The List: Five Reasons to Avoid Beta
In this week's The List, MMORPG.com columnist Bill Murphy takes on beta testing and gives five compelling reasons why folks should avoid it like the plague. Agree or disagree, Bill's column is sure to start an excellent conversation.
Column By William Murphy on July 20, 2010
In the summer months it’s easy to fall into a sort of gaming doldrums fit. For one, it’s so nice out that I feel guilty about playing too many games, usually reserving my sessions for after nightfall or on rainy days. For another there’s usually a lack of quality games released in the summer months. Part of me thinks the developers of some of gaming’s major upcoming MMOGs realize this and have strategically decided to start betas or at least begin sign-ups around the hot months. And while the itch to sign up for such an event may be often too hard to ignore, there are some valid reasons for saying no to the opportunity to test the next crop of MMORPGs.
DC Universe just announced sign-ups, The Old Republic has begun testing, and Guild Wars 2’s beta is right around the corner. Sure there are a slew of positives, especially in the “Open Beta” phase serving as a sort of try-before-you-buy for games that generally don’t offer a demo at launch. But by and large, we think you may be better served by resisting the urge to hop on the beta bandwagon, and here’s why…
5.) Shh… It’s Secret!
Everyone has their own opinion on whether or not the secretive nature of most MMO betas is a necessary precaution for the developer or a pointless way to keep your potential user base out of the loop, but the main thing for the beta-hopeful to remember is that pretty much any game that lets you in on the fun will be expecting you to keep quiet about it. And if you’re the type of gamer who goes out of his way to sign up for a beta test, chances are you’re the type of game who wants to tell the world about it… and yet you can’t. This of course leads to the NDA leaks we all know and love/loathe, and then those who are on the inside start getting lambasted by those on the outside, the developers and PR people have a muck of a mess to deal with should said leaks damage the reputation of the game, and in general the whole thing just becomes a giant practice in aggravation on all sides. Unless some fearless game developer comes along and says, “Hey come test this game, and talk about it all you want” one could argue that it’s not worth your time to put up with the NDA attached to a beta experience.
4.) Beta (for the most part) =/= Live Game
This is always debatable, as often times the game you play in Open Beta is going to be very similar to the game you play at launch. But at times when you begin your stint as a tester in the early stages of development, chances are the game’s going to change tremendously between beta phases, much less between now and launch. As is too often the case, I see my friends and internet peers form opinions of a game from five minutes spent tooling around with the beta client, never to return or watch as that game progresses toward launch. I do believe that Open Beta is often a great indicator for a release product as developers usually use OB phases to merely stress test the game, but a great many developers who genuinely try and seek help from the community in terms of feedback only get players looking for free games to waste time with.
As anyone from years ago who spent time in the early World of Warcraft beta can attest, there’s a reason these things are often selective of who they invite to participate, and why they’re under NDA. Still maybe developers need to be even more selective… or just scrap the public beta notion altogether.
3.) Not Permanent
MMORPGs are known for their permanence. Beta tests for these games are not. Okay, so you’ve been accepted to test and play The Old Republic. Let’s say for the sake of this example that you can play all you want seven days a week. Let’s say that the game really hooks you, you offer plenty of feedback to the developers, and soon you find yourself playing TOR more than any other game on your hard drive. After all of your hard work leveling your Jedi Consular, after the weeks you spent leveling him or her up from scratch, and after all of the quests you’ve completed… it gets erased as the game moves forward into launch. And then you realize you’ve got to do it all over again. Yeah. That part sucks. Don’t pretend it doesn’t. But there are better reasons than that to avoid getting too into betas.
2.) It’s Really Meant to Be Work
Going back to number three, the beta testing experience is not meant to be just free time for you to play an unreleased game. It’s meant to be a volunteer “job” of sorts where you help out the developer by playing the game, reporting bugs, and providing feedback on the gameplay experience. All too often I hear of folks signing up for beta just to get an early taste of “The Next Big Thing” and they forget that the beta experience is supposed to be something of a QA job for dedicated hobbyists. Tying in with the above, if your goal in gaming is to have fun, beta might not be the best place to look. It’s bound to be riddled with bugs and deficiencies, downtimes and other development hell problems. So unless that part of the game development process really interests you as a fan of the industry, it might be wisest to stay away from beta testing.
1.) Burn-Out
Ultimately when we sign up for a beta, we’re signing up as gamers. All MMOs, no matter how deep and diverse they may be require a time from us when we must put them down, go outside, and take a break from the virtual world. MMO Burn-Out is a common side effect of indulging in too much of a good thing. I can’t think of a single game, MMO or not, that I haven’t needed a break from at one time or another. And I can name several that have gotten stale for me and have never reverted back to their “fresh” state. Why then would you want to risk running into this problem during beta? Why would you want to risk getting all your excitement for launch day worn out before the time launch day even rolls around? To me, this is the best reason to avoid playing a game’s beta.
I understand the need to “test drive” a potential purchase, and thankfully we have Open Betas for that very thing. But if you want to retain any sense of mystery and anticipation at all about some upcoming game you’re jazzed for, I’d heartily recommend avoiding the beta experience. It will wind up making those first steps into a new world that much more exciting.
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I'd like to stress the importance of 4.
Too many games nowadays use Beta as a free marketing tool instead of proper testing and looking for feedback.
Then you get a game that is less finished than your normal Joe would expect and huge rage ensues. GG.
Number 3 isn't a problem TBH.
I don't see why people enter and BETA (specially early ones), get to a certain level and ask "Do I get to keep my character" and throw up a whole fit about it like retards.
Betas only reward for players who participated should be experience of how the games works, giving them a extra boost in the real game and maybe starter kits in the real game.
I am actually tired of people entering a beta test KNOWING FULL WELL THAT IT IS BETA and still run around asking "do I keep my character?" it fucking pisses me of.
Notice they only start asking when they reach a certain level.
The problem with this list is the same problem with people who don't get a beta. Yes you finally touch on it in point number 1, but the other points aren't valid because of point #1.
Beta is a volunteer job (as was correctly put) to help the game find bugs/balance issues along with areas of gameplay that are frustrating instead of fun. Betas are NOT supposed to be used to figure out the fastest way to level a guy, get the secret info to share with friends, find bugs to keep secret so you can exploit them when they go live, a way of trying out the game for free to see if you want to buy it.
