Before we start, I want to make it clear that I have never been a member of the BrickPlanet community; I tried it out a few years back and promptly forgot about it. All I know was obtained from other respected members of the community, the wiki page, and a variety of additional sources. In case you didn't know, BrickPlanet is a project, a confusing one. It's a sandbox website that imitates Roblox, Core, and other similar games. But it's also a project that has never been entirely successful, even when given every opportunity. And today I'll be talking about how BrickPlanet might just be lying to their user base.
If you're a member of the Sandbox Community, you've probably heard from Isaac or BrickPlanet, and if you haven't, here's all you need to know. Isaac is the founder & owner of BrickPlanet, and he appears to be a typical PHP programmer. And then there's BrickPlanet, his only project for which he's spent thousands of dollars, and the one in which he's put in all of his time and effort, or so he claims to have. BrickPlanet, you know, has a record of staying online with people joining, purchasing memberships and perks, and generally making excellent use of the website. Only for this to eventually shut down, with no apparent refunds, only to resurface a year later, as if nothing had occurred. And for some reason, people still join BrickPlanet, and take part in this process. Has become a tradition at this point.
Now, I've been asking myself, "Why is it that this website keeps shutting down? Is it really necessary to shut down all the time in order to reap the benefits?". When BrickPlanet initially came out, BrickPlanet made the most income. Users who have been anticipatingly waiting for it to be released are ready to enter their credit card on the website just to obtain the membership & perks as soon as possible. However, unless waves of users join from time to time, payment activity becomes increasingly flat over time. And Isaac alleges that the servers crash due to the lack of financing, forcing him to shut down BrickPlanet. While most developers may believe it is a falsehood. In fact, I believe he is correct. But not due of a lack of funds. The source code for BrickPlanet is terrible. But not just poor in the sense that "some bits might be done better," but awful in the sense that the entire source code is the least efficient imaginable. PHP embedded with HTML, duplicated functions, database searches that take up 90% of the screen, and other issues are all part of what is ostensibly the best website. And, in my opinion, the source code is just so terrible that certain amount of requests currently consume far more resources on the server than they should, giving the impression that demand is high on the server where it isn't. As a result, Isaac may have overpaid his servers. As a result, leading to poor funding decisions. But, given that BrickPlanet has previously shut down five times, how come this is still a problem?
Isaac, as a developer, needs money to rent a server, which hosts BrickPlanet. In Digital Ocean, a basic Virtual Private Server can cost around 5 dollars per month, while higher tiers can cost up to 96 dollars a month. However, the income BrickPlanet generates through advertisements, subscriptions, and donations, should be sufficient enough to keep the website running for a long time. And Isaac claims that this is the issue: there isn't enough money. But how can we be sure this is true? Even though many people have requested it, BrickPlanet's finances are not transparent enough. Users have no idea how much the hosting companies charge, or how much money Isaac makes through BrickPlanet donations, subscriptions, and other sources. When questioned about this, they state that "soon they will have a more transparent workflow that will allow users to know where all the money from BrickPlanet goes to." But it's still a bit hazy.
Rather of employing a membership-style system like Patreon, which shows the money earned each month, instead donations are made directly through PayPal. And when there is no information on development, finances, or even changes in the administrative structure to make it more open, it simply adds to the skepticism. And they will always give you empty replies when you ask for information. But it doesn't stop there: if BrickPlanet was running out of money, why didn't Isaac say so when the game was closing down? Why hasn't he asked for money to keep the site running? Why hasn't Isaac said anything? Because it was most likely fake at this point. The lack of transparency, the frequent striking of brick walls in the hunt for answers, and the community members' ignorance only add to the appearance of a blatant hoax. He now claims to have the necessary revenue sources, which were also not mentioned. Also, he claims to have a decent staff to assist him. Surprisingly, he has said the same thing in every previous release. Referring to the first point.
All I've said is my own perspective based on what I've seen as a user looking up at what BrickPlanet is. And my confusion about how any of this can still be trusted. Personally, I'm concerned about BrickPlanet users, not just because they could get scammed again, but because they are “over-optimistic”. Discord discussions are "too perfect" and frequently feature "overly-optimistic" messages. It goes without saying that BrickPlanet is fantastic at all times. People who claim they enjoy the updates on a regular basis. Even if they are alien avatars, which are clearly inferior to the original. And it makes me think that they are this way because they invested money in it and now want to feel that it was a good investment. And that their actions are really a defensive mechanism to keep them from perceiving the obvious reality. I have no intention of attacking BrickPlanet; but it is simply too murky to be trusted. Anyways folks, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed this small analysis.