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BalekFekete
Member Posts: 28
Morning all -
Figured I'd drop a quick post up introducing myself to the board, and those who make up this community. Also...something I want to toss out for people to chew on and see how much thought it provokes, since this is the first main MMO-dedicated site I've found and 'joined'.
First, just a line or two of background. Been playing MMOs for (what seems like) ever. Started back with the various MUDs in the late 80s, then the more mainstream ones with AO, EQ, AC1, DAOC, AC2, SWG, FFXI, HZ, and now the L2 beta. Of those, beta'd more than half of those...which is a perfect transition to the soapbox.
What made me find the site was a link to the CoH beta giveaway. Congradulations to all those who won...I definately envy you. However, one of the winners comments made me go Hmmm. It was "I never thought I'd get in" to paraphrase. Well, I hope that individual really WANTS to test the game, not just play it. I've seen far too many people, by far and away the majority, in any beta just be people who want a free game. That in turn has led us to a rash of incomplete or buggy MMOs on the market. Hell, has there been a truly "finished" MMO yet? FFXI came close, but only because of its pre-released and pre-tested status in Japan...so I don't really count that.
If you get into a beta, please, test it. Don't just look to play it. Not only will you be helping the company as you agreed, but you'll be helping yourself have a better game once it releases for retail.
Ok..enough of that. </soapbox> Thanks for listening, and here's hoping the 20 in CoH do their job. I've been dying for an excuse to wear spandex without embarassment. 
Balek
This is grain...which any fool can eat, but for which the Lord intended a more divine means of consumption. Let us give praise to our maker, and glory to His bounty, by learning about...BEER!
Comments
Cheers.
Twitter @Phantium
"If you get into a beta, please, test it."
I agree with that statement. A beta-test is for testing, not necessarily for playing. I was one of the 500 to be accepted into beta testing for Ryzom and rest assured, if I get a chance, I'll test the heck out of it and try to make it crash in whatever way humanly possible...
p.s. welcome to the mmorpg community.
Socializer 66% Never would've guessed...
"Put your foot where your mouth is." - Wisdom from my grandfather
"Paper or plastic? ... because I'm afraid I'll have to suffocate you unless you put this bag on your head..." - Ethnitrek
AC1: Wierding from Harvestgain
<snaps fingers>
Reading your post, BalekFekete, was a remarkable piece of synchronicity. I had just finished reading the COH beta give-away thread and was quietly ruminating whether or not players involved in beta actually treat it as 'free' gameplay before anyone else or really take their responsibility seriously and test the game; providing the developers with reports and suggestions.
Coming from a MUD/PBM background before EQ, the player communities input is considered and taken seriously. Whilst MMOG's may be on a far bigger and grander scale, beta is still a fixing process. So those who are in beta count yourselves fortunate indeed because not only do you get a chance to play the game before others but you have a voice to make suggestions to better enhance gameplay.
I've never personally entered into a beta simply because I've always lacked the time to give such an undertaking the full weight of careful consideration.
<soapbox>EQ2 beta re: Legends subscribers. Or as one wit on my old server AyRo said, "You want x item? Yes, VISA will be accepted!". Legends was a flagrant milking of the cash cow that displayed more than anything that SoE were really interested in the player-base fighting over themselves to suck corporate member. I'd wager that the EQ2 beta being available to Legends subscribers first before old time players who had contributed to the community from the get go (oh, not me - I was a very late starter i.e. April 2001) shows a lack of contempt and short-sightedness. Pay $40 a month (or whatever it cost) to get first dibs in the beta!, effectively.
This sets a bad precedent because it signifies that SoE are more interest in milking the cash cow than making sure that dedicated members of the community have an active role in testing their product.</soapbox>
Bah. Almost forgot. Welcome to MMORPG, BalekFekete!
Regards,
Riotgirl
"she's like this cleavagey, slut-bomb walking around going 'oh, check me out. i'm wicked cool. i'm five by five'."
"If you think I'm plucky and scrappy and all I need is love, you're in way over your head. I don't have a heart of gold or get nice. There are a lot nicer people coming up. We call them losers."
I wouldn't worry about it too much. So far, Cryptic seems to have taken some really careful steps in selecting the current beta testers they do have. Even with this contest, they only allowed MMORPG.com to give away 20 slots (compare to the 500s and 1000s of other contests).
Even if all 20 winners are just there to play, Cryptic has tons of dedicated testers from their community to pick up the slack.
Speaking of testers there just to play... I'd bet a good amount that members of the media and Prima Games probably have more CoH beta accounts than the 20 winners here.
On top of that, I'd add that every beta is different. Look no further than the upcoming World of Warcraft beta that Blizzard so overconfidently claims will have no NDA. In that case, Blizzard will probably have most major game breaking bugs filled and fixed before players ever show up. The primary purpose of the players will probably just be for server stress tests, and to give them a free preview to drum up hype for release.
-Arcas
My thoughts on MMORPG design:
http://www.dragonfond.com/
-Arcas
My thoughts on MMORPG design:
http://mmo-arcas.blogspot.com/
I disagree. Playing is testing. Beta testing is to see if the game can hold up to the number of people connected at the same time. Beta testing is allowing people to play and see if they come across any problems. Beta testing is a chance for the developers to monitor the game while many people are online doing different things. A beta tester does not have to click on every rock to see if it moves or crashed the game, or try to do outlandish things to see if they can crash the game. There are paid play testers to do those sorts of things.
As long as the beta testers tell the developers when their client crashes, or send an online bug report when they get stuck, they have done their part. And even then, that stuff isn't completely necessary. Part of beta testing is just to see if the servers can handle the load of people all playing at the same time. The developers should be running debugging processes monitoring what the players are doing and seeing if something goes wrong.
I was chosen to beta test Lords of Everquest a while back and i tested it in so many ways but i didnt find nothing wrong with it except that the game tried to copy warcraft 3 but terribly failed.
BaLLin_VAtO_69!!!!
~# Ǥp