RBLX-001, “The History of ROBLOX: Volume 0.”

Type: Catalog Accessory

Description:
RBLX-001 was a hat published to the ROBLOX Catalog on November 10th in 2011. It was uploaded on ROBLOX’s sister site – “p1.roblox.com” – and put on sale for 250 TIX and 570 Robux, managing to sell a total of 33 copies during its lifetime. Uniquely, however in line with the site’s purpose at the time, only accounts associated with “Builders Club” could purchase the avatar item. The hat itself remained on the testing site until December 10th of the same year; one month after its initial creation.

The item itself was a book that’d sit atop a player’s head, titled “The History of ROBLOX – Volume 0.” While no anomalous applications could be dissected from the item during those earlier years – as testing sites never involved gameplay – it was found to be “rather regular” and ironically subsequently detached from ROBLOX History due to its lack of notoriety.

It was only during the “April Fools Hack” of 2012 when the ROBLOX admin panel was allegedly breached on its testing sites, that RBLX-001 gained some significance throughout the ROBLOX Community as a cursed item. It had been published to the main ROBLOX website during the incident’s duration for 37,000 Robux without the option to purchase it through TIX, and caught the attention of several forum-goers who claimed the item had been “hacked.” All those who purchased the item would be refunded, and it would be deleted from both the main site as well as the sister site it originally came from.

While the item had no description prior to the event, a direct quote from a stanza provided by the ‘Ode on Solitude’ Poem written by Alexander Pope became the item’s signature bio:

“Thus let me live, unheard, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.”

The quote was initially interpreted as a cryptic message written by those behind the “April Fools Hack,” and had no real meaning until forum-goers began theorising, carefully crafting a story around the item in relation to prior forum posts hinting towards its anomalous nature. It’s through this that the “April Fools Hack” was overlooked, and RBLX-001 “came to be.”

It was widely believed that RBLX-001 was an item left to rot, all because the staff supposedly forgot about its existence since it never quite made the final cut onto the main site, and testing sites were temporary all in all. Thus, it “yearned to live by basking in the presence of those who’d wear it, sealing their lives in scripture until the item would be worn again.” Across all copies, memories would be made, and RBLX-001 would live into the future. This was their idea, the foundation that RBLX-001 was built upon.

This theory, of course, was supported by prior forum posts and gave RBLX-001 the human touch it needed, as people began believing it to be a soul with sentience, despite being a mesh with a texture slapped on top. The item was a base, and the story was the mold it took, granting the item new notoriety by breathing life into it.

ROBLOX failed to address the item’s existence, how it was rooted in the “April Fools Hack” and branched out thereafter in popularity, at least not until the 18th of July in 2013 – not long before ROBLOX uploaded the “History of ROBLOX – Volume I” item which caused disarray among Volume 0 forum-goers – where they acknowledged the anomaly in a single forum post, claiming the item was merely “never intended to be a part of ROBLOX History, and shouldn’t have made a name for itself.” This would be the first and last reference of RBLX-001 by the ROBLOX Corporation.

If all that supports RBLX-001’s existence are theories and forum posts claiming it was a cursed item, what’s cemented in reality? After all, theories are not facts. By digging deeper with the Wayback Machine, we are able to find that…

RBLX-001 is a unique item ID capable of being accessed only by those who’ve owned the item prior unless otherwise stated, even though all copies have since been refunded. If the owner adds “-V0” to the end of their profile’s URL in the UserID section, they will find themselves on the item’s page. If they have not owned the item once in history, this page will be replaced with ROBLOX’s typical error popup.

On this page, RBLX-001 is displayed as if it were an offsale Catalog item with the option to be re-equipped. If so, the item appears on the player’s avatar per the norm. However, when the hat is worn in-game, both the user and those in the same server are capable of hovering their cursor over the avatar item and clicking on it to open up a GUI. This GUI takes on the same style as a page in a book and details the user’s livelihood with their ROBLOX Character in full up until that moment. In essence, acting as an autobiography.

A user’s “livelihood” refers to the written documentation of their account’s entire life as if their “Robloxian” possessed sentience, even if only in text form, meaning they cannot control the actions associated with their user. Rather, they can only reflect and imitate a fictional story that leads as their “life” from within the GUI. Their very existence plays upon the question of “What would your ROBLOX Character feel if it were real?” and brings it to life.

The personality presented in these texts are unique and entirely molded off their Robloxian’s own interpretation of the experiences they share alongside the user’s own, however are entirely separate. While the user guides their character through a game, their Robloxian remains unaware of the user’s existence and possession of control altogether, seeing such to be apart of “themselves.”

If the owner’s account is banned, abandoned or deleted, RBLX-001 will instead convert into an “obituary,” meaning the “-V0” ID goes public and their story can be read via thumbnail.

Contributions: JPDexination (Author)