I know what you mean. Playing in the TOR beta the last two weekends and when a server restart happens the chat log goes crazy with people complaining.
How dare they restart and try to fix this game that I am not yet paying for! I demand satisfaction, or at least Lea in slave bikini uniform giving me an apology!
I actually do try to be helpful in betas, and not just test drive. Except for Star Trek. They really should have paid me for that one.
I think most gamer don't understand the fact that first most games if not all are tested by a pro team. They need players just to test a greater scheme of the game which lead to the stress test. And that's the whole problem here, gamers aren't testing the game that much, but more like the hardware and the overall quality of coding in fact, not what is coded, but how it is coded. This create a very frustrating situation because gamers are never listened when they point problems (ye gamer don't give a fuck about the how, they don't even understand it, what interest them is the what). So the dev team just ignore them all together, they don't give a crap because they are not supposed to point design flaws, in fact they don't really even need their opinions. They do it because a small team can never corner all the small bugs as well as a mass of fan boys, but that's just a good side effect. And its frustrating for the dev team because they have their game bashed even before it launch, and they can't really do anything, because it's already too late. So gamer testing is like a double slap that really don't give anything to either side, but its still a must, well because having huge testing team wouldn't do it either. And that's exactly why it turned into a happy advertising fest with time, now its like a sweet facepalm for both party, its nice and pleasant, well somewhat. Gamer try it for free, and the company got his code optimized and his hardware running smoothly.
'Preview weekends' and 'Stress testing' is not really 'beta testing'. Previews, open betas, call them what you will are kind of common nowadays but 'real' betas still go on despite these.
So the small percentage of elitist gaming geeks should decide for the rest of us gaming masses what kind of game they should play? The title of this post is quite appropriate I must say.
I did enjoy the humor of the article but disagree with the OP - I think the more people involved with beta testing in games the better since feedback will be from a wider range of player.
I was selected for SWTOR beta and enjoyed it immensely and I'm not a gaming expert - just an avid MMO player who has been playing MMO's for about 10 years now. I was happy to be involved and to offer my opinion and suggestions to the mix.
Games are for EVERYONE and not just for the Coyote's of the world
As that punk once told Harry Callahan in the elevator: "Better luck next time fool"
Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.
So the small percentage of elitist gaming geeks should decide for the rest of us gaming masses what kind of game they should play? The title of this post is quite appropriate I must say.
I did enjoy the humor of the article but disagree with the OP - I think the more people involved with beta testing in games the better since feedback will be from a wider range of player.
I was selected for SWTOR beta and enjoyed it immensely and I'm not a gaming expert - just an avid MMO player who has been playing MMO's for about 10 years now. I was happy to be involved and to offer my opinion and suggestions to the mix.
Games are for EVERYONE and not just for the Coyote's of the world
As that punk once told Harry Callahan in the elevator: "Better luck next time fool"
So games are for everyone, but you are not supposed to give your opinion? So how are you doing that? seam a bit contradicting isn't it.
Or maybe you don't share the same opinion so prefer other to shut up?
Not that I'm bitter either but I didn't get into the SWTOR beta, or the Secret World beta for that matter. Pfft, just means that I'm going to wait until its released and listen to what certain parts of the community says. Then and only then will I plunk down some cash for the game.
When a company holds a beta and requires people to pre-order or even order the game client before they get to play it, I have a problem with that. That was a dirty trick that Trion used and NCSoft used with Aion. Played both and cancelled both pre-orders. I do regret not following through with Aion though, it actually turned out to be a halfway decent game.
i got offered the beta, but didn't accept. more because of the timing and being unable to download the large files at that time of the month. my isp would've cut my speeds down to 56k for reaching the limit (australian isps have some odd ideas of what "unlimited downloads" means). i'm not annoyed about missing out. it's looking like what i expect it to be: a time filler until gw2.
not sure why you tacked on that last part about companies requiring you to pre-order, because i didn't pre-order swtor to get into the beta. australians can't actually pre-order it there anyway. just signed up months ago as a volunteer is all.
I'll explain: That last part had nothing to do with SWTOR, it had mainly to do with the two companies I mentioned. Just another way that publishers are using beta as an excuse to get players to pay money for something that used to be free. Coyote, the original article writer detailed some differences between his experience in past betas and I was merely pointing out some other new tactics that some devs are adopting that annoy me.
