as in-game communication, responsiveness or the idea of dressing up very prettily and feeling very confident in your appearance could translate to your avatar or character that you’ve chosen as well. Oftentimes users thought of their avatar as an extension of themselves or as an item representing themselves. Despite a clear reflection of how they would describe themselves in real life, there was a difference between their in-game personalities and their real-life personalities, as shown through the researcher’s observations, the researcher found 18

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that users typically liked to have a sense of recklessness or lack of consequences for their actions which was oftentimes presented only in a game environment. This course of action shows a little bit of difference because while there are restrictions that use face in real life that cannot be hidden by Anonymity Or lack of consequences.

Users tend to expect games and the Metaverse to lack. A degree of real-life consequences. In other words, they expect a level of gamification in the Metaverse. With this in mind, the idea that the Metaverse should be as close to reality as possible should be deduced and dismissed because users find it disengaging.

Showing financial identity

Interestingly enough, both users identified as savers. Since both users were students with not a lot of Expendable income they felt the need to calculate and measure how much they would need throughout the research, as well as whether or not it was necessary to have that item with in-game currency Robux or based on fiscal money. Despite that in mind. There was a difference in attitude towards the different currencies.

Users felt more confident spending money that wasn’t based on fiscal money or money that was easier to earn back. It can be argued that there was a level of expectation because of the gamification that the currencies and the use of money

in games would not have any or would have very little consequences.

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Development of digital identity

From the researcher’s observation, the in-game experience is oftentimes affected by the digital identity of that character group or how the user approaches different situations. One of the Constant things that were being affected by the. Communication in itself was the players’ confidence in their ability to play or problem solve. Users also associated a sense of uniqueness as well as a physical appearance with their avatar with their confidence. Other than confidence digital identity was also developed around some ideologies of there being a lack of consequences, users felt more confident doing things they typically would not do in real life, such as approaching others and asking to be friends. Users identified as typically introverted and shy people whom they would not approach someone first and rely on. So being able to do so in a game shows that while digital identity in real-life identity is intertwined, there is a certain degree of independence in their developments.

Shift In Game perception

User two had no prior experience in dealing with Roblox, so their impression of the game was constantly changing throughout their time playing. They had also spent a lot of time playing independently, so when it came time to evaluate their impression of the games. They admitted that at first, they had thought most games would be catered towards kids and felt that to a certain extent, both of the different games and their communities would remain relatively similar despite being different games because they were both Roblox games.

It is admitted that the in-game experience with the community also affected their perception of a game. If the community was unwelcoming, they felt that they did not want to play and join the community in itself. They had admitted that. The community affected the perception and reputation of a game so that they would not want to play a game with a poor community. For instance, there were times in the first game 20

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where users felt like they had to change their behavior to act more immaturely so they could fit in, and in some instances when there was no option to change the appearance of an avatar, they felt that they had lacked personality and they would instigate an action or communication.

In game communication

Since both of the games had different game communities, the communication styles varied vastly between the two distinctive games. The users noted that while there were both signs of isolation within the two communities. They were different types while one felt. It was a purposeful exclusion in Meepcity. The second game felt more barren. And the researchers observed this to be true because of how the size of communities was very different.

Both participants admitted that chatting with a friend that they had known in real life in the game was far more engaging than communicating with A stranger on the Internet, given the limited time.

Differences in currencies

But there was a total of three different types of currencies involved with this research, one being fiscal money the second being Robux, which is based on fiscal money, and lastly, in-game currencies which could be based on time playing or levels met within a game both users felt that in-game currencies were easier to spend because it took less time to earn more than what they had lost. They also felt that since there was no texture involved with dealing with Robux or in-game currencies, it felt very different than dealing with real money, whereas the fiscal money needed to be treated far more wisely because it was not as easy for them to gain. Since it is based on physical money the users felt strongly About being more calculative with how they used it But there was still a vast difference in the user’s approach to fiscal money and Robux.

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Connection of financial identity, communication, and digital identity

The user’s opinions on the connection between the main topics of the research were varying in terms of how and which topics were related. one user stated that They felt digital identity and financial identity were connected. But communication was lacking because. There was a lack of trust within the relationship and approach. Find the social exchange theory The idea of moral decisions or combined with this because in the Sessions users do not spend a lot of time communicating with a specific player. They spent a lot of time trying to meet new players and make a relationship with them. But even with trying to make a relationship

with them since it was still relatively new, there was a lack of trust between the in-game relationships. While another user felt that communication and digital identity and financial identity were related, they were related differently. For instance, is financial identity is related to communication because you can ask for advice on how to spend finances, and communication was related to digital identity because you could ask for advice on how to feel more confident because there is a decision involved with an identity the user felt that there was a connection between financial identity and digital identity but still felt that communication was the main thing combining the two topics.

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After all this research, this study is to come up with a way to better the platform. While on the users’ end it is almost impossible to find a way to create and focus a better source of communication because Roblox has already created so many options for users. They can privately chat, chat in a major group with every player on the server, or they can voice chat through Roblox- once they prove that they are over the age of 13. Because of this, the issue comes with the designer’s point of view, while many designer’s approaches a program with a vague idea of a game in mind, and once they enter the program they just begin designing that game without a proper structure in place, so

after this study and the information found. The researcher believes that it would be best if there was some sort of chart for the designer to put down their ideas into a neat or organized function so they could see the clear process or goal of their game.

With this in mind, the proposition is that in the Roblox studio, where creators can make games. There will be a beginning function where more experienced users can skip But for new users it would be best for them to put the information into a chart that they can refer back to easily if it is accessible.

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Closing Remakrks In conclusion, after designing a toolkit and running research sessions in a generative fashion; it is to be noted that many of the issues that users come across are design or functionality issues within the sphere of the Metaverse as it is still developing. Despite the development coming a long way from where it once started, there is still a long way to go before it reaches the standards of the imagination of the current designers, with this in mind this study looked at the Indispensable communication that is integrated into the metaverse that helps to develop ones digital identity as well as promote the users financial identity. For the methodology, the sessions followed a pattern of introduction, play time, and interview to collect significant data. Many sub sections were looked at in the analysis a few of the important ones that should be reiterated are the users desire for a sense of uniqueness, the sense of isolation that exists within the Metaverse, And the need for a clear goal to accomplish for the user.Many of these issues could be changed if some games are more focused and held a wider community. It is up to the designer to create a platform that can promote and support that the metaverse will continue a slow rate of growth without focus.

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Robux system CA R I S SA FA I T H P OT TS