The problem is very few gamers get this at all. They expect betas to be an early access to a finished game where they can learn the tricks and get their guide website up before everyone else, or get their guild to be the first big guild in game. Every single time there is a beta some idiot asks if they can keep their characters when they go live.
Companies made it worse lately when they added things like "Buy game X and we will give you beta access to game Y." Betas shouldn't be a marketting tool, and they shouldn't be essentially sold. That brings in the wrong types of users. You want the people who want to get in there and actually help, those same people rarely want to buy access to the beta. Not surprisingly the same company that took that approach released a game the majority of people hated and isn't doing so well even with a massive IP behind it.
Players and companies need to remember what betas truly are and use it properly to release more finely polished games.
Great article all around and I do agree on most of them. A reason why I feel open beta is a good thing as he said to "test drive" them. Spend 30 minutes or so on a game in open beta and you should have enough feel for the game to decide if it deserves you to shell out $50, or move along.
Too many games lately promise things they can't deliver. Then when you buy the game blindly and find out its a flop you feel ripped off. Another point is some people like to test a game to see if their computer can even run it. A reason why people depend on open beta is because a trial of the game usually takes months to come out, and people don't want to wait so long.
So in short, beta is a double edged sword. Play at your own risk and spoil some of the magic, or find out if it is a great game in the making and worth purchasing at launch.
Indeed.
I agree completely. Developers need to learn to either put up or shut up. If the first hour playing is a tedious drag, then I have little interest in seeing the rest of the game.
Beta is a fickle mistress. She offers you the joys or the pains of the potential game. The problem is how beta is presented now adays verses the past. Now it is like the free trial period for new interest after release verse back then when it was being advertised as help us work out the kinks. Hell, beta now a days is a way for the hard raiders / levelers to find a way to get to content faster. I completely agree about the keeping it a mystery for those that just want to play the game, treat it like Christmas Eve. Don't be greedy and open the package early, wait till the morning. Just my 2 cents.
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~V
Good article :)
Another thing to remember about beta is that if you're playing it to find out if you like the game you may well misjudge what's on offer. It's not uncommon to level cap and limit beta testing times between betas and wipes. You might have loved the beta up until lvl 30 numerous times but come purchase and you hit lvl 40 it could become the antithesis of everything you enjoy. The only real way to discover how much you like it is to wait for release.
Total beta whore here, I'll play games I know I'm not going to purchase and happy to abide by NDA's. I love the genre, I'm always interested in which way it can turn and if I can help with a few of those corners then great.
I've never really suffered from burnout, if I really like the game I'll try not to play it too much and try out a wider set of mechanics, I did get 4 characters to a certain level during one beta but still enjoyed that level range on release.
I love a beta when it's an actual beta, and not just a marketing tool like some other posters mentioned. There's a certain community that forms when the majority of players entering the beta know full well that they're getting into a severely incomplete game. Players are often more helpful towards other players as a side effect of the nature of beta, which is to help the developers. Players are often more patient because they know that certain things are broken for the time being, and there's nothing they can do but report these things until they get fixed. It's when betas are used as a marketing tool and players expect the games they're playing to already be near perfect that these sorts of helpful communities fail to form.
The biggest pain for me is No. 3
but good thing about The Old republic is there is a different story for each class so I can just play another class when I play in live lol
The Old Republic is going to be amazing
The other thing
6) Story line spoilers
I dont even read these pecimistic reviews anymore why is mmorpg.com gettin so negative about everything lol MMO are ALL made with the similar concepts and designs nobody gonna be happy if people keep thinkin the next big mmo is gonna be diffrent get over it.
I disagree with 4, and maybe a bit of 2 because of that. I've been in several closed betas, some early, most mid to late in that stage. For the most part, they were all close to what the final product ended up being. We were basically expected to bug test, stress test, and provide feedback on minor things like balancing.
But the general attitude seemed to be if you find problems with overall design, or mechanics that that is nice, but it's too far in development to change that before launch. Many betas seemed like a replacement for a QA department. And that leads me to my disagreement with #2. If all you see yourself as only a free QA tester, and that your thoughtful comments on design, mechanics, etc. are either ignored or downplayed, then there is no point to approaching the test as work. You can find them just playing through at a leisurely pace and when you have a free hour here or there to give it a chance.
For players, betas are now more of a demo copy or a free trial more than anything else. Even if changes are made prior to launch, you can still see the general direction of the game. You can also make an assessment about the bugginess, and whether it would be better to hold off at launch.
Maybe my thoughts on what beta actually is are misguided. But there have been the, test this function events and give feedback. Where even after pages of negative feedback, a dev would respond thanking us for the test, but they know better and are sticking with it. And then in a hilarious twist, a year after launch they'll admit the mistake.
I love this post as it's been fresh in my mind since my last failed game, Star Trek Online. I entered the debate when Cryptic got the ip and began making the game, I was behind them from the start and had faith that they could make a game with a funfactor to it then came the beta invite. One of the strongest points I made about Cryptic making STO is that no it would not innovate, or be complex but it would look good and be playable and may provide a few months of entertainment value which it certainly did the problem though was I wasted a good three of those months in beta testing. After testing the game for three months and subbing for two I realized I was still spot on the game gave me about five months of entertainment too bad because I tested it I couldn't last til level cap and actually seen every bit of the bland content offered by them because I had played up til the mid levels three different times.
There are games that I fully expect won't have the problems this one did for me but because of it I refuse to allow video games to be anything more than entertainment and stepping over into beta testing and such does just that and for me atleast it takes me away from why I play video games for entertainment and to step out of the real world for a bit being expected to keep quiet,report bugs,keep trudging along after wipes and such are just not worth it.
Honestly looking at it like this I may just switch to only beta testing games I have no interest in playing but I for certain will never rob myself of fun again.
Agree with #1 MMO-Burnout and #3 Non-permanant. That's why I don't even bother with betas anymore :P
You said exactly what I wanted to say.
I thought this list was OK.. The only thing I really agreed with was the last point of burnout..
I'm not one for repeating the same thing for levelling.. I like things to be new while my character progresses (level cap is slightly different), but it really does just seem to take alot out of me to level toons anymore, even when I am having fun doing it, and the thought of doing it two or three times in a row.. No thank you..
