Suggestions -How can we improve the BETA test experience for you?

09-13-2003, 03:30 AM

We are interested in finding out how we can improve our BETA test process. Please post your suggestions here.

Mike GIlmartin
ATARI, INC

Andyindy · 09-13-2003, 04:49 AM

Like you said on a post in another thread, you should involve the date the tester applyed for the Beta Test.

I'll keep my idea's coming when I get them.

*Andy*

Andyindy · 09-13-2003, 12:13 PM

There has been alot talk about having a chat room for the Beta Testers.

Most of us agree that it should be passworded and that it would be a good idea.

*Andy*

W4R(H1LD · 09-13-2003, 03:00 PM

I agree that a chat room would be a great idea. Then we could arrange times during the week that a rep from atari might be able to drop in for discussions live via chat.

Andyindy · 09-13-2003, 04:20 PM

That would be good so then we could have easier contact with the developers so we could give them better feedback.

*Andy*

Pyros · 09-13-2003, 07:16 PM

Ingame bug reports the link directly to the bug report on our betatests.net account would help.
Also, as suggested, beta tester chating and scheduled chats with people on the support team, or QA team would also help our input and bugs be heard.
Another suggestion would be making the community more self efficient, by making members of the community who have proved themselves in helping others and testing "VIP community members", giving them access to some of the mod functions for the beta board so they can keep things organized and help the online Atari staff keep this section organized, as it will probably become more chaotic as more and more betas become available.

Andyindy · 09-14-2003, 07:19 AM

I mean it will make it alot easier to explain a bug or something to some over cht because if they don't understand somethign you say they can just say so and you can try explaining it another way.

I like the idea of the VIP members so that they can help sort out the message boards. I mean Gilly and the Atari staff would have to find out who the best and most relaible people are so that they can trust us. But I think that is a good idea, well done Pyros.

*Andy*

MaineManiac · 09-15-2003, 08:24 AM

If my CD key worked I could actually do some testing...

As it is right now, my testing expereince sucks.

Ameth · 09-15-2003, 08:46 AM

Some sort of interface help would be nice. /help doesnt get anything

Cant figure out why "chat" box does not have chat but instead tells me how close the mobs are and how much I and they hit for. Isnt "chat" for conversing with the other people in "MMORPG"?

For those of us whos acceptance letter got religated and deleted in the "spam" folders... better instructions for use of game. I didnt find out I was accepted till I checked my beta status. The download and install instructions are great... but if you dont know about the web page to log into... the game icon does squat. Very frustrating.

Also, is it normal for the logon page to not recognized new characters? I played for 2 hours and logged off the game, yet the web page claims I have no characters

Lastly, since the bug report page is down... how do we send in our feedback? Email support?

Rikkir · 09-15-2003, 10:03 AM

I think a chat board would be a great idea. It would be nice to be able to chat with other beta test to help issues you may be having or to help other those experiences you may have had in game or system wise. I am not sure what the problem is on Tazzon but the secondary chat room would be great.

Rikkir

girl_1 · 09-15-2003, 12:33 PM

(Warning - complex suggestion below)

When we register for betatesting you do get some demographics on applicants. What would be cool is if you could make sub-groups of people. You could group people by playing time (the hours they generally play) as well as - age, location, system specs. You could even assign one person in a group as a moderator - to organize and parse specific information that you wanted to distribute to testers or - to collect data from them.

Why would this be useful ?

for the testers it would be useful because it would give some continuity over a longer period of time. it would be easier to have someone you're familiar with to check bugs and problems against. it would make it more fun (if the other people in your group are reasonable and not nuts). it might put a damper on the people that flame/or cause problems in game.

for atari it would be useful because it would let you test specific things (such as how well the game plays when all people are located in a close area or how well the game plays on people that all have the same video card) and it would let you more quickly validate hardware specific problems. it would also be handy to help manage and collect information.

How would you do it ?

