| The sad existence of beta testing.... -Sared - May 05 08:35pm | |
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I came home from work this afternoon and had barely any time before my next door neighbor showed up. He is 19, fresh out of High-School, and want's to be a Beta tester for a living. Now, I am normally a very encouraging person, or at least, try to be. This blew it. I was able to talk reasonale with him for about two minutes before I had to take a shower, or do my taxes, or bathe my dog, or SOMETHING to get him to go away. You see, his problem is, he thinks he can paddle his way through college by getting hired on as a Beta tester. Heck, the only thing he really enjoys is playing games. Now, the lack of RealLife(TM) interaction here can be saved for a completely different article, what I want to focus on is this seemingly unsatiable urge to be a beta tester. Close your eyes, click your heels, and imagine the worst game you ever played. Thats it. The very one game that you can truely say that you HATED with every fiber of your being. Now, take that game+system, and find yourself a little room with a TV, a chair, and set it all up. This is now going to be your 'gaming room', for the months ahed. See your pretty computer, with Internet access, and surround sound, and that fancy new $250 video card you just installed? Go ahed an put a cover over those so they dont collect dust, cause you aint gonna be seeing those for a loooong time. Now that you are prepared, go into your gaming room and get comfortable. Now, beat this detestable game a hundred times. Lets not forget that this IS a BETA, so you also have a notepad and pen, writing down EVER grammical error that you see. Had fun yet? Okay. Now, unplug the memory card, and beat it another hundred times. Again, marking every error and bug and where is shows up in the game and under what conditions. Now switch out controllers with the new speed-pad crontroller you just bought and beat the game another hundred times with that. Finished yet? Congratulations, you are now among the elite ranks of those referred to as 'Beta Testers'! Your skin is blech-white (if it isn't already) and you social life has been reduced to that of a squash. Now, before you start bashing this, I WILL say that if you ever manage to get picked to beta a well done game, such as World of Warcraft or Lineage II, then you MIGHT actually have a good time! Problem is, when all your friends buy it in the store and you have already beaten it a couple hundred times, then where's the fun in that? I have some friends from my Planetside days that still get together when there is a cool open beta going on, but do we go out and buy the game afterwards and play together? With the exception of Planetside, no, we do not. Why? Cause we are cheap freeloaders. So there.  In conclusion, I would say that unless you enjoy writing down bugs and errors by the thousands, or just have a good times with the people that you are playing with, leave the beta testing to the devs. |
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(_,ucius (V)alfoy - Ex-Student 
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Hi, This is my first post. I agree with sared on this one, BEta testing is like watching hulk minus cgi 20 times too many. _______________ That's no moon... |
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Orion - Retired 
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Quote: well I have been in 7 Beta tests and i enjoy it all of it.so if you want to go for it. Those are open betas, the beta testing this is talking about, is the in house testing done by the development compnay, before a game goes to open beta, if it has one. Most people who do the open betas dont report bugs, they just play teh game. _______________ When a Man lies he murder's some part of the world. These are the pale deaths which men misscall there lives. All this I cannot bear to witness any longer. Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home? -Cliff Burton Owner of Smily's 1900th comment | <Lady_Catherine> i love your sexy white socks! | (Lady_Catherine) i adore u! | (Lady_Catherine) onion (Lady_Catherine) i lub u |
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Ex-Rauc - Student |
I posted this before, but then I deleted, but I guess it does contribute to more than just Sared's argument against his friend: http://www.penny-arcade.com/porktester.php3 Oh, and Blackwolf, did you Beta Test as a job, or did you fill out an application on a webpage to Beta Test the game without being paid? This comment was edited by Ex-Rauc on May 08 2004 12:43pm. |
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Lackeh- Retired - Student 
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remind me not to do that _______________ A champion is someone who keeps getting up; even when they can't. Founder Of the Jedi Academy Adlut Support Group. PIE!!!!! Padawan of Katan. Brother to MOTREC, DarkDragon, (SKX)DarkBlade, Jacen Aratan, Achilles, Kool_Aide, EvilSquirrel, and Katan's Padawans. |
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Orion - Retired 
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dude beta testers get paied jack shit, like barely over minimum wage and you better give good detailed test reports or you are gonna get fired. You also have to work long shifts during the Death March, aka the last 3 months before release when developers kick it in ot over driver and work 80+ hours a week, Q&A Guy = not a career, its a foot in the door to the gaming industry, only the good testers who can code get jobs. Get me a ride to texas and ill come kick his ass sared  _______________ When a Man lies he murder's some part of the world. These are the pale deaths which men misscall there lives. All this I cannot bear to witness any longer. Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home? -Cliff Burton Owner of Smily's 1900th comment | <Lady_Catherine> i love your sexy white socks! | (Lady_Catherine) i adore u! | (Lady_Catherine) onion (Lady_Catherine) i lub u This comment was edited by Orion on May 06 2004 05:19am. |
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Blackwolf[JO] - Ex-Student ![Blackwolf[JO]](/image_thumbnail.php?f_type=users&f_width=49&f_height=70&f_image=6159.jpg&f_odd=1){kind=small}
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well I have been in 7 Beta tests and i enjoy it all of it.so if you want to go for it. _______________ After the Galaxy was in war the Jedi needed a Battle suit to help them focuss on the force and more battle ready for what things are to come. |
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Daidalus[JAP] Fisto - Student ![Daidalus[JAP] Fisto](/image_thumbnail.php?f_type=users&f_width=49&f_height=70&f_image=3482.jpg){kind=small}
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damn, i did somthing wrong!  i cant make my dreams come true... beeing a betta-tester... IM A GAME DEVELOPPER eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek daid _______________ Founder of the Fisto Family -|- Member of the mighty FiZZsters!! -|- Owner of the second Bail prize for "BAIL RULES!!" -|- I'll never forget you Jaina! -|- Owner of the one and only autograph of Smily -|- SMILY RULES -|- Owner of the 1000th Comment of the great Kueller -|- Big brother to NarCosT Fisto, and ShadowFax . -|- Proud Padawan of Kueller -|-Sir Daidalus Fisto. Official Historian of Nippledom and server to Menaxia, Queen of Nippledom Quote: fiZZe: "gdamubububugmgmgububugrrrrrdsa?"
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Ruuk Haviser - Retired 
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Whew...I'll pass on that job. -rh _______________ Back from the dead... |
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Kueller - Student 
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Can you Beta-test girls _______________ Personal sleepness-nights-supporter of Virtue. Owner of the 1000th comment of Daidalus and 1943th comment of Gradius! Owner of the 300th comment of Carda! -Taught Gradius all his laming skills
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Lego[DEAD] - Ex-Student ![Lego[DEAD]](/image_thumbnail.php?f_type=users&f_width=70&f_height=48&f_image=../banned.png&f_odd=1){kind=small}
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when he gets a hot chick, he'll think twice about being a beta tester... _______________ AHH YOU ARE ALL NICE LADS |
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Ash - Eats Babies 
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being a proffesional beta tester is like doing random medical experiments for money. _______________ "We keep odd hours...." ----------------------- They Live, We Sleep |
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