I don't like spoiling the newness of new games by playing the first 10% of it in a beta, only to have all that wiped out to start over fresh when the game releases; even if it does give me an advantage over players who never tried the beta.. That advantage wears off quick once you get into areas that weren't in the beta anyway.
I've already stopped playing all games in lieu of FFXIV for this reason. I want to be fresh and excited and ready to level, not burned out from levelling in another game while waiting for this one to come out.
You're spot on with this, it's extremely rare to see some basic mechanics get changed in a beta because of feedback, even when it's consistent and condemning. I have seen it happen (recently in fact) but that has been an exception.
Depends how the beta is done, of course. Some companies tend to change things drastically even little before the release (not too many though) and have their own in-house testing team take care of most of the bugs and glitches, while other companies tend to get the content right for beta and use the testers to find out bugs and give a little feedback for the final tweaking phase.
4.) Beta (for the most part) =/= Live Game
If your talking about features i agree, if your talking about stability and bugs it is not true. The infamous magic patch just dont exist. You cant turn a turd into a gem overnight just because the game label changes from beta to live. If a game in beta is bugged like hell, unstable, dont expect they'll come up with a magic patch on release day.
The one point (for me anyway) that counters all of these valid points is; There are too many bad MMORPGs out there and no refund policy.
I want some sort of taste of the game before I sink 60 dollars on it. And I can't very well wait for the game to go premium and get good reviews because I'm all about getting a well established foothold in the community from the earliest possible start.
4.) Beta (for the most part) =/= Live Game
Depends on the format, really. If your game is pay to win like the majority of this site's content, then I'd argue that 99% of the time what you get in beta- even so called closed betas -is what you're going to see in the final release. That's mainly because the game has already been developed for another market prior to yours and the publisher has little motivation in reinventing the wheel. You'll be lucky if the game even sees a wild stab at language localization using a rusty spoon. Hey, how about another ancient chinese mmo on me, guys!
5.) Shh… It’s Secret! -- 2.) It’s Really Meant to Be Work
On the same note as #4, a large chunk of these betas are for advertising anyway. At best you'll get a company looking to stress test their servers and all they require from you is to play the game. Your forum comments as to bugs generally will fall by the wayside. If your game is free to play and you're not the market it debuted in, chances are ZOMG!Beta is little more than a ploy to rape your eyeballs. Subscritption games? I'll give better than 50/50 odds they might be serious. Most of the games found here? Why do you think betas are advertised so heavily on sites like MMORPG.com? Huge secret is huge.
I'll give the reviewer #3, though advertising betas rarily do this. Runes of Magic did a couple of times, but western audiences actually got that game from the ground up. I could triple class for a bit :) ...And if you're burning out ala #1, it's really not that good of an MMO to be frank, and you shouldn't be dicking around with it anyway. If the game can't hold your attention through several months of beta, it can't be worth sinking money into anyway.
and yet, every beta i've tested recently have given me ample warning of a game's impending terriblness.
as anyone who tested CO or STO will tell you, dev's just arnt going to listen no matter what feedback you give them.
I agree with this comment. I feel like in the past you had to read official game forums and be active to even attempt to help out in the beta. Now everyone plasters the beta sign-ups on their home page. Pretty much the only beta testing that most people will ever see is what we used to refer to as Open Beta. Now that is just being refered to as beta.
Also, every F2P port out there is offering a beta these days and it's not even beta. Look at Allods, isn't it still in beta? You get to keep your character until launch. How is that beta. If you go into any of the forums for these F2P ports you will see some people complain and others yelling at them that this is still beta, don't judge the game could change. NO, just no. The game is not going to change. It is an English version port, that is all. The only thing being tested is server stability.
I'm not sure the the article was a backhanded way of discouraging players who don't beta to 'test'. If so, I doubt it will work but kudos for trying. I've been beta testing for a very long time (back in the day they even gave out cool prizes..I still have my 'Team Beta T-Shirt from one of the earliest MMOs I worked with) and have always treated my testing as a 'serious' job. (Okay a few I've tested just weren't playable, so sue me.)
Overall though, people will continue to test the game for potential exploits or to explore so they cane get the 'uber levels' when the game releases. An article won't change it but I suppose it was worth the try.
Burnout is the number 1 reason I no longer beta test... that is beta test a game I'm interested in, or at least purchase at launch.
To me, beta nowadays only has one real purpose. If I am unsure if I will buy a game or not it saves me about $60 if its bad. For example, STO offered a beta through gamestop if you preordered. So I did, played it, and after a couple tries canceled my preorder.
#1.
DEFINITELY #1. Why I don't apply for betas anymore.
This is the attiude I am finding annoying these days. You can't want to be competitive without that streak in you and if you can't take a risk, you don't have it in you.
I have been in many alpha and beta tests and IMO, a ton of feedback has been ignored from the test forums. I don't mean just the usual complaints about game direction but simple stuff like bugs and UI. No more alpha/beta test for me or at least for any game I might play.
#1 is apty assigned. I seen too many "dedicated" players fall victim of their 5th or 6th alt and the game hasn't even been a week on the retail shelves.
I don't mind a head start offer, but 30 days of open playtesting is asking for trouble. Sure you may get some kinks worked out, but I usually see it as a time period where power players form up and figure how to powerlevel or farm through the game. Content gets consumed too fast and then they cry foul when its week 2 and there is nothing worth doing.
Yes, a game needs to be stressed. Weekend events yes. Maybe a demo of instances. Do a week of open beta to see how the game is meant to be played works out. Shrug what do I know anyway
- No game is permanent, servers are closed down all the time. You can get the full experience before the game even launches (and move to the next game). So you have already tested all classes and startzones before "everyone else". A newbie would lose weeks trying to find the class that fits his gamestyle.
- Yes beta is a nice way to find the quickest path to level. Beta players always have the advantage even if they have to start over.
- Yes I do bugreports but most of the time it are already known issues already.
- Beta is more fun especially for the free to play games, as you get a whole set of Itemmall stuff which you would normally have to BUY.
- Beta is good to check if your system can take the stress.
- Closed beta should be secret, but it hardly ever is. Most people don't even realise you''re not allowed to post stuff about it all over the web.
