Volume 2 - Dec. 21, 2005

Beta Blues - the do's and don'ts of
beta participation


by Raya

Assuming that, like the rest of us fanbois and gurlls, you have applied
to Sigil to be invited as a Vanguard beta tester. And you are waiting
patiently…well, as patiently as you can, in between checking your
email inbox twenty times a day.

Days go by, and they turn into weeks. By this time, you are pretty certain
that those two loudmouths on the OVF (official Vanguard forum), Killmeister*
and Fancypants,* are in beta, because they have cleverly let certain little
hints drop. And you figure you are at least as worthy as Killmeister and
a damn sight better player than Fancypants. So how come Sigil isn't sending
you that all-prized beta invite?

For argument's sake, let's pick a fictional hero and let's call him…oh,
just at random…2kewl4u.* 2kewl4u, after patiently waiting for his
invite, finally decides that, because he is such a desirable tester, they
just must have goofed and overlooked him.

So 2kewl4u spends at least fifteen whole minutes on an email…he
means to do it right the first time around. The email is addressed to
Cindy Bowens. If she is the community manager, he figures, then let her
earn her pay, right? I mean, after all, he thinks, somewhere in the dim
recesses of his mind that is also occupied with seeing how many times
he can say the "F" word in one sentence, what does a community
manager have to do except sit around and boss the community? 2kewl4u makes
it perfectly plain in his email that he is on to her careless ways and
that he will graciously overlook her negligence this one time before he
lets her boss know what a bad job he thinks she is doing.

Two days later - still no response. This time, he decides Glip is the
person to tackle. Glip is a guy, see, and he will understand how guys
like 2kewl4u need to be taken seriously. So 2kewl writes a masterpiece
of an email. In it he lavishes praise on Glip, what a good guy he is and
all that. Then he mentions confidentially how Sigil is making a serious
mistake in not inviting him into beta. "Cuz ya no, Glip," he
says, "you and me no wut makes a gud tester, rite? So mebbe u can
talk to them and put a bur up there tales cuz they need to get me on thir
side." [sic]

2kewl4u is absolutely certain this email will do the trick. By now, he
has taken to hanging around in various IRCs and other Vanguard chats,
trying to figure out how everyone else is doing it. But people seem to
be kind of mean and close-mouthed about the whole thing. If it was him,
he'd pwn them with his stories of beta prowess.

Finally, 2kewl4u decides that Glip either didn't get his email or he
is just not on the job. At last…2kewl4u feels he has no other choice
but to go to the main man.

You don't get to be main man by missing opportunities, 2kewl thinks.
The Bradster will recognize all 2kewl's great assets and talents and…stuff.

So he spends a full twenty minutes this time devising a very polite and
detailed email to Brad McQuaid. Never let it be said that any dev daunted
2kewl4u McBottom. His email patiently points out that he has been waiting
for quite a while now and is sure it is just an oversight (well, he actually
says, you didn't get all your soljers lined up rite) and that he feels
that by bringing it to Brad's attention (just letting ya no buddy) things
will fall into place admirably (we can pwn those other stopid gamz).

While 2kewl is patiently waiting, he goes back to the official Vanguard
forum and complains bitterly about the lack of response in beta invites
and how l33t he is and he can pwn anyone on the server, and lots of witty
things too.

Some forum regulars try to point out the error of his ways, but 2kewl
figures they are just jealous cuz he is soon gonna be beta'd and they
aren't…right?

2kewl4u never hears from Sigil again and can't figure out what went wrong.

Of course, I am exaggerating, and there is no such person as 2kewl4u--I
made him up out of my evil little mind. But wait, there have been emails
similar to what I am talking about…just read the forums if you don't
believe me. And in other beta testing situations in other games, the horror
stories are as bad, if not worse *cough WoW cough*.

The main mistake that beta-hopefuls are making is in thinking that beta
is a reward for being great. Not so, my friend. Testing beta is a contractual
situation wherein you, the tester, agree with GreatGames Ltd., the developer,
to have access to a game that has not been finished yet. You have the
opportunity of helping GGL create the best game possible and, in return,
you get a look at the game before anyone else does--well, anyone else
if you are not counting the other 5,000 beta testers. The way gaming companies
selects the beta testers is by need.

If they need 20 more testers, they go through their applications and
pick 20 that look good--i.e. they have the necessary comp specs, have
some experience (or no experience at all, depending on what they are testing).
You have to put yourself in the beta selectors' shoes…if they want
to test something to see if hardcore gamers will be intrigued…they
get in the required number of hardcore gamers. If they want to test something
that may be too hard for the average gamer (or too easy), they get in
the required number of medium players. And so on.

They do NOT base their decision on your looks, your education, the amount
of money you make (or do not make)…nor do they base it on your personality,
your state of health or your time zone. Nor do they base it on your food
habits, your popularity with people of the same sex, opposite sex, or…well,
we won't go there.

