When it comes to beta testing, there really is a generation gap. Pre-WoW, getting into a beta was, in a way, an honor. Not just anyone got into a beta, and open betas were not nearly as common. And why should they be? It was fairly standard for people to either A) wait to hear from their friends about how good or bad an MMO was or B) drop the $XX and use that free month to see if they liked the game.
Post-WoW, on the other hand, is all about the “me, me, me.” A huge majority of people sign up for betas not to test them, but to play the game and see if it’s something they might like to buy. This generation of players is turned off by the idea of actually paying for something to see if you like it. It doesn’t matter that they’ll shell out money for normal console games without a second though and then trade it back in for $7 and think they got a deal… if they can’t get in for free to try it out, they’re not interested. And this isn’t an age thing either… I’ve seen plenty of mature adults say the exact same thing.
The problem is twofold with this generation, though. One is that they are not ‘testing,’ they are ‘playing.’ It is not called beta playing, it’s testing. And it’s not that hard either… you click a couple of buttons rating a quest, type in a few words about your experience if you feel like it (though this isn’t required) and hit enter. It takes longer to send an IM to your friend then it does to actually report your testing to the developers.
The second problem is the fact that people don’t realize that they’re in a beta. This is not a complete game. There will be lag, there will be bugs, there will be changes and there will be annoyances. This falls back to point one: you’re testing a game. A nearly complete game that’s letting you play in order to help work out these issues.
Yet time and time again an NDA is lifted and the first thing out of people’s mouths is “OMG lag and bugs!” Of course there are bugs and lag. More often than not, those games are released without lag and with fewer bugs because a handful of testers actually bothered to help out the company and the company listened and fixed the bugs.
So before you log into the most recent beta you’ve gotten into, keep these things in mind:
* When they ask for input, give it. Even if you don’t write a paragraph about how things can be tweaked or fixed or are incredible the way they are, just give the questions a few seconds of thought, rate them and continue on.
* Expect lag. Expect bugs. Expect problems. That’s part of why you’re there. If the game was perfect, they wouldn’t need people beta testing it, now would they?
* If you’re there because you’re wondering if this game is worth your money, and you’ve followed the above two rules, what you need to focus on is how the game plays. Do you enjoy the features? Do you find the lore interesting? Look at what type(s) of games you like to play and see if the features presented are things that’ll keep you entertained.
* And finally, do not start telling people that you aren’t going to buy the game before it’s even gone live. There is a big difference between beta and live, and assuming that your experience in one is going to be the same in the other just makes you look stupid.
bravo! There is something uniquely delicious about the idea of putting all these idiot naysayers in a room, and forcing them to face you with their criticisms. They would collapse under their own childishness and crawl away like cockroaches in the light.
Keep shining that light streea.
Wed Dec 12 2007 4:52PM ReportI've been in the WAR beta for a while, and I can tell you that the beta forums rarely reflect what you describe above. Every little kid who gets into a beta for the wrong reasons will leave pretty damn fast when they find the game unpolished. Those that remain are the ones that have really taken an interest in the game, and truly want to make an impact on it's future.
To sum up, it's not a problem for anyone but those who have to sift through the idiotic spam about betas on public message boards.
Wed Dec 12 2007 6:26PM ReportI'm glad to hear that at least the beta forums are useful. In other betas I've been in too, the beta forums are always a good place to post thoughts and comments. Sadly though, it's those kids leaving who are taking the place of people who might actually test the game. That's the problem.
Thu Dec 13 2007 11:08AM ReportBut how do you "as a dev" weed out the player from the tester?
They read the app and see that this person enjoys testing and has tested other games. So they get into beta.
They lied, they never do feed back, bug reports, but they do whine when the server gets restarted, a character wipe or heaven forbid, its the be all end of fully playable games the moment their toon appears.
Maybe if after the 1st login, every time you logged in, you had to go through a report screen. Too many empty or useless reports and your out of beta. Or if you never log into the beta forum.