- I think the open beta test character whipes hurts alot of casual players. Why not keep the open beta chars, the people who want to play it are already there...
0.) You aren't invited.
I think that this is a good summary of why many players should avoid participating in a Beta.
If players are not interested in providing feedback to the QA group and being ready to help them to recreate the problem, they are not really being helpful unless the company is interested in doing stress test and just want plenty of warm bodies.
Foe me #1 has often been by personal concern. I deliberately avoided the WoW TBC and WotLK betas because I was had a lot of free time and was putting lots of time into WoW. I had the time to participate in the beta but I could see that if I did I would burn out on the expansion before the next one started.
Right now I am interested in the Cataclysm beta for WoW because I am not playing as much as I was then. I have a good idea of how much play time in a game I can do before start to burn out. Right now I do not see myself playing any MMO enough over the next two years to burn out of Cataclysm. But I doubt that I will be selected and offered a chance to participate in the Cataclysm beta.
I have also participated in several other MMO betas with mixed feelings. I do feel that I was lucky in the ones that I chose because in all cases I did feel that the developers were willing to listen to the beta testers.
Now that is not to say that they were willing to completely redo the game if that is what the beta testers wanted. The geme developers has to be allowed to delevope the game to their vision and then verify that their vision has a commercial posibility. So when I look at signing up for a beta I first check to see if what has been stated as the game that they want to present is one that I would actually consider playing. If it is not I do not sign up. If it is I participate to provide them feedback on bugs and game play while evaluating if I am interested in continuing the game after it is released.
All but 1 are horrible reasons. I mean really, if you got a beta key for your most hyped game, would you turn it down for any of these reasons? Maybe 1, but if thats true and it sucks right up until release, then you saved yourself $50.
Gotta say I agree here, And please MMORPG.com staff.. no more of these silly lists. I know the journalistic pickins' are bad with the MMO dorught and all but please, rehashing forums discussion into some sort of top 3/5/10 good/bad list is just lazy. And please dont tell me the top 5 reasons why we should play in beta is the next article. . .
Well, there are thousands of people who read these lists on a weekly basis who would disagree with your opinion, so I don't think we're going to stop writing them any time soon. The have been and continue to be a well performing weekly feature, intended to be read for fun and entertainment.
Seriously, if you don't like them for whatever reason, don't read them. You're not obligated to click on the links, and they are very clearly labelled as "The List".
100% agree. Its pretty sad how many people come on here basically claiming "i dont like something, so that means nobody else does either, stop doing it". If they werent doing well, they wouldnt waste their time doing them.
Like you said, it clearly states "The List"... its kind of like watching a dimwitted kid repeatedly touching something like a hot stove after they burned their hand once or twice, and then crying because their hand hurts more every time they do it instead of just not touching the stove.
I'm pretty down on Betas largely for reason # 1.If a game interests me I'd just as soon wait for Launch and see what the Devs have come up with and play it for a month. If I don't like it then it's as if I bought an RPG ( which rarely have a months game-play in them anyway)-so what, big deal. If I like it then I haven't gotten all burnt out playing the first 10 levels over and over.
Thank God we finally have a name for it... the MMO-Burnout! Been searching for sth like this for ages! Thx!
I think the main reason to avoid a Beta is that it can be very off putting . I remember Age of Conan , in the beta I had huge problems with the client that I put down to my computer specs . It was'nt untill a year later that I got to try it for free on using the same PC only to find it was fine . On the flipside Lord of the Rings Online beta was quite enjoyable . Normally I play a class I know I would never play long term so as not to ruin it .
The problem I have seen with betas, even ones for succesful games, is they focus more on the early game testing. This is obviously a key area for the game, and will go a long way to drawing in a player for the longer-term experience. However, with the focus on the "end game" from so many people, I think more time needs to be spent showing the end-game and having it tested in some phase of the beta. More often than not, the "end game" isn't complete at launch and companies hash something together over the first few weeks of release (with the inevitable complaints from those people who managed to hit level cap in 2 weeks).
Until companies go back to actually spending some of that development money on paying PROFESSIONAL game testers and QA teams, instead of depending on little kids and clueless morons looking to do nothing more than play for free before everyone else, there is no such thing as a "beta test".
This is the same thing I said video games are a hobby for me one I do enjoy much and for the things I like to do it is easily the cheapest and most accesible for me. Havig said that I just won't beta test a game that I know I will have an interest in playing post launch. Now the beta testing I have done I have certainly tried to do my part and take my role seriously, take a notebook with me and jot down every single thing I see as a problem and make sure to log it in before I leave but out of the few betas I've done I can honestly say I've never come across anything that wasn't very obvious (meaning they would have found it anyway) and often as mentioned when the testers notice things wrong in directionetc. we are hardly ever listened to.
Only games I will ever beta test now are games that I can honestly say I would not have even purchased without having played it and discovering it to be something I might enjoy. On the horizon I am certain to try TOR,GW2, and DCUO so those games are out of the running for even the chance I would accept a beta invite to them.
I don't have a problem with anything on that list. I love beta testing, I've even been accepted into some Alpha tests too. Which is less polished than a beta. I'd love to get a Q&A tester job for a game developer or game publisher company.
I agree with most of this. I don't do betas unless I really want to help the game. I remember playing Global Agenda beta, I played it to find bugs and whatnot. But when the game came to live, I didn't want to re-do everything. So I was pretty burnt out.
But a lot of people are like, "OH EM GHEE! BETA! PLAY GAME FOR FWEEEEEEE! THIS SHIT SUCKS FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! RAAAAGE"
Beta testing should not equal playing a game. It should be to balance and find bugs.
Points 1 and 2 are definately why i stayed away for beta. Occasionally I do OB test just to see how the game is before buying or commiting my time into it.
Well I have to agree with number 4. For the most part what you see in beta is live. Now days beta has become a publicity stunt.
I can personally shoot down these reasons not to beta test with one phrase: It's just a game.
5.) So you can't someone about the game you're playing, big deal. Talk to a pet or something, it's not going to kill you to wait a little while until it's released or the NDA is up.
4.) Beta is quite obviously not the full game, if it was they wouldn't need you to test it or as some have said give it publicity. I remember the Lineage 2 C4 beta test I was in, despite the game being mostly grind-based everyone was given massive boosts so they could actually get to testing the new content, a definite game-breaker if they did that on live.
