This post is merely to address an ongoing issue with alot of roblox games and how kids/some adults can find themselves investing time into games that are unrewarding and simply unfilling. These games usually have carefully crafted systems that are just meant to soak as much time as possible into it and thus you-theplayer- stay in their game for as long as possible without any kind of intrinsic benefit to you.
I can start by pointing out the games where it doesn't force predatory afk systems onto you that requires you to either use a macro or an auto-clicker of some sort to progress faster.
These games are used for comparison primarily with other games within their player range(30-20k) but this can be used for games with 100k players in them to know whether they care more about money or a good gaming experience.
I encourage reading everything before sharing your opinion because all of mine are backed by the data and while i do think it would be more appropriate to create code that could easily analyze all the data charts on rolimons, i don't get paid for that so yeah.
All datacharts was sourced from Rolimons.
Tower Defense Simulator
The graph above is a 1 week chart of players entering and exiting tower defense simulator where in any given day usually at 10am it can find the highest number of players between 20-15k and its lowest at 1am between 10k-7.5k. What remains consistent with tower defense simulator is there is no aspect of the game utilizing an auto-clicker or some form of a macro to engage with it and you will find the peaks and troughs are much greater than with games that heavily enforces it.
So if you take the lowest point of players on any day and divide it with the highest point of players on that same day you will get a decimal which converted in a percentage will get you an approximation of 50-60% decrease or increase of players.And this is in games that doesn't force the auto-clickers or macros on you.
2.Slap Battles
Lets do another one. Slap battles a game that requires you to slap other players with a mouse for fun.On 8th May at 2am you can find 10,751 players in the game and at 7pm 19,337. Thats roughly a 55.6% increase or decrease in playerbase within any given day.
What's interesting about slap battles is that even though some may find clicking a mouse repetitive task and they may use an auto-clicker the game design doesn't force you to be afk to be rewarded you HAVE to go around targeting players. It also helps that each new hand has a UNIQUE ability which REQUIRES YOU TO BE ATTENTIVE IN THE GAME so you have to actively participate in it to gain full access to its rewards(THATS GOOD GAME DESIGN). Im 100% sure if they banned auto clickers on slap battles the playerbase will decrease to the point where that peak and trough will be even more noticeable.(because lets be honest who wants to be clicking on a mouse all day amiright?)
3.Speed Draw
Starting to notice a trend with the graphs? Yes all the ones that require your full interaction have a noticeable difference in its peaks and troughs on the graph. Speed Draw is no different. At the 7th May 1am, 7,811 players online and at 2pm, 18,286 players online, that's a 42% increase or decrease in playerbase at any given time.
Now that we have shown games that don't require heavy macro-auto clicker intensive game design and we know what to look for lets look at the ones that do.
4. Bee Swarm Simulator
Already looking much different right? At the 6th of May 1am, 17,302 players online and at 12pm same day, 21,211. If we do simple maths, that's 81.57% decrease or increase of the players.
81.57%x21,211=17,302(Decrease)
17302 ÷ 81.57% =21211(Increase)
And if we assume that the game wasn't macro/auto clicker intensive then the increase/decrease is supposed to be somewhere between 40%-60% so there is likely around 40-21% of players using macros/autoclickers in the game which is alot.
What game in the WORLD has ever had player retention that huge without it having predatory time consumption mechanics behind it? Bee swarm is roaming between the 75%-90% decrease or increase of players. While in the past bee swarm simulator was a titan for simulators and praised as one of the good ones, it has reached a point where whatever good game design is left in the game is unsalvageable. It has only been exacerbated by the addition of planters, more intensive farming for equipments and other bad game designs that forces players to use macros+autoclickers to continue staying and playing the game.
This is in no way a surprise considering ROBLOX themselves rewards developers with wads of cash for putting this in the game.
Yes games have to make money but there must be a tradeoff and should not compromise the integrity of the game your making, frankly its unsustainable and only serves to increase YOUR profit as a developer and not the experience of the players.
Im not completely blaming developers because roblox in part incentivizes this predatory behavior upon the developers to create games like this(Engagement-Based Payouts)
Lets do a few more and call it quits, you can try this yourself on other games and see this to be a fact
5. Anime Last Stand
Ignoring that dip just before May 6th(Developers most likely made their game inaccessible for a time)
On May 8th 4am, 18,496 online and at 10am 24,293 players online.
We do the maths that's a 76.14% increase or decrease in players. Obviously this game is going through an update so you can see after May 6th there is a spike in playerbase but this generally stands for games in and out of updates.
Games in updates you may find more of them using afk or macro intensive tactics however out of update that may or may not decrease but bee swarm is a good example of that not stopping because the equipment is SOO HARD to get at the higher stages.
This is most likely no different from Anime Last Stand they have poor monetization and they don't get checked on it and it forces players to stay in their game longer doing afk or macro strategies, it's unevently and boring.
6. PLS DONATE
8th May 1am 14,159 players and the same day 9am 19,587 players. We do the maths that's a 72.3% increase or decrease in players.
This is a more textbook example of how far things can go, all you do is stand with a placard begging for robux but the kicker is this game mainly attracts those that don't have robux so your just in a server with a bunch of robuxless players like you convincing one another to give them robux that you don't already have.
The antithesis to that game will most likely be STARVING ARTISTS
A game where you have to actually earn your roblox by creating amazing pixel art. Guess which game has more players? the one where you do absolutely NOTHING? or the one that challenges kids creativity? GUESS?
EXACTLY. STARVING ARTISTS on a good day gets maybe around 3k players at its peak and PLS DONATE gets close to 30k players. close to 10-11x its playerbase by encouraging kids to just sit on a game all day begging, like why roblox, it makes me sad to see the game i once love turn their backs on good development like this.
This is not to say starving artists don't have copy/paste problems but the rule still stands, games that challenges players creativity and allows them to explore and think different sometimes gets punished by Roblox algorithms and that to me is frustrating.
Where's the games that teaches you an instrument ?learning how to mix chemicals like Walter White(joke)? the games where you can build a aircraft/boat and battle against players?
And yes i know there is games like Build a boat for Treasure, Pilot Training Flight simulator and Plane Crazy but Developers are less likely to think outside the box and create games that allow their players to think much different.
Solution? There really isn't one solution to this, roblox entices and encourages developers to make their games a certain way that doesn't really drive much sense of fulfilment and reward.
I think they can still try to hire developers to craft different games like that but it's really few and far between and even if it's made it just won't have the same popularity as a simulator.(which is fine because niches are a good thing just not in an environment that drowns it out)
Another possible solution is developers finding a good balance between making their game monetizable but also fun/enjoyable and challenging to their audience. Build a Boat for Treasure is a good example of this(i can still find many reasons to make it more fun and challenging but i digress). Bee swarm simulator in its peak days is another good example but it's going down a not so good path.
Not all creative and fun games will have a huge playerbase i get that but it's important for roblox to carefully craft those niches of games before it becomes a slopfest of mind-numbing games that will eventually tank the company.
Uplift the artists/developers that think different and not banish them into the abyss of single digits metrics. Money changes everything but keeping a game's integrity intact is important if you don't want it to morph into something hideous.
If you read everything up to this point, i hope you learn something or disagree with something haha, just don't mistake my rant as a diss to bee swarm or any other roblox game as a passionate player of bee swarm(Sun bear Era) and roblox, i've seen how the developer model has been changed to drive profit instead of innovation and creativity.