The devs can also help this by making the reporting process easy too. I was in a bata once, it had no forum, or usefull reporting tool and only IRC for dev chat...But dev's where never on...Cant remember what game though as it was 4-5 years ago.
Thu Dec 13 2007 11:46AM ReportFlung, I'd actually like to see a beta where beta testers are required to fill out a certain number of reports every week to stay in the beta. Some need to realize that a beta isn't a "right" and that they need to put their part in to helping out the game.
(Obviously if you have problems getting the game to work, you can contact people, but by simply trying to get the game to work and contacting people shows you're honestly interested in the game).
Thu Dec 13 2007 11:59AM ReportId have to class myself as a beta hybrid then. I should state straight away I am a casual gamer as I have a lot of real life commitments that I cannot put on hold and the 'I can game all day every day' period of my life ended many many years ago (*revels in nostalga of the days where little mattered*) I have never paid to play and I would feel a bit of a 'sap' if I did, but thats because I feel I have not yet found a game 'deserving' of my not so hard earnd cash in monthly installments (hell I dont think my mortgage is worthy of my wallet! I live in a town describable as the U-bend of England). I apologise if this comes across as 'arsey' this is not my intention I just cannot justify a monthly fee unless I am blown away like I was the first time I played Fallout 2 or maybe Morrowind (maybe the second time as most people bugger up their very first character then start again a few months later once they got a real feel for the game) I test a game for both reasons. You can take the games away form the gamer but you cannot keep the gamer away from the games or some shit like that I dunno. I am a gamer and when I join I am looking simply for a game to play and kill some time. My intentions are honest though. I am more than happy to give any feedback I can back to a developer (although to be honest they seldom ask for it) without being a whinger and if I dont like what I see I simply uninstall as opposed to rantin' and a ravin'. Instead of dividing players between testers and gamers it is solely down to personallity whinny bitches will be whinny bitches in all aspects of life, whereas others will give honest feedback and opinions of the game in its current state, and it is very easy to differentiate between the two, and it's far easier to ignore the former instead of getting annoyed by them, chances are you are doing a lot better and are a lot more satisfied in life and the greater scheme of things than said whiny 5 year olds. Also chances are you dont live with your mum and have your clothes ironed for you :P
Thanks for reading this and my apologies for writing a bloody essay it seemed shorter when I was typing it but like Pringles and Crack once you pop you cant stop.
Thu Dec 13 2007 6:32PM ReportI agree. I was actually ranting to myself ( who else would I rant to? ) about some of the people making comments about the World of Kung Fu game.
On every MMO application I have ever applied for I remember something along the lines of 'Why do you think you would be a good beta tester?' The purpose of this question, in my mind, is to see how the person thinks and if they can actually create a thought and put it down on paper ( or electronic paper ).
Do the developers actually read these? Some of the people on that forum could barely speak, had no 'reasons' to back their statements and obviously would not be very helpful if asked for advice about the game. Maybe another reason why so many games are becoming 'WoW clones' as one blogger mentioned is because developers keep letting the WoW-kiddies into their betas and the only thing they can mummble out of their mouths is 'more WoW.'
I personally think all beta applications should be essays. If the person can't properly right a few paragraphs without reverting to internet speak and without being able to actually say something, I think it can be quite clear they won't contribute as much as they could be to the proper development of a game.
Fri Dec 28 2007 6:33PM ReportI agree streea. I think, at bare minimum, each beta tester should be required to file a report once a week that it at least about 1000 characters ( OMGIES! That's too long!... My post above this is about 1000 characters ). There would be no need to have thousands of beta testers if instead you had a few hundred who actually made reports or were given tasks. 'This week we want everyone to level up in zone A to test the zone and monster difficulty.'
Fri Dec 28 2007 6:38PM ReportCompanies need to not promote beta like a pre-launch trial.
Tabula rasa allowesd pre-orders to get into beta and cancel later if they wanted. That seems like a trial to me.
Sun Dec 30 2007 1:00AM ReportMMORPG.com writes:
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