42 Replies. 3 pages. Viewing page 1.
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| 42. |
Re: No subject |
Dec 9, 2003, 07:54 |
famished |
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"They want your address to sign up? Fuck that."
Maybe it's to send you cd?
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| 41. |
Re: No subject |
Dec 8, 2003, 19:28 |
Monkeyhonker |
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"They want your address to sign up? Fuck that."
Just put 1600 Pennsylvania Ave or something like that. It'll most likely be a download anyway.
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| 40. |
Re: OMG |
Dec 8, 2003, 18:50 |
cyxxon |
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Want compensation? How about a few weeks of playing the game FREE? I tire of multiplayer games quickly, and have gotten my $50 worth long before a game was released. Had a blast with the game, but never even bothered to buy it because I'd played it out before release. Planetside, Asheron's Call, UT2K3, dozens of others. Played the beta, loved the beta, but never bought the full version because two weeks of beta testing was enough to fill me on the game.
I have to admit I think along the same lines. I betatested Diablo II, Unreal II XMP and Horizons, and though I bougth Diablo II afterwards and liked Unreal II XMP and Horizons, I would not buy the MMORPG cause I never would (I actually liked betatesting it so I could play a commercial grade MMORPG for free, even if in beta), and Unreal II XMP... well, it is great, but I do not know if I would buy U2 if I did not already own it for it.
And yes, I did file bugs, whenever I came across one. And it always gave me some kinda good feeling, having the devs respond to you and trying to fix your "personal" problem... It definitely is a different feeling from just shelling out your bucks at some anonymous store...
This comment was edited on Dec 8, 18:50. |
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| 39. |
Athlon 64 |
Dec 8, 2003, 18:29 |
Ulster |
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Far Cry will also come in a version optimized for the Athlon 64. It will be extremely interesting to see the performance of that release.
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| 38. |
No subject |
Dec 8, 2003, 18:27 |
Michael Bolton's hair dresser |
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They want your address to sign up? Fuck that.
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| Dr. Michael Bolton's Hairdreser PhD, MD, LLP, DDS |
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| 36. |
Re: official word |
Dec 8, 2003, 18:13 |
House |
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kxmode, I work in a development studio, and the simple answer as to why external beta testers aren't compensated is that they are willing to participate without compensation. When a big company suddenly finds itself unable to get any beta testers for its next MMORPG, that's when you'll see it break out incentives like free copies of the game.
Wide-open external beta testing is really only good for a few things:
1. Stress-testing for large-scale multiplayer games
2. Compatability issues
3. Free publicity and word-of-mouth
Unfortunately, #3 is a large part of why so many games now have external beta test periods. Internal, paid testers are the most reliable source of bugs and gameplay issues.
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| 35. |
No subject |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:47 |
DG |
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Rather have the volunteer beta testing or no beta testing?
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| 34. |
Re: Diablo II example. |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:46 |
Kxmode |
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I just remembered (reluctantly) that I was a beta-tester for Diablo 2, and one cool thing that they did was put my name "in the game."
If you go to the game credits, eventualy the "Ring of a Thousand" will appear followed by the 1000 names of the beta testers.
It's a dorky kind of gratification knowing that your name is in the credits of one of the best selling computer games of all time.
See! Now that's a cool form of compensation. 
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| 33. |
Um |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:45 |
Xero |
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A person's time is worth more than anything else. This, above everything else, should be the one thing a person is compensated for. That's the way things work in any other industry.
Again...they aren't forcing you to. You read the agreement, you accepted the requirement that you would be willing to put in the time. That's on your part, not theirs. You don't like it, don't sign up, that simple!
Pentium 4, 2.6ghz 800Mhz FSB
1024MB PC3200
Geforce 4 Ti4400 128MB DDR |
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| Currently playing: Tomb Raider, Sleeping Dogs, Hitman Absolution, Far Cry 3, Starcraft 2 |
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| 32. |
Re: No subject |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:38 |
Beamer |
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Give 5000 people that would buy the game a 50% discount and that's $125,000 less gross.
Consider that the discount comes before the retailer fees and it's an even harder hit for the manufacturer. The retailer still takes their cut of the full price, then leaves the publisher with the difference.
Especially considering at least 50% of the beta testers log less than 2 hours of play. If you're compensating someone you want to be certain they deserve that, which is why companies have beta testers on staff working set hours.
Fact remains that as long as volunteer beta testing as is popular and successful as it is (and it's very successful) it will always be around.
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| 31. |
official word |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:38 |
Kxmode |
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Could we get a representative from publisher or developer (or both) to tell us why they don't "compensate" us for our time anymore?
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| 30. |
Diablo II example. |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:35 |
islander |
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I just remembered (reluctantly) that I was a beta-tester for Diablo 2, and one cool thing that they did was put my name "in the game."
If you go to the game credits, eventualy the "Ring of a Thousand" will appear followed by the 1000 names of the beta testers.
It's a dorky kind of gratification knowing that your name is in the credits of one of the best selling computer games of all time.
