Pumping Irony

I was just listening to a podcast where the hosts were talking about being in various beta tests for MMOs and thought I’d remark briefly on my latest experience.

I’ve stated several times that I wish game studios would go back to taking beta seriously rather than just a marketing tool. I wish the beta testers would take the “job” they volunteered for seriously and actually test stuff and submit feedback instead of getting a sneak peek and dropping it. I wish studios would also hold those volunteer beta testers to higher standards of quality and accountability and if someone isn’t pulling their weight, drop them and give the beta slot to someone who will.

I recently announced I was in Friends and Family Beta for one of the higher-profile and anticipated titles for 2009. Each week the studio would send out emails announcing when the next tests would be, what they specifically wanted us to look at, what changes were being made in that week’s patch, and so forth. Each one also stated that participation in each test would count towards inclusion in future beta tests.

I did get to participate in a few of the tests, but more often than not I was plagued by CTD after CTD. Sometimes the game would run like a champ, other times it would lag and hitch badly, especially around other players. Hey, it’s beta — early beta — I expect that. But because of the often rapid-fire CTD’s, the client not connecting to the authentication server, and the limited times of testing (other than a week or two ago when they kept the test servers up full-time for seven days, that was great!) and a few other technical issues, I was not always able to truly participate as often as I wanted or tried to.

The game just entered Closed Beta, and apparently what level participation I did manage did not quite make the mark — I have been excluded from Closed Beta. The NDA still prohibits me from mentioning which game this was, hence the intentionally vague language in this post.

Even though I was on the business end of the “whammo stick” I really respect this particular studio for holding us to any level of accountability at all and placing value upon each beta slot they offer. Well played, my hat’s off to you.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 5:16 pm and is filed under MMO Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.