Giving beta access as a gift and why it should stop

[Sinner563]

After having read countless threads on the 2 big betas (wow, GW2), I honestly think the companies need to rethink their idea on giving beta access as a gift when you pre-order/sign up for a deal.

Beta is not a finished game, yet it seems a good half of the audience expects and DEMANDS a finished product! They see anything less as something the company did wrong. They were given access to the game early! Why should they have to deal with bugs?


Beta access should go back to how it was handled in the old days. Based around a combination of variables. Play time, bugs/glitches reported, forum helpfulness and previous beta experiences. Not the current way of giving to everyone who gives up some cash. All it seems to be doing is harming the community, and the future prospects of the particular game.

Seems to me that we shouldn't be posting "It's beta, not a demo!" when the companies themselves seem to be marketing it as such.

[Newbryn]

Unfortunately in this day and age its not gonna happen I've come to learn that gamers are nothing but whiny self entitled brats. In a way the developers themselves are the ones to blame, I personally feel all beta testing should be kept in house, but i wouldn't hold my breath.

[Deleted]

it might annoy you and many other people, but when it brings money and lets them sell the game for a higher price, it makes sense to offer it. many people bought gw2 digital edition, or pre-purchase edition, just to gain access to the beta. a lot of people would have just waited to buy it for a cheaper price if they weren't guaranteed access to the beta.

[Ishu]

Unfortunately in this day and age its not gonna happen I've come to learn that gamers are nothing but whiny self entitled brats. In a way the developers themselves are the ones to blame, I personally feel all beta testing should be kept in house, but i wouldn't hold my breath.

MMOs are unfortunately too big to be tested in-house. But I agree that handing out beta keys with pre-orders is a suboptimal solution, and they should be more strict on who they select for their beta tests.

[N-7]

Unfortunately in this day and age its not gonna happen I've come to learn that gamers are nothing but whiny self entitled brats. In a way the developers themselves are the ones to blame, I personally feel all beta testing should be kept in house, but i wouldn't hold my breath.

You know this from personal experience, right?

[Newbryn]

You know this from personal experience, right?

Guess you haven't been to the Guild wars 2 thread far too many fickle people, but of course this isn't solely related to guild wars 2, its mainly with most games that spark a discussion on these forums.

[Edge-]

It's a marketing gimmick for the most part.

Yes, developers do get a TON of data that helps them put the finishing touches on their game. But primary reason for holding these huge events and throwing out keys like candy is to build up excitement, especially when they don't have any other news to drive hype about the game.

The majority of the guys I know who work in gaming (at various levels) would rather spend more time beta testing with a core group of players, but they can't always afford to do that for financial reasons : /

[llDemonll]

It's a marketing gimmick for the most part.

Yes, developers do get a TON of data that helps them put the finishing touches on their game. But primary reason for holding these huge events and throwing out keys like candy is to build up excitement, especially when they don't have any other news to drive hype about the game.

The majority of the guys I know who work in gaming (at various levels) would rather spend more time beta testing with a core group of players, but they can't always afford to do that for financial reasons : /

This. Most big companies now (Valve, Blizzard, etc., etc.) can all afford internal, specific an directed beta testing. The public betas are just there to generate hype

[Ighox]

After having read countless threads on the 2 big betas (wow, GW2), I honestly think the companies need to rethink their idea on giving beta access as a gift when you pre-order/sign up for a deal.

Beta is not a finished game, yet it seems a good half of the audience expects and DEMANDS a finished product! They see anything less as something the company did wrong. They were given access to the game early! Why should they have to deal with bugs?


Beta access should go back to how it was handled in the old days. Based around a combination of variables. Play time, bugs/glitches reported, forum helpfulness and previous beta experiences. Not the current way of giving to everyone who gives up some cash. All it seems to be doing is harming the community, and the future prospects of the particular game.

Seems to me that we shouldn't be posting "It's beta, not a demo!" when the companies themselves seem to be marketing it as such.

It still is like that (except with WoW), everyone doing beta weekends have also had a "real" beta running at the same time.
The "real" beta being used to test the game, beta weekends being used to test the game/servers and for PR.
Don't really see a problem with it, might as well earn some extra money by doing stress-test weekends instead of running open beta stress-tests.

[Kiry]

It still is like that (except with WoW), everyone doing beta weekends have also had a "real" beta running at the same time.
The "real" beta being used to test the game, beta weekends being used to test the game/servers and for PR.
Don't really see a problem with it, might as well earn some extra money by doing stress-test weekends instead of running open beta stress-tests.

This 100%. Just about every beta I've been on that has had stress weekends, while they are frustrating, are worthwhile int he end. The stress testing allows for the system to be pressured, hard core = smoother launch. It has been a really good thing in betas lately.

[Deleted]

It's a marketing gimmick for the most part.

Yes, developers do get a TON of data that helps them put the finishing touches on their game. But primary reason for holding these huge events and throwing out keys like candy is to build up excitement, especially when they don't have any other news to drive hype about the game.

The majority of the guys I know who work in gaming (at various levels) would rather spend more time beta testing with a core group of players, but they can't always afford to do that for financial reasons : /

The huge events are more for stress testing servers, which has to be done for any MMO or online game at some point before release to ensure the release goes as smooth as possible. Why do you think Arena.net are giving beta access to anyone who pre-purchases? They need to know whether their servers will be able to handle the amount of players that are certainly going to play on the actual release.

For Mists of Pandaria, it was more of a marketing ploy to get people to stay subbed to WoW, but it's still beneficial for the game since the developpers are able to get in a lot of data from people who are basically doing their testing for free. Some might see it as a marketing ploy, which in some respect is true, but there are reasons why it is needed to get a butt load of people in their beta testing phases.

[Hexotic]

Well,
Select group of ppl get promised beta - x annual pass sales
Everyone who signs up promised beta - x*10000 annual pass sales
Now as a massive multimillion corporation, which would you choose?

[Necrolepsy]

Somewhere along the way people merged the idea of a demo and beta together. That's the key issue.