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| 29. |
No subject |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:25 |
Kxmode |
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You don't seem to understand what I mean by "compensate". Compensation doesn't always mean getting paid in money. It can also mean getting a free copy of the game or a discount. It costs the Publisher under $10 bucks to publish one complete unit (packaging, booklet, jewel case, etc.). Even at a 50% discount (49.99 / 0.50 = 24.99), they're still making money. You all need to wake up and smell the coffee. Until we get something, Software developers and publishers will continue to take advantage of us.
This comment was edited on Dec 8, 17:43. |
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| 28. |
Re: OMG |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:19 |
4D-Boxing |
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"Unless companies compensated HUNDREDS of testers there's no way to have this done with paid testers. Thinking so is a bit unreasonable."
Ask Nintendo how many beta testers they have on staff? LOL yeah really unreasonable! Unless the testers are grade school kids you won't need 100 for a single game! One pro beta tester is worth 50 online sign-ups.
" Played the beta, loved the beta, but never bought the full version because two weeks of beta testing was enough to fill me on the game."
Man i will buy a McDonald fanchise and hire you and your biddies and give you free burgers, when ever we get a special like the bacon mushroom melt you'll get to eat some weeks before erveryone else and i'll get rich!!!!
Time is money, But i also understand that as long as their are people willing to do half a$$ job for free that is the way companies will go!
This comment was edited on Dec 8, 17:19. |
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| 27. |
Re: Beta Testing is for the company |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:15 |
Beamer |
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Only game I ever got for free was Tribes, and only because I was willing to host a server for launch week.
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| 26. |
Re: Beta Testing is for the company |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:12 |
Jedi Master |
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Ya know, in the "old days" of the mid-90's or so beta testers DID get free copies of games. I'm not sure when the companies gave up this practice, but it seems to me to be a pretty cheap thing for them to do.
By the point the game comes out, the testers aren't going to play the SP game too much anymore (if it's a scripted FPS, that is--driving games, RPGs, flying games, they offer more replayability).
I'd venture to say less than half the public beta testers for a given game will actually buy it, so they don't have to actually GIVE them a game, just let them order it from their website or whatever if they want for free.
The Jedi Master
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| 25. |
Re: OMG |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:06 |
Beamer |
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A person's time is worth more than anything else. This, above everything else, should be the one thing a person is compensated for. That's the way things work in any other industry.
That's why it's VOLUNTEER!
It's like saying soup kitchens need to pay the people that work there.
If you don't have the time, don't sign up for the beta test. If you think the companies owe you something for testing, don't sign up. There are thousands more that are 100% willing to give their time and resources to play the game.
Want compensation? How about a few weeks of playing the game FREE? I tire of multiplayer games quickly, and have gotten my $50 worth long before a game was released. Had a blast with the game, but never even bothered to buy it because I'd played it out before release. Planetside, Asheron's Call, UT2K3, dozens of others. Played the beta, loved the beta, but never bought the full version because two weeks of beta testing was enough to fill me on the game.
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| 24. |
Beta Testing is for the company |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:04 |
islander |
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Here is my guess to why they do a 'free' 5000 player beta test... it's not so that these 5000 morons can actualy file any bugs with the company (since I'd venture few of them do), so much as it allows the company to test their infrastructure on a semi-large scale so that they can get an idea of how it will hold up when released to the population at-large. Their authentication server, their game browser, etc. These features are difficult to test and judge effectiveness on a small-scale. If these people bother to report bugs, that's just a bonus.
The second thing this does is allow great word-of-mouth advertising. If each beta tester tells 4 people about the game, and those 4 people tell 4 people that they know a guy who is a beta tester for Far Cray, etc. Then some "free" buzz can be built up about the game.
It seems like it's a lose-lose situation with you complainers out there... if the company releases the game without this type of beta test, they may experience unforseen problems that require those series of 3-4 patches within the 1st week (Halo?). -insert complaining- But if they use goobers to test their product (yes, they are using you like a 50 cent whore), then you get complaining about them not paying 5000 people, etc.
I think some type of compensation would be in order here. The company ought to give the 5000 losers a free copy of the game once it comes out anyhow.
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| 23. |
Re: OMG |
Dec 8, 2003, 17:02 |
Beamer |
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Oh, and 4D, the motivation is
1) To fix the problems you find in a game. If you download a beta that could be fun but has some serious gameplay issues wouldn't you want them fixed so the game is worth your time? Kids online LOVE to complain, more than they like making money, so message boards fill with complaints that lead to more tweaking.
2) People like beta testing because it gets them in early. But they want in EARLIER. They want to be experts when the game gets released. No way into earlier closed testing without having proven yourself worthwhile.
Mostly kids report it because they want the game to be good. And you can complain all you want, free beta testing is proven to work, and paid, on that scale, would cripple even EA.
PC games will always have bugs. 95% of those are either hardware issues that weren't expected, or bugs that had been known and reported but time was never found to squash them. The game was pushed out, knowing it could be fixed in a patch. Again, not the fault of bad beta testing, the fault of publishers knowing they can get away with it.
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42 Replies. 3 pages. Viewing page 1.
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