It was a new paragraph, new topic, unrelated to the SWTOR point. Hope that cleared things up.
ah, k. must've been too big a leap in a new direction for me. but i'm not known for my reading skills. apologies.
So the small percentage of elitist gaming geeks should decide for the rest of us gaming masses what kind of game they should play? The title of this post is quite appropriate I must say.
I did enjoy the humor of the article but disagree with the OP - I think the more people involved with beta testing in games the better since feedback will be from a wider range of player.
I was selected for SWTOR beta and enjoyed it immensely and I'm not a gaming expert - just an avid MMO player who has been playing MMO's for about 10 years now. I was happy to be involved and to offer my opinion and suggestions to the mix.
Games are for EVERYONE and not just for the Coyote's of the world
As that punk once told Harry Callahan in the elevator: "Better luck next time fool"
So games are for everyone, but you are not supposed to give your opinion? So how are you doing that? seam a bit contradicting isn't it.
Or maybe you don't share the same opinion so prefer other to shut up?
Uh duh - that's what I was saying with my post - please read
I was saying Beta testing should NOT be just for the 1% elititst gaming experts but rather for a wide range of player.
Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.
"You see, back in the early days of online gaming, being selected to take part in a beta was a pretty big deal. You had to fill out applications, list your past experiences, and if and when you were finally selected? It was like getting a puppy on your birthday, winning the lottery or stumbling across a picture of an uncovered breast in an old copy of National Geographic Magazine."
lol Thank you for giving me a good laugh this morning when I read this (I mean this in an entirely positive way).
Back in the day of 1986 I got into the Habitat beta simply because I found it and applied. I suppose the relative small number of people on Quantum Link followed by the even smaller amount that noticed the article about it... helped.
Back in the day getting into the Ultima Online beta.. meant that you filled something out and sent $1 to cover shipping the disc...
Everquest was a bit harder to get into and I honestly only got in before "phase 4" because I knew someone that knew someone.
Past experiences? how many MMO betas had there been ... back in the day.
Personally I took the article as more of a humor thing.. maybe it was supposed to be serious but I found it enjoyable to read and funny.
Back in my day when I used to beta test we walked uphill both ways just to get the disk for the game! And they made us test it blindfolded so we really knew what we were doing!
Seriously, I understand being bitter about not being able to test, but beta testing hasn't changed at all. I've been MMO'ing for over 10 years now, as well as beta testing several of these games, the only thing that has changed is the player base- namely the size and demographic. You can't have a beta of 1000 people when there are close to 2 million people who want to test it, and the larger the pool the more lemons you find.
10 years ago the MMO crowd was 90% basement geeks who took serious pride in their gaming, I know from experience. As the genre expanded more mainstream players came in who may not have held so sacred those original nerd oaths uttered in EQ or UO or AC or whatever pre-WoW MMO might have held your fancy.
The fact is, those players are still there, they are just now the minority to a more loud, gimme-now, free-loot generation of gamers. I tested TOR for a year and found several other dedicated testers who considered it an honor to play the game and help out in any way they could. I also found several idiots who knew what was best for the game, how to fix every bug, needed a uber-lightsaber as a beta testing reward, and swore every other class than their own was overpowered. The fact is, these days ya get a little of both crowds from MMO's.
I actually agree with this article entirely. Very few people in the weekend beta tests with me actually seemed interested in checking for issues in the game.
Comments
I know what you mean. Playing in the TOR beta the last two weekends and when a server restart happens the chat log goes crazy with people complaining.
How dare they restart and try to fix this game that I am not yet paying for! I demand satisfaction, or at least Lea in slave bikini uniform giving me an apology!
I actually do try to be helpful in betas, and not just test drive. Except for Star Trek. They really should have paid me for that one.