3.) Pretty much the same as #1, it's a beta, if you don't want to spend time for no gain or you don't want to burn out, it's just a game and doesn't require playing if it's just going to frustrate you. I personally avoid reviews and "sneak peeks" prior to games I'm anticpating because I'd rather have my perspective first, then see what others say.
2.) Advising gamers not to beta test is like telling construction workers to stop building. If the developers have to test games themselves who's going to end up paying more money for the finished product?
All of these points were right on the mark, period.
And the one reason to be in beta: To help change the balance of the game for the better. Know which company you are testing for, and whether they listen to their user base. Know whether you want to put up with balance issues during beta, and make the point for fixing those. Then decide whether to participate.
As for 3), the impermanence of beta: This is A Good Thing. Take your philosophical framework of choice to justify that statement. Here are two frameworks applied:
It lends beta testing an aspect of Zen.
Suffering is good for the soul.
That last one actually also answers 1), if you'd want to be glib about it. And if you subscribe to that school of thought.
I think there's one thing you missed, I've actually seen it quite a bit in this thread. " Do they listen to their players", in reference to game changes during beta. Beta isn't a time to be changing the feature list, beta is for testing the features they've chosen to run with. To often do I hear the complaint "this system needs to be changed, and they aren't listening". Those systems were chosen during pre/early alpha testing when they were still building the core functionality of their features. Beta is to late a stage to be going in and messing with core function.
Now along with that when a system is bad, there's only one option at that point. Cut it... There's little time to replace it. Unless of course they are able to delay (which is rare).
Maybe the term "beta" needs to be redefined. Too many games have been released retail when in fact they were still in a "beta" state. Players then end up paying retail for what is actually a "beta game".
I think AOC got it right with the beta being limited to Tortage. Flipside was that Tortage worked out to be the best part of the game by far.
On another note can someone do an article on how the "top five reasons why...." articles are becoming a bit annoying
I no more sign for closed betas becouse of these reasons.
sorry can't edit... but I like the listings articles, if someone is getting anoyed by these just skip them.
I would be most intrigued to know from what exactly the OP takes his idea the GW2 beta is "right around the corner". While it certainly would be nice it doesn't sound like it so far, unless he means right around the corner of that wall that goes on for as far as you can see.
Also the list should've been titled "five things to think about before signing for a beta", as the reasons he gave aren't reasons why you shouldn't do it, but rather what you have to be aware of when doing so.
This is the exact type of area where Developers and studios can work with the Community.
Imagine....
A group of MMO websites get together with the studios and set up a 'Beta Database'
people sign up to the database and the studios and websites use a search criteria and send out applications to relevant people to join in a beta,
The beta Database shows these people and tehy are graded by developers and the websites on how they 'perform' in the Beta
(do they just whine in beta forums that XYZ is not in, do they give consturctive feedback, reports bugs etc)
as the database 'matures' the developers and studios will eventually have a portfolio of people that can be 'trusted' to actually assist in Beta rather than using them to set up walkthrough guides etc. by becoming dedicated beta testers the dev and websites 'encourage' beta testers with little 'incentives'
Long term objectives and pay offs
Feel free to use this idea, I take cash in brown envelopes only in lieu of royalities :)
Euhm,
The whole point of an MMO is to get you hooked and make you pay monthly. Your idea may sound nice on paper but it will cost money somewhere. They don't care about getting good betatesters. All they need to do is spew out some keys to some big mmo portals, fire up the login server and wait for the freaks to write free bugreports.
Great article.
Too many people use beta as a free trial and think it's a finished game and give no feedback of any use.
Personally I love breaking stuff and giving constructive feedback on what I did to break it, but I was an in house game tester for a while during university (rough hours, crap pay, nice environment). I'm still careful about which games I will beta test though, games I would play casually through once would be pretty spoiled by a beta test. Games I would through to max level several times and intend to from the start are find for a good hammering though. :)
My personal favorite thing is how deceptive things are.
A Beta Test starts out, people complain about the bugs and problems. No one listens to the people. They listen to the company that says "X amount of people registered to our game, its great!" I mean it would take a gun to the head to make most developers to admit their games are littered with bugs and problems.
Nothing like following 90% of the same formula. introducing a fresh new graphic scheme and interface and blowing 1000s of hours to try to get at the 10% that is different which amplifies the other 90% making or breaking the game completely.
This pretty much sums up all these concerns. If you're not playing a (closed) beta to help out trying to help make the game "the best it can be", you don't deserve the invite. Open betas are a different beast alltogether, often used as publicity or stress test.
#5: Of course i want my friends to know if i stumbled across something great. Often enough there's enough information on the web to satisfy just about any questions they have - and that, you're free to share!
#4: Ok, it's not finished. This is important to keep in mind especially if you're invited into early beta stages. See what goals they have with the beta. Are they listening to feedback from players? I have played many great betas that turned out to be flops but i have played just as many if not more terrible betas to start with (in terms of bugs etc) that turned out great.
Simply put; that the game is not finished is actually a chance for you to influence the end results. (though sometimes very little depending on comany and beta phase)
#3: Let's say they greatly change the flow of the leveling experience, or other content for specific level ranges. Let's say you have people go through that content again, see how they react to the changes. Many companies do very specific focus testing these days, trying out different itterations. Beta is not a free trial.
#2: I won't mention any names but certain companies tend to simply use BETA as an early, exclusive, hype building trial and publicity stunt. These tests tend to see only a little less input and feedback from players but more often than not, the response from devs is lacking or even non-existant, other than patch notes.
These betas can be very frustrating as sometimes even major concerns that the testers bring up go seemingly unheard by the devs. (again resisting temptation to name anyone!!)
#1: If you grow tired of a beta in the short time they usually last i see 4 overbearing possibilities as to why.
MMO's just not your thing? You can't really judge an mmo as a whole where endgame is a huge part of the game.
You expected to get a free working trial of the game? Just not gonna happen unless it's an open beta publicity stunt
Have you been a victim of the (almost)aforementioned companies betas where they simply don't listen to their testers? Let me tell you, it sucks - most likely just as much at release as in beta.
