Do you think "beta testers" are actually searching f : V - Skyrim

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:45 pm

I raise my mead to you beta testers.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:08 pm

I think beta testers are doing their "job" well. That being said if one bug is found a lot of users will blame the testers.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:39 pm

If you want anything other than a bunch of people simple playing the game, then you go for a dedicated closed beta team. Simply taking players from the community works well to develop a feel of the game, and to locate glaring issues, but to do more you need to integrate your beta testers into your development team in such a way that they can be tasked to replicate particular problems, or can run through things with your devs.

There's a couple of companies that do it, but I don't think Beth is one of them, or if so, they keep it very tight.

Edit:

I will suggest that the flaw with the current system Beth has used is that it is causing a divide in the gaming community, and it will continue to do so. For every bug found after release of Dawnguard, there will be one or more complaints that the beta testers failed. For every complaint, overly-sensitive beta testers will come onto the thread crying foul.

I'm surprised that Beth didn't require people to sign non-disclosure agreements, but then again, it is more or less an open beta and the tester integration isn't that high.

Actually we were all required to sign an NDA. And it's not like they could have people for each console when it's a times exclusive for one system.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 5:05 pm

all i see is you guys talking crap about the people who got the beta when in fact in the very first few ours of its release there was an abundance of bug reports.....whether we were looking for them or not....kind hard to "look" for a bug if we dont know what to look for if we see sumthing outa whack we reported...and trust me sum of the bugs were annoying and thanks to us most of you wont have to worry about it

Thanks?

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:52 am

There are those who do, and are amazing people.

And then there are those who don't, they just want to play the damned thing early. I hate those kinds of people because they don't deserve beta privileges.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:58 am

To be honest, there aren't really any bugs. Atleast that I've encountered. I'd say they've polished it pretty well for a beta.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 7:49 am

To be honest, there aren't really any bugs. Atleast that I've encountered. I'd say they've polished it pretty well for a beta.

That can be a little...misleading. I understand that this is from your experience, but the game will respond differently between machines. I am on the latter.

Some people can report playing Vanilla Skyrim , from start, through level 81 with little to no issues. While others will report a different bug, glitch or crash every other day. Like the quests in Windhelm..Blood on Ice.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:59 pm

It's obvious that some of them choose to just play it and never report the bugs, but I think the majority are doing what they should do.

btw, some of you act extremely jealous

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 7:01 pm

The first post actually pretty much summarises why I am so very sceptical of the entire Beta Tester concept.

As somebody who works full time in Quality Assurance (And no, I won't tell you for who. But they don't work in the same genre as Bethesda. Sadly) my own personal experience of Beta Testing feedback has, in the past, been a very mixed bag. More often than not the feedback returned is not relating to actual bugs and game breaking issues. It becomes more of a way of the beta tester to grip about the design choices of the game which they never liked, and want to try and pass of as a Class 1/Class A issue.

Which they aren't. Nine times out of ten you could barely even call them a bug.

The concept of Beta Testing (Seeing how the game works out in the wild, as opposed to on a development kit) is a sound one, but getting GOOD beta testers is not easy. There is usually a very clear reason that they aren't doing QA work as an actual career.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:22 pm

Of course not, but when they run into a bug that becomes a common annoyance I bet they report it.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:42 pm

Of course not, but when they run into a bug that becomes a common annoyance I bet they report it.

Oh, ye of little faith. I assure you it's more indepth than that.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:15 pm

I do some what agree with this topic
I do sometimes wonder how many of the supposed beta testers actually submit info and bug replicating process for testing by devs
Myself i have some experience in game building and game mechanics but i never see beta testers suggesting things that could fix problems like mentioning that a item is doing this and this is why i think it is having a problem

for example i found a bug in vanilla skyrim and made a bug report suggesting to add a requirement on the cursed ring of hericin so the code for a random transformation isn't sent to the player while on a horse
also that there is a possible issue in the camera function between the beast cam and the secondary cam (mount cam)
possible break in game code on wolf transformation while on a horse was the issue at hand

this is a real bug but i am using it as a example here that so many ppl don't even write a note like this one in the beta forums

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:10 pm

Most people who signed up just wanted to play and beat it early and for free so they wouldn't have to wait like we do, they probably aren't looking for bugs.

In my opinion anyway.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:03 pm

Most people who signed up just wanted to play and beat it early and for free so they wouldn't have to wait like we do, they probably aren't looking for bugs.

In my opinion anyway.