Like I said above you already collect location, previous game history, and hardware specific info. Sort through your db and make groupings (maybe add a checkbox on the reg form for people that would like to be grouped in the future) by features that would be useful - and assign one person in each group to contact/manage their sub group (heh - you could go the extra step and give them cool names, and maybe acknowledge the most active groups somehow but that's icing)

Pyros · 09-15-2003, 04:59 PM

girl_1: The already do almost just that. That's when when you sign up, you need to put hardware, your qualifications, etc. This way, if they need to test the game's compatability on a specific card (say Radeon 9700), they can draw users from the pool that has registered their video card as a Radeon 9700.
While they're not technically groups, don't have leaders, and still have random selections, it's a step forward in your idea. Testers who help more get more points, and therefore are put higher on the beta priority list. It's sort of like your idea, but not quite at that level yet.

Kadin · 09-15-2003, 05:38 PM

Well first off the big complaint I keep seeing is this..

<x - name> I have been on this list for ever and it still says pending.

So maybe send an email saying "Sorry you were not selected for (x-phase) of product testing we are beginning (y-Phase) in <blank> time. If you would like to wait for this phase please let us know ( or update your beta app)”

The people willing to test that phase would stay around and others wouldnt. Might also help some of the tons of record sorting that is having to be done and on a personal level let people know you haven’t forgotten them.

Pyros
I have tested everything from Games to Business Software. I think you have a great idea there it would help everyone regardless what level they choose to test and report at.

[HA]Fodder4U · 09-15-2003, 06:38 PM

^
I totally agree and am a bit peeved everyday I log in and still see pending next to the betas I signed up for.

Andyindy · 09-15-2003, 07:18 PM

But if you think about it. They get thousands of applications for the beta. If they had to go through every single one and change there options it may take a while.

*Andy*

Kadin · 09-15-2003, 08:11 PM

Andyindy

I think if i were them i would ask them to log in and change their own options, this would aslo let them know who instrested still.

But as for the email its self have it db generated

Pyros · 09-15-2003, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kadin
Andyindy

I think if i were them i would ask them to log in and change their own options, this would aslo let them know who instrested still.

But as for the email its self have it db generated

Let's say they didn't make it in phase 1, and want to go to phase 2, they need to log into their account, go to their beta application, and select "sign me up for phase 2". As you said, this would seperate the active members from the non-active ones. This, and the automated "rejection" e-mail is one I fully support. A solid idea. Good thinking.

patag · 09-15-2003, 09:43 PM

I would suggest you have acceptance for specific stages of the game and accept and deny people at once.

When I beta tested PlanetSide for SoE, they staged the beta test in exactly that manner. If you got accepted in the Alpha testing, they sent you accept / deny email. If you were denied, then you would be automatically be enrolled in the next stage until either a) you were accepted or b) the game was released.

Having something say pending for ever doesn't help you or the person wanting into the beta. People need the constant feedback, image a file download without a little status bar saying what % is finished. I'm pretty sure when people face the unknown, they turn away quickly.

Other suggestions: select and invite people who already have fan sites up and running. Look at it this way: they're already promoting your game, why not honor those who are spending their time and money attempting to build a community around your game. I say this with a slanted view of course, since I run http://horizons.universalrealms.com (shameless plug, but hey!).

And it may not make you wealthy, but accepting me into beta would give you worlds of great karma.

Pyros · 09-15-2003, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by patag
Other suggestions: select and invite people who already have fan sites up and running. Look at it this way: they're already promoting your game, why not honor those who are spending their time and money attempting to build a community around your game. I say this with a slanted view of course, since I run http://horizons.universalrealms.com (shameless plug, but hey!).

Do they not do this already? I thought they have a fansite section/press section that gives these members priority.

Halsy · 09-15-2003, 11:15 PM

#1. Make certain your beta testers can access beta boards immediately.

#2. Manuals and information. I hate guessing how everything is supposed to work in a game. If you're admitting people to a beta you should have a functional manual.

patag · 09-15-2003, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pyros
Do they not do this already? I thought they have a fansite section/press section that gives these members priority.

I filled that out on my application, but I didn't get the impression that would queue my application any differently. If so, who do I need to talk to in order to get my key?

Pyros · 09-16-2003, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by patag
I filled that out on my application, but I didn't get the impression that would queue my application any differently. If so, who do I need to talk to in order to get my key?

