Beta Tests

[Khazoth]

So, this apparently needs to be said because not only gamers, but game companies have lost sight of what a beta test is. It's not a chance for you to practice at a game, or play a demo, nor is it a chance for free press for game companies. Though certainly it could be all of those things, but most importantly...

It is a test, where you test things, and then tell people what is broke, and they fix it.

Why do I bring this up? I recently played a bit of The Secret World with a friend, a game I had looked forward to what with it having a unique setting. The game is almost unplayable because every ten to fifteen minutes I encountered another bug that hindered my ability to continue. Things that should've been picked up in a beta test.


So my question is, who is more at fault, Funcom for its wierd beta testing habits, or the beta testers?

 

[snootyjim]

This is an era of gaming where everything is monetised - good for the industry, often bad for players. So yes, beta testing has a totally different guise these days.

That doesn't mean that it's linked to buggy games though. Even if a beta is a commodity, that doesn't mean that traditional beta testing has ceased to exist. I think they're effectively separate enterprises now - one is a system designed to find bugs, the other is a system designed to take more money off gamers and let them start playing before everybody else. The fact that they both have the same name makes things more complex than they need to be.

 

[keybird]

Every game is beta tested (although some clearly get less attention than others) and most of the time I'm sure it just comes down to the developers. They can see that their game is practically cracking at the seams, as in The Secret World. What probably stops them from fixing it is either lack of funding, which is understandable from a lesser known developer like Funcom, or they simply ran out of time.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Weren;t the recent public events of The Secret World just open beta runs? That might explain why it was buggy because, as you yourself self, beta tests are for testing and reporting not just trial plays of a game.

 

[Smooth Operator]

If a game is released buggy it is always the companies fault, if the beta testers were bad then you should have gotten better ones, if the engine is bad then you should have gotten a better one,... we pay devs to figure this shit out and if you aren't figuring it out well then we won't be paying you / for your game.