I signed up but was not chosen

Too bad too Because i do work with database and game design for a hobbie and beta testing is somewhat the same thing except i would relay the info instead of tackling the DB myself

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:00 pm

I don't think so , however , they get their boxes exploded , then I will get the perfected DLC ( I hope ).

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:58 pm

They are testing the game rather they know it or not if I had to guess they get pop up questions like in other betas. Wether they answer them or not is one thing

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 2:42 pm

That can be a little...misleading. I understand that this is from your experience, but the game will respond differently between machines. I am on the latter.

Some people can report playing Vanilla Skyrim , from start, through level 81 with little to no issues. While others will report a different bug, glitch or crash every other day. Like the quests in Windhelm..Blood on Ice.

Of course. Everyone's game is different. I have over 400 hours into Skyrim since the game's release. The only glitches that have happened to me was the backwards flying dragon, Blood on the Ice not working, and the possibility of a game freeze on a character +50 hours. The most significant "bugs" I've encountered is the compass being inaccurate. Even that's not much of a problem though. This is a pretty good DLC (I give it a solid

, and it's actually less streamlined than the rest of Skyrim.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:01 pm

Anyone that I have talked to that's in an exclusive beta similar to Skyrim's, seem to play the beta more than test it. Sometimes I will ask them "What are you doing?" (in general), they would answer "Playing the beta". I wonder why they always answer "Playing the beta" instead of "Beta testing". I know you have to play the beta to actually find the bugs, but then the next question would be "Found any bugs or problems yet?". Most of their answers were simple: "Just this and that". Only a few that I questioned were actually beta testing the game. I think most people get into these betas just to get an early access to the game. I don't agree with people just getting into exclusive betas such as Skyrim's just to "play the beta". I think "Beta players" take away from real bug testing ect.

What do you think of this?
I think: When it comes to exclusive betas...
Beta Testers = Win
Beta Players = Fail

I think Dawnguard will be great! But I think there might be a few bugs that could have been found/fixed if there were more beta testers.

Sorry for so many quotation marks.

I think you are ignorant of what exactly game testing entails, much of it involves just "playing the game" activating/completing quests- testing - by using items, exploring the map.

So they are testing by playing, as long as they report any problems or breaks they run into- if you have a large population of testers all the iterations work out.

Sorry you didnt get into beta OP.

/thread.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:15 pm

the people i talked with all said that almost all the people that got into the beta were reporting bugs on the forums
dawngaurd should be pretty bug free by the time it's released

Too bad they couldn't say the same thing about Skyrim.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 12:25 pm

please dont diss the beta testers, we have some great people over there that are doing there job, as well as DarkRider who has made a fantastic index to help the devs fix issues.

-will Skyrim and Dawnguard be bug free?
nope, probobly never in its whole lifespawn, no games are.

-will people sign up for the beta to only get the game early and free?
always, no matter what game or when.

-are people who dont get into beta's going to be upset?
always, no matter what game or when.

But we do have many people working on it around the clock, finding, confirming, and trying to fix bugs or exploits before this hits live. we also have many new members that did only make accounts for the beta AND have stuck around to report bugs. so dont be mad, dont be mean, and dont be disrespectfull. some of us are really trying to get things fixed that we know there will be rage over on these forums in a few weeks time.

have faith - Law

Thank you!

I've joined the forum for the beta but I've been a TES player since Morrowind and been lurking in these specific forums since oblivion 2006-2007.

And I got picked for the beta and although the game runs very smoothly I posted a wealth of info of possible bugs. So dont disrespect people who just joined now when the beta got released.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:32 am

You guys mad and/or jelly? =3 I've only encountered four or five bugs, and made sure to report them.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:06 am

As long as Dawnguard comes out without many bugs, I'm happy with the beta testers' job! (the ones that reported the bugs they encountered!)

This^ At least there are more people "testing" it than if they hadn't done this. If some are playing and not testing, that doesn't really matter. The more that play it, the more bugs will be found.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 3:37 pm

I have looked through the Beta Forums (not reading much as I don't want to be spoiled). I will report that bugs are being found and they are being fixed. The Beta Testers are doing a fantastic job approaching the quests and events in as many different ways as players in this game can and reporting what they find.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:52 pm

I just hope they don't find any massive bugs that'll delay the release of the DLC.

» Fri Jun 22, 2012 5:26 pm

I think your all just mad because you didn't get picked. go cry

Do you think &#34;beta testers&#34; are actually searching f

Do you think "beta testers" are actually searching f