I'd suggest mailing betatestadmin@atari.com and mentioning you run a fansite. They might be interested to have you join.

Kadin · 09-16-2003, 12:16 AM

Pyros

I think there are some great idea's floating around on how to keep that word "pending" from killing you every day when you check up on the beta sight ( yep ya might have guessed im in "pending" mode for horizons) . But i want to expand here alittle more.

((Ingame bug reports the link directly to the bug report on our betatests.net account would help. ))

I think this is the best idea yet, maybe i can expand on here. I liked the idea of tracking the bug reports to an account but if ya could add some feed back to that ( ie. little note from bug team that says "hey can you remember tell me what you were doing when this happened next time. ) etc. would go along way.

PS. patag, Nice web site

Silver_Dragon27 · 09-16-2003, 05:07 PM

I haven't gotten into a beta yet, but from previous beta experiences I can suggest one thing.

Streamline and simplify. I know we are helping test a product of yours but I have seen too often where the process of reporting bugs is needlessly complex.

Reporting most bugs should take a minimum amount of time and should be possible ingame. If you can report a bug in under 30 seconds you will encourage more reports, vs a process that takes 5-10 minutes and requires logging out of the game.

I would also throw in a vote for a scheduled chat, maybe by invite only for two way communication with devs and testers.

Andyindy · 09-16-2003, 05:14 PM

Yeah I agree. I havent been accepted for a beta yet either but I know I will do a good job of it.

*Andy*

Vetrik · 09-16-2003, 05:54 PM

A listing of current bugs and ways to recreate them (if known) to help in testing is my suggestion

Andyindy · 09-16-2003, 06:31 PM

Thats what your meant to send to the dev team anyway.

*Andy*

Vetrik · 09-16-2003, 06:57 PM

A list of all bugs reported from everyone though, not just ones you have sent in yourself

Andyindy · 09-16-2003, 07:30 PM

I see what you mean, but I don't see how that helps.

*Andy*

Vetrik · 09-16-2003, 07:50 PM

Well if you knew of a certain bug already you could then try and recreate it different ways, maybe narrowing down what might be causing it. Developers might not be working on that bug atm, but when they do it will provide them with more information and it might help them fix it quicker.

just my suggestion though

09-13-2003, 12:13 PM	#3
Andyindy Hardcore Gamer and Nerd Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 113	Chat There has been alot talk about having a chat room for the Beta Testers. Most of us agree that it should be passworded and that it would be a good idea. Andy

09-13-2003, 04:20 PM	#5
Andyindy Hardcore Gamer and Nerd Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 113	Yeah That would be good so then we could have easier contact with the developers so we could give them better feedback. Andy

09-15-2003, 09:43 PM	#18
patag New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 2	I would suggest you have acceptance for specific stages of the game and accept and deny people at once. When I beta tested PlanetSide for SoE, they staged the beta test in exactly that manner. If you got accepted in the Alpha testing, they sent you accept / deny email. If you were denied, then you would be automatically be enrolled in the next stage until either a) you were accepted or b) the game was released. Having something say pending for ever doesn't help you or the person wanting into the beta. People need the constant feedback, image a file download without a little status bar saying what % is finished. I'm pretty sure when people face the unknown, they turn away quickly. Other suggestions: select and invite people who already have fan sites up and running. Look at it this way: they're already promoting your game, why not honor those who are spending their time and money attempting to build a community around your game. I say this with a slanted view of course, since I run http://horizons.universalrealms.com (shameless plug, but hey!). And it may not make you wealthy, but accepting me into beta would give you worlds of great karma. __________________ patag UniversalRealms.com Administrator

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09-13-2003, 03:30 AM	#1
mgilmartin Guest Posts: n/a	Suggestions -How can we improve the BETA test experience for you? We are interested in finding out how we can improve our BETA test process. Please post your suggestions here. Mike GIlmartin ATARI, INC

09-13-2003, 04:49 AM	#2
Andyindy Hardcore Gamer and Nerd Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 113	Let me see Like you said on a post in another thread, you should involve the date the tester applyed for the Beta Test. I'll keep my idea's coming when I get them. Andy

09-13-2003, 03:00 PM	#4
W4R(H1LD New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: CHESTERFIELD VA Posts: 13	I agree that a chat room would be a great idea. Then we could arrange times during the week that a rep from atari might be able to drop in for discussions live via chat.

