Post by Morreion on Jul 21, 2010 8:58:07 GMT -5
The List: Five Reasons to Avoid Beta
In this week's The List, MMORPG.com columnist Bill Murphy takes on beta testing and gives five compelling reasons why folks should avoid it like the plague. Agree or disagree, Bill's column is sure to start an excellent conversation.
The above 2 reasons are the big ones for me. I beta'ed Tabula Rasa (and decided not to purchase the game). I wouldn't do it again not only because of burnout and having your efforts wiped out, but also because the beta input by the testers was pretty much ignored (to the game's detriment) because they had to release after delays and such. That was disheartening.
Overall I prefer the magic of day 1 than knowing the game inside and out by release.
In this week's The List, MMORPG.com columnist Bill Murphy takes on beta testing and gives five compelling reasons why folks should avoid it like the plague. Agree or disagree, Bill's column is sure to start an excellent conversation.
3.) Not Permanent
MMORPGs are known for their permanence. Beta tests for these games are not. Okay, so you’ve been accepted to test and play The Old Republic. Let’s say for the sake of this example that you can play all you want seven days a week. Let’s say that the game really hooks you, you offer plenty of feedback to the developers, and soon you find yourself playing TOR more than any other game on your hard drive. After all of your hard work leveling your Jedi Consular, after the weeks you spent leveling him or her up from scratch, and after all of the quests you’ve completed… it gets erased as the game moves forward into launch. And then you realize you’ve got to do it all over again. Yeah. That part sucks. Don’t pretend it doesn’t. But there are better reasons than that to avoid getting too into betas.
MMORPGs are known for their permanence. Beta tests for these games are not. Okay, so you’ve been accepted to test and play The Old Republic. Let’s say for the sake of this example that you can play all you want seven days a week. Let’s say that the game really hooks you, you offer plenty of feedback to the developers, and soon you find yourself playing TOR more than any other game on your hard drive. After all of your hard work leveling your Jedi Consular, after the weeks you spent leveling him or her up from scratch, and after all of the quests you’ve completed… it gets erased as the game moves forward into launch. And then you realize you’ve got to do it all over again. Yeah. That part sucks. Don’t pretend it doesn’t. But there are better reasons than that to avoid getting too into betas.
1.) Burn-Out
Ultimately when we sign up for a beta, we’re signing up as gamers. All MMOs, no matter how deep and diverse they may be require a time from us when we must put them down, go outside, and take a break from the virtual world. MMO Burn-Out is a common side effect of indulging in too much of a good thing. I can’t think of a single game, MMO or not, that I haven’t needed a break from at one time or another. And I can name several that have gotten stale for me and have never reverted back to their “fresh” state. Why then would you want to risk running into this problem during beta? Why would you want to risk getting all your excitement for launch day worn out before the time launch day even rolls around? To me, this is the best reason to avoid playing a game’s beta.
I understand the need to “test drive” a potential purchase, and thankfully we have Open Betas for that very thing. But if you want to retain any sense of mystery and anticipation at all about some upcoming game you’re jazzed for, I’d heartily recommend avoiding the beta experience. It will wind up making those first steps into a new world that much more exciting.
Ultimately when we sign up for a beta, we’re signing up as gamers. All MMOs, no matter how deep and diverse they may be require a time from us when we must put them down, go outside, and take a break from the virtual world. MMO Burn-Out is a common side effect of indulging in too much of a good thing. I can’t think of a single game, MMO or not, that I haven’t needed a break from at one time or another. And I can name several that have gotten stale for me and have never reverted back to their “fresh” state. Why then would you want to risk running into this problem during beta? Why would you want to risk getting all your excitement for launch day worn out before the time launch day even rolls around? To me, this is the best reason to avoid playing a game’s beta.
I understand the need to “test drive” a potential purchase, and thankfully we have Open Betas for that very thing. But if you want to retain any sense of mystery and anticipation at all about some upcoming game you’re jazzed for, I’d heartily recommend avoiding the beta experience. It will wind up making those first steps into a new world that much more exciting.
The above 2 reasons are the big ones for me. I beta'ed Tabula Rasa (and decided not to purchase the game). I wouldn't do it again not only because of burnout and having your efforts wiped out, but also because the beta input by the testers was pretty much ignored (to the game's detriment) because they had to release after delays and such. That was disheartening.
Overall I prefer the magic of day 1 than knowing the game inside and out by release.
