Last week, we unveiled Player Points, a platform-wide score that every gamer on ROBLOX can improve by achieving certain objectives in games. This is an exciting addition to ROBLOX, in that it creates a competitive, platform-wide meta game — but there’s much more on the horizon.

Let’s step back and talk about the purpose of Player Points. We’ve discovered through the Developer Exchange that rewarding game creators for their hard work is a good incentive to build. Why shouldn’t game creators have similar freedom to reward the players who spend hours and hours playing their games? Player Points let game creators offer that incentive to play. ROBLOX rewards developers for their work. Developers reward gamers for their time spent playing. In theory, everyone participates, everyone is happy, everything is awesome.

Player Points are the foundation of our new global Leaderboards, which rank all ROBLOX members according to their Points score. We’ll also be launching individual Game Leaderboards in the next few days, which will rank the top players of a specific game. Can you picture it? The most infamous Apocalypse Rising survivors. The greatest Sword Fighting Tournament combatants. The sharpest of Paintball! sharpshooters.

Player Points are also core to “Clans.” A Clan is an invite-only part of a group. While a group can have unlimited members, only 100 of its members can belong to its Clan — and each member contributes to the total clan score with every Point they earn. That is, when you earn a Point, your Clan earns one too.

Only the Points earned as an active Clan member contribute to the Clan’s Points score. That’s important because the total Clan score is cumulative — even if a Clan member leaves, the Clan Points they contributed persist.

You can be in any number of groups, but only in one Clan. Groups will soon be able to establish Clans for 500 ROBUX (from group funds) and, ultimately, Clans will be the basis of the Leaderboards (although you’ll still be able to toggle between Clan and individual views).

As you can see, there’s much more to Points than a score.

The spirit of Player Points

Player Points are currently in an experimental beta phase and there are very few restrictions on how they can function. This is intentional. We want to observe what happens when we put them out there and let you, the developers and gamers, go nuts.

What’s the spirit of Player Points? First, it’s competition. Imagine this scenario: two Clans “buy into” a group battle place by paying for access or purchasing a special game pass. This creates a pool of Points for the game’s owner. The Clans then have an epic battle; one emerges victorious, one is defeated. The winning Clan members get the Points, increasing their rank, while the other Clan collects itself and attempts to win the next match. We’re even thinking about allowing Clans to unlock features (such as Clan uniforms) upon reaching certain Points scores.

Second, it’s fun. It feels good to be rewarded for achieving anything in a game; it feels even better to be sitting at the top of a game’s Leaderboard.

We have noticed some Points “stores” — games that essentially let players earn points by spending ROBUX — and these are decidedly not fun. Similarly, some developers have awarded themselves their points. Although neither of these implementations is in the spirit of Points, we’re allowing them to exist (remember, this is a beta test and we want to see all the behaviors that emerge) because we believe that the economy will ultimately resolve these situations in a manner that works for the community. The more productive uses of Points, such as incentivizing people to play by rewarding them for their skill, will naturally become the standard. They benefit both developers and gamers. Games that don’t really benefit players will fall by the wayside.

This is a beta

Developers can now award points to players for completing certain objectives, and those points contribute to individual and Clan scores. At the end of the beta test, we will be resetting all Points and Leaderboards. We will be tweaking and tuning our systems based on what we see and your experiences, then starting fresh – fair for everyone – with the official launch. We encourage you to participate in this beta test and provide feedback that will help us shape and refine the final product.

Final words

There are millions of creations, spanning many genres and styles, on ROBLOX. Points span the whole platform, creating a competitive meta game that unifies players, groups, and developers with a huge variety of tastes and preferences. They bring a new element of competition to our ecosystem, and complete a circle where ROBLOX rewards developers and developers reward players.

Player Points FAQ

There are a number of misconceptions regarding Player Points. Let’s address them!

How do developers get Points?

Game developers accumulate a certain stipend of Points when players spend ROBUX in their games. Developers can then redistribute the Points to players when they achieve specific milestones.

How do players get Points?

Players earn Points by playing games that offer them. Not by purchasing them or spending ROBUX.

I’m a player. How do I know what games are awarding Points?

Currently, it has to be stated in a game’s title or description. We’re considering adding another sort to the Games page that would display games awarding Points.

I’m a player. How do I know when I’ve earned Points in a game?

Currently, it’s up to the game’s developer to build a notification. We’re working to implement a standard in-game notifier, which will tell you when you’ve earned a Point.

I’m a player and I believe I should have received Points, but didn’t get any. What happened?

There are many things that could have happened, but the biggest thing to keep in mind is a game can only award as many points as it has accumulated. Games accumulate points when players spend ROBUX in them.

How can I spend the Points I’ve earned?

Points are currently meant as a symbol of reputation, not a currency.

I’m a developer. How do I award the Points I’ve earned?

To learn more about the Points Service, which is what developers use to award Points to players, see this new entry in the ROBLOX Wiki.

I’m a developer. Can I award myself Points?

Yes. However, we believe this is less effective than awarding them to actual players, who are more likely to keep coming back to your game if you offer compelling achievements… rather than keeping these for yourself. If no one wants to play your game because you’re keeping your Points, that’s really not going to work in your favor, is it?