The game's just not for you? I've played plenty of betas that while not bad in any way just couldn't really rival my current favourite game, or two. Sometimes it's been a case of the game simply taking a different direction than i envisioned (and what initially got me interested)
Just because you don't end up playing the game at launch doesn't have to mean that the beta test was a failiure or that you simply wasted your time. Sometimes, however much you polish a turd, it's still a turd.
Having taken part in so many Betas since my first in DAoC, I find it annoying how many companies - especially in the last couple of years - who no longer use a Beta for feedback.
I wish they would stop mass inviting people to Betas, go back to when they actually meant something and acted on the feedback given. Restricted access to a small number of dedicated testers who they actually listen to and act upon the feedback given.
I am no longer one of those people, the days have gone where I could spend that amount of time. I occassionally take part in open betas if a game gets me curious. I still treat them as Betas, still report everything I can most of (which shouldn't even be there at this stage if closed beta testers are diligint and listened to)
I would be very happy if that were the case, I think the game would improve because of it.
Closed Beta is also becoming more and more like the mess of an Open Beta these days, which I find haertbreaking.
Feedback from testers is rarley listened to or acted upon in any stage of beta, but especially open.
Open Beta in particular is simply a disaster area of epeen stroking idiots who want to massage their egos by saying they have taken part in one and know all about the game prior to release, have zero idea what a Beta is meant to be and treat them all as free trials where the forums decend into a morass of polarisations "I love this game v I hate this game".
I entirely blame the companies for turning them into this mess. "Can I keep my character" really does sum up the mass of people in these so called Betas.
Most of the titles that failed recently are due to said company ignoring feedback from real Beta testers.
Most of the reasons cited by subscribers after launch of why X game sucked are the exact ones raised months earlier by testers, who were summarily ignored by the devs, and on top of that, their feedback was immediatley set upon by the hordes of "fanbois" who are in the Open Beta stages.
This is why so many MMO fail these days.
In summary, Betas are no longer Betas, feedback is ignored, they are just marketing tools to promote hype and fanbois. Result = many more MMO fail hard and fail early than used to be the case.
agreed for once :D good work, but the 2 good reasons that you actualy participate in the beta are so much bigger than this. 1. You get a feel of the game which is the most important thing ever. 2 you have the ability to fix problems in the game so that when it is acctualy live it is a better game.
We know there are certain studios who user Beta testers simply to try and hype up a game, beta tests that are treated as marketing exercises.
This is why I am saying a Beta Database like this would eb useful, imgaine your a dev, you want people in Closed Beta who willa ctually test the game, teh database would allow you to see if someone has done lots of betas, reproted issues or jsut free loaded through the game.
marketing teams need to lay the hell off using Beta as marketing, sadly this wont happen until someone in the industy stands up and goes ' WHOAH NELLY'
I never understand why people want to get into beta. Its basically slave labour. Your working on an unfinished game, helping the company to complete it and not even getting paid for you time. Of course the main problem with not paying people is you get people who play rather than actually try to break the game and find bugs. Hence games are often released with bugs and problems that frankly should never have been in a retail version. But of course the bugs are there because the testers didn't do their job. And they didn't do their job because 99.9% of beta testers are regarding playing the game before release as a way to learn the game so they can be better than everybody else at release and hence not looking for bugs.
The simple fact is the willingness of so many people to be beta testers means we all have to put up with poor buggy game releases. I for one much prefer a game to be released for at least 6 months before playing it. By then its got rid of many of the obvious bugs and imbalance. Plus I dont have to put up with the leet players right at the start who are so brilliant because they max out their character in a few days. To those people all I can say it; Get a life
I would Beta Test Guild War's 2 in a heart beat, that is just me though i don't care about the other game's coming out.
What's with all the obvious lists that i keep reading these days? 5 reasons of this, 5 reasons off that, 5 reasons why not to... List goes on an on but this is really a good post so i comment for once.
Anyway too many people play mmorpgs just to be first to try it and learn all the secrets and stuff.. They should really get selected group off betatesters that for their work get endless subscription or atleast a year. Hell it might mean 100-1000 people who don't pay but it also means 100-1000 people looking actively for bugs and such. Quality above quantity says i!
Anyway, most mmorpgs would need to pay me to play them, however if they would promise me something in return for ironing their game in and out to find bugs and suggesting couple usable ideas for here and there then i would do betas. Since the games still do the idiotic oppen beta shyt I stay away.
Thank you for reading.
Some of us who sign up to betas enjoy the work. It's not "slave" labor if we volunteered. We get enjoyment out of finding those bugs and helping a game we are interested in succeed. That said, points 3 and 4 really stand out. Sometimes the beta is better than release. I can think of quite a few betas that were fun, but before release they made a few tweaks here and there that took all of that fun out. Other times, beta actually is pretty much the same as release - the things that beta players scream about don't get fixed in time. This is very frustrating.
Also, about permanence. Even though I know in my mind I wont get to keep my character, after a certain amount of time, that attachment still grows. Even though I knew at the start it was beta, sometime down the line it feels pretty bad that I will have to lose all of that work. I don't know why devs can't make a shard where beta characters can continue. Separate it from non beta players if you must, but at least let us romp about and remember the memories.
I have little interest in participating in beta, because I feel that other than fixing an odd floating object here or there, development is usually far too late in the process to actually fix any of the games glaring issues that the players are noticing. It's like being thrown in front of a freight train and told to try and stop it from hitting you.
Point 3 is so stupid....geez....how old are you, 20?....
Please do us a favor and quit your job dude...or some1....fire this guy let him start making pancakes or something...
When you signup for a beta....you already know that you gonna lose all your progress so...this is so STUPID
Not to split hairs, but this really should have been called 5 things to keep in mind before you decide to be a beta tester. They aren't all negative points, and in no way will any of those reasons keep someone who is interested in a particular game from trying it out.
5 Things Not to Do as a Beta Tester
5. Tell the world about it when you're not supposed to, jackass
4. Expect it to never change--this is an MMO, and they all change, even after beta
3. Expect that you get a head start, and get to keep all the stuff no one else had the opportunity to get
2. Expect all aspects of testing to be fun, like the game will hopefully be when it's finished--this is really tied into #4.
