Beta Testing

I read an interesting article on Beta testing today which outline why these are important to the future of gaming. I have to say I agree but I do feel that some people are taking them in the wrong way. The most recent Beta I took part in was for Gears of War 3 (awesome Beta by the way Epic!). Sadly I didn’t play it too much but when I did boy did I enjoy it.

When taking part in any sort of Beta testing you have to expect some bugs as you play. That is always part of any Beta experience and something that will never change. You get to play the game for free, notice all the issues and report it to get fixed. It’s pretty much Quality Assurance on a larger scale. There are however people who keep saying to me ‘I played the demo of Gears of War 3 but it didn’t feel right, there were so many bugs’. Apart from the obvious issues with this sentence it also makes me mad.

I mean come on these games are Beta tested to make them better, to fix any issues prior to general release and is not a true representation of the final product. Knowing that you are there to help make the game you love better is the reward you are getting. Once the game hits the shelves you can say I helped to finalise that product. Obviously some beta testing experiences do not bode well for the game themselves (from what I’ve heard the recent Resistance 3 Beta does just that).

When developers release a Beta they must make sure that the target audience can take advantage of the game modes and iron out any creases. If a developer or publisher really wants to get a beta right they need to make sure that you are in fact putting out a beta and not an alpha version of the multiplayer experience

So yes, betas can be done well like Gears of War and they can be done badly like Resistance 3.  I think as a consumer we would all rather have a game with minor bugs that needed to be addressed then games we cannot try properly.  We don’t want to be involved in fixing a multiplayer experience from the ground up we just want to smooth off the edges.