I think most gamer don't understand the fact that first most games if not all are tested by a pro team. They need players just to test a greater scheme of the game which lead to the stress test. And that's the whole problem here, gamers aren't testing the game that much, but more like the hardware and the overall quality of coding in fact, not what is coded, but how it is coded. This create a very frustrating situation because gamers are never listened when they point problems (ye gamer don't give a fuck about the how, they don't even understand it, what interest them is the what). So the dev team just ignore them all together, they don't give a crap because they are not supposed to point design flaws, in fact they don't really even need their opinions. They do it because a small team can never corner all the small bugs as well as a mass of fan boys, but that's just a good side effect. And its frustrating for the dev team because they have their game bashed even before it launch, and they can't really do anything, because it's already too late. So gamer testing is like a double slap that really don't give anything to either side, but its still a must, well because having huge testing team wouldn't do it either. And that's exactly why it turned into a happy advertising fest with time, now its like a sweet facepalm for both party, its nice and pleasant, well somewhat. Gamer try it for free, and the company got his code optimized and his hardware running smoothly.
'Preview weekends' and 'Stress testing' is not really 'beta testing'. Previews, open betas, call them what you will are kind of common nowadays but 'real' betas still go on despite these.
So the small percentage of elitist gaming geeks should decide for the rest of us gaming masses what kind of game they should play? The title of this post is quite appropriate I must say.
I did enjoy the humor of the article but disagree with the OP - I think the more people involved with beta testing in games the better since feedback will be from a wider range of player.
I was selected for SWTOR beta and enjoyed it immensely and I'm not a gaming expert - just an avid MMO player who has been playing MMO's for about 10 years now. I was happy to be involved and to offer my opinion and suggestions to the mix.
Games are for EVERYONE and not just for the Coyote's of the world
As that punk once told Harry Callahan in the elevator: "Better luck next time fool"
Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.
So games are for everyone, but you are not supposed to give your opinion? So how are you doing that? seam a bit contradicting isn't it.
Or maybe you don't share the same opinion so prefer other to shut up?
ah, k. must've been too big a leap in a new direction for me. but i'm not known for my reading skills. apologies.
Uh duh - that's what I was saying with my post - please read
I was saying Beta testing should NOT be just for the 1% elititst gaming experts but rather for a wide range of player.
Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.
"You see, back in the early days of online gaming, being selected to take part in a beta was a pretty big deal. You had to fill out applications, list your past experiences, and if and when you were finally selected? It was like getting a puppy on your birthday, winning the lottery or stumbling across a picture of an uncovered breast in an old copy of National Geographic Magazine."
lol Thank you for giving me a good laugh this morning when I read this (I mean this in an entirely positive way).
Back in the day of 1986 I got into the Habitat beta simply because I found it and applied. I suppose the relative small number of people on Quantum Link followed by the even smaller amount that noticed the article about it... helped.
Back in the day getting into the Ultima Online beta.. meant that you filled something out and sent $1 to cover shipping the disc...
Everquest was a bit harder to get into and I honestly only got in before "phase 4" because I knew someone that knew someone.
Past experiences? how many MMO betas had there been ... back in the day.
Personally I took the article as more of a humor thing.. maybe it was supposed to be serious but I found it enjoyable to read and funny.
Back in my day when I used to beta test we walked uphill both ways just to get the disk for the game! And they made us test it blindfolded so we really knew what we were doing!
Seriously, I understand being bitter about not being able to test, but beta testing hasn't changed at all. I've been MMO'ing for over 10 years now, as well as beta testing several of these games, the only thing that has changed is the player base- namely the size and demographic. You can't have a beta of 1000 people when there are close to 2 million people who want to test it, and the larger the pool the more lemons you find.
10 years ago the MMO crowd was 90% basement geeks who took serious pride in their gaming, I know from experience. As the genre expanded more mainstream players came in who may not have held so sacred those original nerd oaths uttered in EQ or UO or AC or whatever pre-WoW MMO might have held your fancy.
The fact is, those players are still there, they are just now the minority to a more loud, gimme-now, free-loot generation of gamers. I tested TOR for a year and found several other dedicated testers who considered it an honor to play the game and help out in any way they could. I also found several idiots who knew what was best for the game, how to fix every bug, needed a uber-lightsaber as a beta testing reward, and swore every other class than their own was overpowered. The fact is, these days ya get a little of both crowds from MMO's.
I actually agree with this article entirely. Very few people in the weekend beta tests with me actually seemed interested in checking for issues in the game.
this whole article was about quality over quantity of beta testing... *whooosh*