1. I've got nothing here. If you're burned out on a game from playing beta, either you played more than anyone should play the game, or it just isn't that dynamic. In either case, you've learned for free what may take others months of fees to figure out.
The points are well taken and for the most part I wouldn't get involved.....but
I would love to be part of the GW2 beta. Its a chance to get a flavor for the game and as, or more importantly, be part of what the finished game will be.
I think Arenanet is a rare bird in today's MMO marketplace and believe they will listen to suggestions and work to make the game the best it can be.
Yup, I'd be more than willing to put in time tp be a tiny part of the finished product. I enjoyed GW1 so much that giving time and effort to gw2 would be ( for me) a payback I would very much enjoy.
I always report the bugs. I always give suggestions, I just wish people would do the same. Even if I don't play the game after beta, I always try to make it the best expirience for fututre players (:
Was an ok article until I read point 3, i'm a little bemused as to the way it was written, coming from a journalist for one of if not THE biggest mmorpg site. Although I tend not to trust the 'journalist' opinions so much anymore and make the judgements for myself, so I guess it doesn't matter too much...but still, come on man.
ive been in a lot of open betas and closed betas and the biggest bug bear i have with the concept of beta is that you can post bug report after bug report discuss balancing issues explain IN depth problems.
for it to all be ignored and those same bugs to still be in the game 6 months after release
i think if its a beta and they want feedback they should actually take it on board and acknowledge the bugs and faults, to have the same bugs still in a released games in some cases years after release is unforgivable.
either its a beta in which case accept my feedback and deal with it even if you just acknowledge it.
OR its a stress test in which case dont waste my time by pretending you want feedback.
For me beta testing would ruin the initital launch of the game for me so Id have to play betas that I wasnt going to normally play and buy.
Closed beta is all too often being used as a sort of get to know all the tricks of the trade and first look at a game before you buy it. Companies that want to release a good game need to do reviews on beta testers. Ones who give little to no feedback need to go same with ones that give simplistic feedback like "this quests sucks" or "mages are OP nerf them". You need to tell them why that quest sucks, maybe give an idea to improve it. Same with your opinion of some class being OP, give reasons, back it up with some kind of stat.
If you see a bug report it, don't keep it a secret you just hurt the game by holding back just so you can exploit it later. Anyone who needs to find and use bugs to gain an advanatage is a horrible gamer. No good gamer needs to use tricks to win. If it makes you feel big then you lead a sad life because sooner or later everyone you knew or played with will move on and forget you.
If all you want to do is test out the game before you buy then don't bother signing up for closed beta, wait for open. Don't waste the companies time and effort to game the game better. Everyone who does not help do true beta testing only hurts the development of the game. Even in open beta you should still be on the look out for bugs and problems and be reporting them. The more info tester, noticed i didn't use players because you are not one in beta, the better the end game will be.
My last beta was Darkfall and ive reported several bugs and posible exploits but when game was launched most where still ingame even after 4 months these where btw serieus bugs/expploits later gave a very negative impeact on whole game and community:(
And many of those beta tests are useless and more of a free gaming time before game go live, fault developers logic that many just take oportunity to play for free if developers dont fix serieus problems you detect and make sure they get them.
Beta couse of burnout?...... maybe only when its 6months or longer but short beta's i doub they couse any burnout.
Why test a game when you already on virge of burnout anyway?
I test only btw beta's of games i realy intrested in never for some free time.
So far games ive tested ive also played.
I agree with all. I test a lot of betas and always try to report any bugs if there are some (lots of games are pretty polished by closed beta now) or add my suggestions on what I like to see in a game. I am an Alt-oholic so I try all the classes and never really get very high level in a beta which is good and bad. I get the feel of the game but never see the end game. Mostly because I do suffer from burnout easy. I am unemployed atm so I have all day to play and it is very true that you can burn out on MMOs. But even more so on a beta that when you get into open beta I have a hard time playing the characters and content all over again. At least the F2P ones do not wipe your open beta characters, so I try to wait and only get into the Open Betas on those.
There really isn't any way to know for sure if you will stick with a game until after you buy it and play. I have only found a few that I have stuck with for years and the others are just wasted money. F2P games are looking better and better now that I am looking for a job. I quit LoTR after a few months because it moved sooo slow. Now that it will be F2P I think I will try it again. That way when I get bored I can move to the next game and come back later without any money out of my pocket.
Sorry to derail the topic, but if you thought lotro played slow with a sub, how is it going to play faster being f2p? You will only have the main storyline to use for questing unless you spend money and buy the side quests which is what actually moves the game. Otherwise, advancing is going to be by grinding on mobs and be painfully slow.
On topic. You can always tell those who are just testing a game to see if they like it or just want something to do and those who actually try and find bugs to report. I stay away from open betas just like I do f2p games. I will do closed beta's, but wont offer any help or even acknowledge anyone who is not actually bug hunting to make the game better before release.
I blame the players just as much as the company for releasing a buggy product.
I have been in many beta's.Two that come immediately to mind....WAR and VAnguard.I saw what VG was and still bought the game to my dismay.I saw what WAR was...and avoided that (substitute your own descriptor).I sincerely believe they are a great way for gamers to save time and money avoiding the poorly designed games.Now I mostly avoid beta's.I have game I play...until. I'll let others pave the way with testing.Given the abysmal state of mmog development in the last few years....i'm not missing much.
If you added the reasons 1-5 together i do not believe that would equal one valid reason not to beta.
I have been in so many triple a betas i can't remember them all but the game in beta is normally very close to release. (While things change/improve the core systems of the game normally stay the same and its those core systems that make or break a game.)
Its an mmo its not supposed to BURN out at least not quickly, if this is happening fast ina beta then ... the games bad, maybe you could hint this to the devs , tho this rarely changes.
ETC ETC for all the points i just don't see any reason NOT to beta that is an acctual reason.
Hi,
This is my first post on this forum, however I have been reading articles and following MMOs through this website for years. I feel that I have to respond to this article in particular simply because I disagree with almost everything in it.
From the wall of text to poor sentence structure, grammar mistakes and a weak attempt at controversy, I find this article to be simply lacking.
I'll go down the list in the same manner the original post was constructed.
5) NDA's are a necessary part of a beta test. Us, the testers, agree to the terms and conditions similar to the rules and regulations required for posting on these forums. Are these rules always followed by the user?
