Regardless of the platform you’re on or the game you run, the one thing that you don’t want to do when making a change is upsetting the gamer base itself. Sure, there will always be “necessary changes” that are unpopular, such as nerfing certain characters and the like, but there are times when developers make a change that is clearly all about them and doing what “they feel is best” versus asking the gamer base what they think, especially since THEY are the ones playing the games constant. You’d think that with Roblox making all manner of updates to their Creator Studio and beyond that they wouldn’t do a big move that would upset gamers, but you’d be wrong.
As noted by GameRant, Roblox has removed its Legacy Chat feature, and many players are upset about this in many ways. To their credit, the dev team announced that this would happen last year and further stated that April 30th would be the final date for its use before changing to a new system called “TextChatService.” However, upon its implementation, gamers weren’t impressed by what they saw and wished for the older one to come back.
One of the biggest concerns that players had was that there were certain games within Roblox itself that relied on the Legacy Chat feature to function. The admins for those games had to literally convert them to the new chat service if they were to keep running. So, if, for whatever reason, the admin couldn’t or wouldn’t do that, then the games wouldn’t become functional, or they would “go private” until the conversation was done. That alone irked many because some of those admins might not even be around anymore, despite their games still being available to play.
Another issue is aesthetics. The new chat design feels very bland in the eyes of many gamers, compared to the Legacy Chat, which had more “pop” to it. Sure, a chat service doesn’t need to be “visually pleasing” to work, but it does help at times!
If you’re wondering why the dev team made the chat change, they stated that this was because the new chat service would help protect younger players from inappropriate messaging that had been filling the chat as of late. If you recall, there have been many accusations that the dev team wasn’t doing enough to protect the children from predators, and so, they did this to prove they were “doing enough.” Only time will tell if that plan works and if players “grow accustomed” to the new chat service.