They DO base it on your computer specs, your past experience, your reliability,
your willingness to follow direction, your ability to communicate. They
also base it on the perceived ease of working with you AND whether or
not you have any tendencies or history of not following the NDA (i.e.
are you able to keep your mouth shut?). Since I am not inside the minds
of beta tester selectors, there may be more criteria that I am not aware
of.

So with this information in mind, let's go back to our imaginary friend
2kewl4u and find out how he presented himself as a possible beta testing
candidate. How many of the requirements did he comply with?

1. He probably has the computer requirements, although that is not a
given. Many times the selectors don't say what the requirements are, but
they do check what your specs are to see if you can play the game at the
level they need you to play.

2. He um… well, possibly he has the needed amount of experience.

3. And that seems to be it.

Let's see how he did in the other departments:

1. Reliability? How reliable is someone who sidesteps all the tenets
of business communication and tries to bully an employee of a company
into complying with his wishes by threatening to tell her boss how badly
she is doing?

2. Willingness to follow direction? How many times has the OVF been decorated
with heartfelt pleas to not send emails to Cindy, Glip, Brad, Zack or
anyone else on Sigil staff? 'Nuff said.

3. Ability to communicate? Erm…saying words is not communicating.

4. Easy to work with? Well, yeah, maybe, and so is a polar bear with
a toothache.

5. History of not following an NDA? Perhaps not, but the statement that
he would broadcast his beta status all over the place is not good promotion
for him and would certainly start alarm bells ringing in the minds of
the beta selection staff.

A possible two out of seven will not earn our hero a beta spot, no matter
how l33t he thinks he is.

Now, supposing another hero, let's call him Kidroxor,* DID manage to
get a beta spot by not being so outspoken in areas that are no-nos for
beta testers. What are the do's and don'ts here?

Let your imagination soar a little…imagine the thrill of our hero
being in the game itself. I mean, IN THE GAME ITSELF! After Kidroxor calms
down, he starts looking about and sees…things…lots of things.
We can't go into details because this is all supposition, but he is excited…and
pleased…and he can't wait to tell his friends.

Oh ho ho ho…WAIT a minute! He CAN'T tell his friends, or his family,
or his dog. He can't even tell his mirror. Because why? Because he has
affirmed in pixilated blood that he won't. RL translation: he has electronically
"signed" an agreement of non-disclosure.

Kidroxor has trouble even saying "non-disclosure" real fast,
and he certainly didn't read all that legalese garbage before he went
charging into the game. But for the benefit of any like the Kid, the University
of California at San Diego Business Faculty defines the non-disclosure
agreement as follows:

<i>A nondisclosure agreement, also called a confidentiality agreement
or proprietary information agreement, is a contract whereby the parties
exchange information that they agree to maintain in confidence for a certain
period of time. Nondisclosure agreements are often used when contractors
want to provide advance information to the University before such information
becomes generally available to their competition or to the general public.

Examples of such information include pre-release and beta software, trade
secrets, and advance product information provided to University researchers
for research or evaluation purposes. Confidentiality or nondisclosure
provisions can also be included in license agreements and sales contracts.

Once accepted on behalf of the University, the department faculty and
staff to whom the information is disclosed are responsible compliance
with all contractual requirements.</i>

In the game beta we are talking about here, the non-disclosure agreement
is binding, and any breach of this contract is an unlawful violation,
which could be followed up by remedies at law (which is a fancy way of
saying you could have your butt sued off).

So, let's take a look at what IS a breach of a non-disclosure agreement
regarding beta-testing.

1. <b>Generally you are required to refrain from telling anyone
that you are a member of the game's beta testing.</b> That means
you must not tell anyone, and usually it includes speaking directly or
indirectly, i.e. you can't say flat out: "Guess what? I'm in Vanguard
beta testing!" Not even beating around the bush can you say it: "Sorry,
I can't come and play WoW with you; I'm playing the game of my dreams…oops,
I didn't mean to say that. Scratch that last part."

2. <b>Generally you are required to refrain from revealing any
information you might acquire as a beta tester.</b> Say you ran
across a huge monster in a cool part of the game while you were testing.
You could not say directly, "Hey, guess what? I ran across a huge
monster in a cool part of the game while I was testing," to anyone.
You could also not say, "The Chugga-Mugga MMO has huge monsters
in cool parts of the game." Friend: "How do you know?"
You: "Oh, I have my sources." Friend: "No,
really, how do you know?" You: "I can't tell. I'm not
allowed to tell, so don't ask me." Friend: "Oh, you lucky
dog, you're in beta, aren't you?" You: "…"

3.Generally you are required to protect any information you receive
during beta testing with your life.
Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow…oh
wait, wrong occupation. This one is very stringent, in that you are usually
required to refrain from keeping any kind of documentation about the game.
This includes logs of conversations, beta screenshots you take, or any
software that is provided. If you should inadvertently end up with said
stuff, you are required to return it to the beta testing company. For
whatever beta testing you are invited into, make sure you read that particular
part so you know exactly what you are required to do.