The developer fully understands that a fair portion of the game is going to be leaked and as such there are multiple beta testing cycles.
First, is an internal test closely followed by "friends and family". Even during these early phases some information gets leaked by the excited or disappointed testers.
A broader closed Beta usually follows and leads up to an open Beta test. At this point the game is very close to completion and the Beta feedback is going to be analyzed and patched on the day of release.
If the developers met their internal milestones this feedback is mainly used to fix broken quests, bugs and other minor issues. Most of the feedback, similar to this post, comes in a similar wall of text format and provides little to no input. However, from time to time, testers bring valuable information that even a prominent studio with a large QA team can easily miss.
The developer and the publisher are fully prepared for the unavoidable leaks that are an unfortunate collateral damage of an open or even closed beta. Having said that, it is up to the tester to honor their signed contract.
4) The Beta, whether open or closed, good or bad, is free. No one forces the community to participate but it is a chance to catch a glimpse at a potentially successful and promising product at no cost to the user.
Most importantly, if the game has flaws but an overall fun experience, or simply an original "hook", this is a perfect time to provide concise and helpful feedback that can point the game in the right direction and make a strong gaming experience on the date of release.
3) Beta test provides the lucky participants with early knowledge of the game. Having participated in multiple MMO Beta tests I can attest that the experience gave me a solid grasp on the mechanics and created a much easier leveling experience for the official release of the game.
Those who enter the MMO world for the first time without a previous knowledge of the game find themselves at a small disadvantage compared to the seasoned Beta tester. Allowing Beta testers to keep their characters would create an unbalanced playing field and infuriate the majority of the gaming community for the MMO in question.
2) While the beta experiences is hardly ever as polished as the game that ships a few months down the road the tester is not obligated or required to commit their time to the beta test. A screening process happens during registration based on user experience in MMOs, their hardware and demographic.
As with the first section above, the developers account for the fact that the majority of players will not contribute to the testing cycle. Having said that, the sheer number of players logged in simultaneously provide critical feedback in server stability. The gathered information is used to once again create a more polished experience.
1) At this point I feel that the writer is simply fishing to fill the last section.
Burn-out happens with unpolished or poorly designed games. If a tester can burn out from an MMO in two weeks or even two months that game is probably not worth paying for. Most players would be happy to find this at no cost and wait for a more promising title.
To conclude this lengthy post I would like to say that I read the requirements for becoming a writer on MMORPG.com. I have enjoyed many posts over the years and I understand that writers are required to submit X amount of articles per month.
Personally, I would like it if the above mentioned writers took more time to come up with original ideas as opposed to vomiting quick and unsatisfying articles to fill the gaps.
Thanks,
- Crazy
My apologies about the "wall of text" comment above. It seems that the forum does not allow spacing :)
- Crazy
i agree with all of these but some of these dont apply 2 ppl i just got accepted 2 vindictus closed beta and i plan on being very helpful cuz i know wat can happen if no1 helps during beta thats right im talking about the dead game syndrome which 4 all those who dont know wat that is it means no1 plays the game no more bcuz the game got ruined 4 reasons like bugs, over powerd enemies, classes or gear in cash shops but onwards ive never gotten tired of a game that i truly liked and not cuz i truly took a break from it probably cuz i dont play all the time i usually only play at night and then the not getting 2 keep ur charactor after beta test is over who cares if u truly like the game u wouldnt mind cuz it gives u more chance 2 try new things out with the game that u probably wouldnt try if u did get 2 keep it like if u pick a warrior clas char and get really good at it cuz that char get deleted u might try a mage class cuz u might as well cuz u might like it better and u dont have any more obligations with that old char like guild or leveling and higher so i guess wat im trying 2 say for all those ppl who feel the same way i do plz dont feel discouraged from trying a beta cuz we need u there so the game doesnt die out
The reason people misunderstand beta's is that the companies never ever ever make it clear from the beginning what their intentions are.. They lure the average gamer in with "Play the game early and free!!" and make them chase the carrot from scratch EVEN in Closed betas and alphas.. they rarely ever start the characters at various levels to test the content (like Kingdom Heroes when they made everyone max level for a little while)..
I blame the F2P market for the dissapearance of true beta testing.. Because everytime an old mmo is localized from another country, the company makes it a point to spend months of CBT's, although the final game has been developed years ago. This makes gamers confused, they see the final version, yet are asked to "test" a game that is being localized (translated basically)..
This is nothing but early access to many..
The more beta players, the more bugs get found and fixed before launch.
Avoiding it isn't solving anything, it would actually cause more problems.
People just need to keep in mind that BETA means BETA.
Which means there will be bugs, there will be things wrong, etc etc etc whatever.
I seldom do beta's anymore, unless asked (I used to be a Dev and still have friends in the industry). And even then, I'm still very hesitant.
Beta is just a frustrating/tedius grind if done right. And seldom are they done right anymore (by the companies or the players).
As for the secretive part ... pffffft. There is nothing secretive about a beta if you know where to look and run in the right circles.
I seldom do Beta's anymore myself for all of the reasons you listed above however I cannot stress enough how much I agree with all 5 of those comments especially 3 and 4 and how many tards there are out there that just join a beta to get the free play time of a try before you buy in and don't actually do any testing whatsoever..seen it time an time again in beta forums and those god aweful posts about can i keep my character and this game sucks its not even finshed yet i'm going back to wow til its done....waaaaah...
As far as I'm concerned, "open beta" just means free trial. I play for a few hours and decide if I want to buy the game. As soon as MMOs start releasing free trials by launch day, I'll start taking open betas more seriously.
Used to be that free trials were the norm. I think they still should be. Too many of them are just too awful for me to care if that's not the right way of looking at it.
All of these reasons more or less point toward why I won't test TOR. I signed up for beta testing, but realized after they began invites, that I really don't want to test it, and it's mainly for reasons 4 and 5. I WOULD be one of those gamers that would actually give feedback, but at the same time, I really just wanted to get my hands on the game. After reading through this list, I'm actually glad I'm opting out of doing it. I'd much rather wait till Launch and let myself enjoy it from actual Day 1. If I do get invited to the beta I'm going to turn it down, it'll be hard to do, but it will be for the better.