09-13-2003, 07:16 PM	#6
Pyros Your Weighted Companion Cube will never stab you Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: The barrens of Canada Posts: 8,124	Ingame bug reports the link directly to the bug report on our betatests.net account would help. Also, as suggested, beta tester chating and scheduled chats with people on the support team, or QA team would also help our input and bugs be heard. Another suggestion would be making the community more self efficient, by making members of the community who have proved themselves in helping others and testing "VIP community members", giving them access to some of the mod functions for the beta board so they can keep things organized and help the online Atari staff keep this section organized, as it will probably become more chaotic as more and more betas become available.

09-14-2003, 07:19 AM	#7
Andyindy Hardcore Gamer and Nerd Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 113	I mean it will make it alot easier to explain a bug or something to some over cht because if they don't understand somethign you say they can just say so and you can try explaining it another way. I like the idea of the VIP members so that they can help sort out the message boards. I mean Gilly and the Atari staff would have to find out who the best and most relaible people are so that they can trust us. But I think that is a good idea, well done Pyros. Andy

09-15-2003, 08:24 AM	#8
MaineManiac New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Lewiston, ME Posts: 5	If my CD key worked I could actually do some testing... As it is right now, my testing expereince sucks.

09-15-2003, 08:46 AM	#9
Ameth New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 2	Some sort of interface help would be nice. /help doesnt get anything Cant figure out why "chat" box does not have chat but instead tells me how close the mobs are and how much I and they hit for. Isnt "chat" for conversing with the other people in "MMORPG"? For those of us whos acceptance letter got religated and deleted in the "spam" folders... better instructions for use of game. I didnt find out I was accepted till I checked my beta status. The download and install instructions are great... but if you dont know about the web page to log into... the game icon does squat. Very frustrating. Also, is it normal for the logon page to not recognized new characters? I played for 2 hours and logged off the game, yet the web page claims I have no characters Lastly, since the bug report page is down... how do we send in our feedback? Email support?

09-15-2003, 10:03 AM	#10
Rikkir New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Atlanta, Ga Posts: 7	I think a chat board would be a great idea. It would be nice to be able to chat with other beta test to help issues you may be having or to help other those experiences you may have had in game or system wise. I am not sure what the problem is on Tazzon but the secondary chat room would be great. Rikkir

09-15-2003, 12:33 PM	#11
girl_1 ... Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 64	(Warning - complex suggestion below) When we register for betatesting you do get some demographics on applicants. What would be cool is if you could make sub-groups of people. You could group people by playing time (the hours they generally play) as well as - age, location, system specs. You could even assign one person in a group as a moderator - to organize and parse specific information that you wanted to distribute to testers or - to collect data from them. Why would this be useful ? for the testers it would be useful because it would give some continuity over a longer period of time. it would be easier to have someone you're familiar with to check bugs and problems against. it would make it more fun (if the other people in your group are reasonable and not nuts). it might put a damper on the people that flame/or cause problems in game. for atari it would be useful because it would let you test specific things (such as how well the game plays when all people are located in a close area or how well the game plays on people that all have the same video card) and it would let you more quickly validate hardware specific problems. it would also be handy to help manage and collect information. How would you do it ? Like I said above you already collect location, previous game history, and hardware specific info. Sort through your db and make groupings (maybe add a checkbox on the reg form for people that would like to be grouped in the future) by features that would be useful - and assign one person in each group to contact/manage their sub group (heh - you could go the extra step and give them cool names, and maybe acknowledge the most active groups somehow but that's icing)

09-15-2003, 04:59 PM	#12
Pyros Your Weighted Companion Cube will never stab you Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: The barrens of Canada Posts: 8,124	girl_1: The already do almost just that. That's when when you sign up, you need to put hardware, your qualifications, etc. This way, if they need to test the game's compatability on a specific card (say Radeon 9700), they can draw users from the pool that has registered their video card as a Radeon 9700. While they're not technically groups, don't have leaders, and still have random selections, it's a step forward in your idea. Testers who help more get more points, and therefore are put higher on the beta priority list. It's sort of like your idea, but not quite at that level yet.

