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Beta Testers or Freeloaders?
Mynno
Member Posts: 21
I read with interest the debate on wether people go into betas to actually test them or to try before you buy them.
I have to say it seems people are either on one side or the other which is odd to me. I enter betas to do both and figure the best way to beta test is to play the game as I normally would and if I encounter bugs I report them. At the same time I am evaluating wether the game suits my play style in the manor I would actually be playing it.
Some people say your not in the beta phase of a game to have fun but to test it. That to me is an oxy moron statement! Why would I play in a game if not to try and have fun? On the other side of the coin I understand the game is in a beta stage and I will run across bugs and glitches and yes even crashes to my desktop. As I run across them I report them and continue my playing without complaints because it is what I agreed to do when accepting their terms to beta test the game.
In the end I make up my mind wether the game meets my needs and wether I can live with some of the problems that will surely make it to the live servers. I then either purchase it or move on. Now for the reason I posted this, I was just wondering am I in the minority with this attitude?
Comments
Tell the truth it helps the game dev. more with open/closed beta's... They dont have to pay any one to test their game but still get bug reports ect. So I guess in a way both sides are free loaders... Also Betas bring alot of hype to new comeing games.
The Big MMORPG List
I certainly agree with the OP's attitude. Moreover, if you're not having enough fun in a game, which is after all an entertainment product, then that's a defect more serious than some outright malfunctions. One should be mildly annoyed at having to submit a bug report, because submitting a bug report should delay one's entertainment. However, one should still submit it, because the beta-test contract is to play in return for evaluations.
I join betas of games that look fun to me. If I don't enjoy it, I'm not going to play just to see if I can find a bug. But if I do like the game, or at least its concept, that is motivation. To improve a game you might want to play, is good for you, and if you decide at some point its not for you, at least you helped make it better for those who do enjoy it.
I'm big on mechanics, and always have to understand the why and how. So I'm always testing some system or another trying to figure it out. And new games to play with those systems is always a fun thing for me.
A Beta test is there to give the Devs a better understanding of the game by bringing in the element of the gamer, the very people who will be playing the game, in order to root out any bugs/glitches that they have missed during the alpha phase of testing. Players are invited to play but are asked to report problems so that they can be resolved. Any player that is involved in a beta test should be able to enjoy it, if not than they're probably not going to enjoy it when the game goes retail. Enjoying the game during the beta should not be considered freloading so long as the player is involved in some way with helping the game move forward. Freloaders, in my opinion, are those that join a beta test and than do nothing but complain, they don't report problems so much as simply b**ch about them, if you join a beta test than it is assumed that you understand that this is not a finished product, but a testing period.
Open Beta is usually a huge advertisement before the game hits retail. The only real testing that gets done in Open Beta is Stress Testing. The amount of flooding the devs would get from Open Beta testing would be too high to keep up with, and in most cases simply ignored.
Also Community Beta Tests usually aren't handled properly by the devs anyway. The best way to conduct a closed beta test is to have 4 active GMs on the server throughout the course of the day with a world chat system. This way they can jot down major issues when people start bitching about them. Remember, if a person is bitching about it; they probably aren't going to report it since they are disgusted with the game, ontop of that it will probably be a major gameplay issue later on. But Open Beta's there is only 2 purposes, stress-testing, and advertising.
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Do I ever sleep?
What will, however, peeve me quite a bit, are players participating in an open (or closed, for that matter) beta, and complain and whine about it as if they paid for it and that they are entitled to various forms of service and support.
The most common example being "omg the open beta stress test lags. I'll never buy a product from you again!", or "your early alpha test has lots of bugs in it! I've had enough of companies pushing out games before they're done!"
No, not really. I've beta'd about 80-90% of the major games that have come out since UO. I test and if I find a bug I'll try to repeat it, I try common bugs that effect many games, etc...eg: I'm a good tester. Generally when things get down to final open beta I decide if I'm going to buy the game, there is no point spending many months in an mmorpg testing and realizing slowly you don't really enjoy the game then going out and buying it. That would be stupid. Anyone who tells you they do otherwise is either a moron or a liar and likely the later trying to suck up to whatever developer they think is stupid enough to believe that tripe.
Edit: That being said, I have dropped out of beta's where I disliked the game enough that I couldn't make myself play it. I drop the devs a note and explain why I'm leaving beta and thank them for the opportunity to test the game and wish them the best. If I'm not being a productive tester for their game they at least deserve to find someone who will be.
Shadus
Actually, you've never been in any earlier parts of beta. Usually the stress test beta's and final open beta's are as you describe, NONE of the earlier steps are. There is basically low levels of load on the servers in earlier beta stages. You ARE there to catch bugs. I agree though, during stress test/open beta it is perfectly acceptable to show up to evaluate the game.
Shadus
Well, of course I use betas to try the game before release. That's what I get out of the deal. Afterall MMO devs need testers much more than I need their brandnew generic uninspired uninnovative Fantasy MMO.