Close Beta Testing

Hello,

So after a brief visit to the pay-to-test instance, I have come up with the idea of introducing closed beta testing.

I believe that having a select few beta testers would be very beneficial to Dark Orbit (and most likely to the other Bigpoint games); they would open up a channel of dialogue between the users and staff members, and the tests would be a lot more successful due to this.

These new test instances would allow the users to test new functions with the same gear as each other - it's as simple as log in, sort configs and play (like the old test servers) and none of this "log in, pay money, build account and test if you want" malarkey.

A few things would need to be considered;

• An application-like process (yay more admin work for staff) similar to the mod applications. This would mean only the people who actually want to test would get onto the closed beta tester role.
• Opening up a Beta Tester forum - This would facilitate the users to give feedback on the new functions (a lot more feedback then just 1 thread)
• Closed test servers only accessible to testers

How is this different from the current system?

Less time is spent building accounts, wasting money on servers that are only open for about a week, more time testing.
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How many testers should there be?

I think Between 100-200 would be very optimistic due to the fact that it feels as though that many users are never on 1 server at a time these days, but aiming for that number would be ok.​

How is the different from Alpha testers?

You could possibly have a few hundred more testers, Bigpoint. Also, we know how efficient the alpha testers are (all the bugs that get through the game after being tested, only to be found by users and exploited).
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The new process of testing could be;

1. Alpha Testing
2. Closed Beta Testing
3. Open Beta Testing (on the current test instances available)
4. Deployment

In summary, I find that adding this layer of testing into the process could only be beneficial, it would possibly break down the communication barrier between staff and users, provide rigorous testing and I really think it would improve the outlook on Bigpoint.
Making users to pay to test is ridiculous.

TL;DR: New Closed Beta Testers, who all have the same gear to test with, with open channels of communication with the community team/developers and users.

 

Note: The thread will be re-opened only if the OP requests for it.

Enjoy the game.

Closing due to inactivity.