09-15-2003, 05:38 PM	#13
Kadin New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 10	Well first off the big complaint I keep seeing is this.. <x - name> I have been on this list for ever and it still says pending. So maybe send an email saying "Sorry you were not selected for (x-phase) of product testing we are beginning (y-Phase) in <blank> time. If you would like to wait for this phase please let us know ( or update your beta app)” The people willing to test that phase would stay around and others wouldnt. Might also help some of the tons of record sorting that is having to be done and on a personal level let people know you haven’t forgotten them. Pyros I have tested everything from Games to Business Software. I think you have a great idea there it would help everyone regardless what level they choose to test and report at.

09-15-2003, 06:38 PM	#14
[HA]Fodder4U New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 1	^ I totally agree and am a bit peeved everyday I log in and still see pending next to the betas I signed up for.

09-15-2003, 07:18 PM	#15
Andyindy Hardcore Gamer and Nerd Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 113	But if you think about it. They get thousands of applications for the beta. If they had to go through every single one and change there options it may take a while. Andy

09-15-2003, 08:11 PM	#16
Kadin New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 10	Andyindy I think if i were them i would ask them to log in and change their own options, this would aslo let them know who instrested still. But as for the email its self have it db generated

09-15-2003, 11:15 PM	#20
Halsy Doctor of Funk Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 36	#1. Make certain your beta testers can access beta boards immediately. #2. Manuals and information. I hate guessing how everything is supposed to work in a game. If you're admitting people to a beta you should have a functional manual.

09-16-2003, 12:16 AM	#23
Kadin New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 10	Pyros I think there are some great idea's floating around on how to keep that word "pending" from killing you every day when you check up on the beta sight ( yep ya might have guessed im in "pending" mode for horizons) . But i want to expand here alittle more. ((Ingame bug reports the link directly to the bug report on our betatests.net account would help. )) I think this is the best idea yet, maybe i can expand on here. I liked the idea of tracking the bug reports to an account but if ya could add some feed back to that ( ie. little note from bug team that says "hey can you remember tell me what you were doing when this happened next time. ) etc. would go along way. PS. patag, Nice web site

09-16-2003, 05:07 PM	#24
Silver_Dragon27 New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 1	I haven't gotten into a beta yet, but from previous beta experiences I can suggest one thing. Streamline and simplify. I know we are helping test a product of yours but I have seen too often where the process of reporting bugs is needlessly complex. Reporting most bugs should take a minimum amount of time and should be possible ingame. If you can report a bug in under 30 seconds you will encourage more reports, vs a process that takes 5-10 minutes and requires logging out of the game. I would also throw in a vote for a scheduled chat, maybe by invite only for two way communication with devs and testers.

09-16-2003, 05:14 PM	#25
Andyindy Hardcore Gamer and Nerd Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 113	Yeah I agree. I havent been accepted for a beta yet either but I know I will do a good job of it. Andy

09-16-2003, 05:54 PM	#26
Vetrik New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Georgia Posts: 3	A listing of current bugs and ways to recreate them (if known) to help in testing is my suggestion

09-16-2003, 06:31 PM	#27
Andyindy Hardcore Gamer and Nerd Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 113	Thats what your meant to send to the dev team anyway. Andy

09-16-2003, 06:57 PM	#28
Vetrik New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Georgia Posts: 3	A list of all bugs reported from everyone though, not just ones you have sent in yourself

09-16-2003, 07:30 PM	#29
Andyindy Hardcore Gamer and Nerd Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 113	I see what you mean, but I don't see how that helps. Andy

09-16-2003, 07:50 PM	#30
Vetrik New Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Georgia Posts: 3	Well if you knew of a certain bug already you could then try and recreate it different ways, maybe narrowing down what might be causing it. Developers might not be working on that bug atm, but when they do it will provide them with more information and it might help them fix it quicker. just my suggestion though