4. And, if you do come across anybody disseminating the stuff (broadcasting
beta information in any way), you are bound to report such breaches to
the beta testing company.

There are other terms involved in a Non-Disclosure or Confidentiality
Agreement, and they all protect the interests of the beta testing company.

Now why would a company go to such lengths to spoil your fun? After all,
you don't mean any harm by telling your friends that, "Hey, I am
a beta tester for BIG GAME MMOs!" You really like it when they exclaim
what a lucky bastage you are.

NEWFLASH! It all boils down to fairness--and eventually money. When a
game is in beta, it's not SUPPOSED to be finished. That's why the company
invites testers in to test it. Now you go blabbing off to your friends
that (a) you're in beta; and (b) you are the big shot on campus because
you found out that the mob tracker was so buggy you couldn't move--or
whatever big bug you find. Then your friends think you are way cool, because
you are helping this big company test that great game that's coming out.

Except if they hear too many stories like that, they begin to think,
hey, I don't want to play a game that's got bugs like that.

Or you give a skewed account of what playing is really like because you
don't know the ins and outs yet.

Or…or…many ways you can ruin BIG GAME MMOs' reputation, without
even meaning to.

Or you could tell your friends only that you are beta testing, and they
say, singly or all together, "Aw c'mon you can tell me what it's
like. I won't tell anybody." And, being only human, you allow yourself
to be persuaded.

Best way to stop that is…JUST DON'T DO IT.

Another reason is industrial espionage.

You think it doesn't happen? You bet your sweet Sword of Shannara it
does. There have been documented instances where a well-known developer
of games let slip one fact about the game coming up. Another game developer
got hold of that information and hastily included that particular facet
into its game, then launched a month or two in advance of the first company.
The first company was left fuming, seen as an imitator, when in fact the
idea was conceived and developed by it.

This is only one small part that is very noticeable. If you go blabbing
about the technical aspects of what you see in a beta testing environment,
you may not know yourself what crucial facts you are letting slip.

This is not fair, and it is not economically sound for the beta testing
company. And, if you do anything that contravenes the Non-Disclosure Agreement,
you will be dumped as a beta tester. It doesn't matter that you don't
think one small slip-up important. The company does, and they have poured
thousands of dollars into this project to back up their thoughts. If the
breach is serious enough, you will be lucky if you only get dumped and
not sued as well. Of course, I really can't speak for the companies on
whether they would do this or not, but it would be within their rights,
since, as I stated above, you agreed to enter into a legal contract with
the company when you accepted a spot in the beta testing.

So what are the do's?

There are a lot of them and most of them make a lot of ordinary, common
sense.

Do work with the devs and the GMs in in-game beta testing.

Do try things out to see if they work.

Do follow the proper procedures of reporting things that don't
work as they should. Every game company has their own procedures for beta
testing and they will ask you to follow them.

Do be patient in-game. Remember, the game is not finished, and
the lower the number of beta, the more errors, bugs and frustrations will
occur. That is part of the job of beta testing.

Do help others out as much as possible. When newcomers enter beta
they are often bewildered by the things that don't work and they are often
too new to the set-up to realize what is broken and what is just something
they don't understand yet.

Do communicate. When reporting bugs, etc., make sure you follow
the usual requirements of reporting where in the game the bug occurred,
can you recreate the situation that triggered the bug, what kind of bug
is it, and so on.

Do adopt the attitude of working with the team. It promotes faster
recognition of errors and faster correction.

Do accept that you are not going to be able to play like you do
in a finished game. There are times when your main character may be irretrievably
deleted or a bug will not allow you to enter the game or…lots of
frustrations. It is a normal part of beta testing.

Do follow all in-game instructions as well as out of game directions.

Do read the beta forums every day and participate as much as you
can.

There are probably a dozen more do's that experienced beta testers can
think of but these are a good start.

Beta testing can be fun, but you have to be prepared for what it is…just
that, a test. The thrill of being involved in a great game is wonderful.
But it is a game undergoing testing. When the game goes live, you can
then say--once the NDA is lifted--something like, "I helped this
game. Here is where I discovered that swimming across the river would
turn you purple. Man, you should have seen all the purple people eaters,
it was awesome." THEN you can enjoy the glow of reputation and a
job well done.

(* Author's note: These names are all fictitious and products
of my fevered imagination. If they should inadvertently also be the in-game
names or forum names of real people, this was entirely unintentional,
and nothing herein is implied or intended to cast any negative implications
on or attribute undesirable traits to any players so named or similarly
named..)


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Karen is H.D.i.C. (Head Druid in Charge) at EQHammer. She likes chocolate chip pancakes, warm hugs, gaming so late that it's early, and rooting things and covering them with bees. Don't read her Ten Ton Hammer column every Tuesday. Or the EQHammer one every Thursday, either.

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