I have tested various games over the years. I think of myself as a specific tester. I don't try everything there is but I do test specific things that I know about. When it comes to classes I don't play all of them so I don't test all of them. I test classes I have familiarity with so I can compare how they feel with other game experiences. I'll do some exploration but I tend to move from quest to quest since that is how I play the game when it goes live. I also love to provide feedback on the designated forum.
I would consider myself as a king of testing. I am best in everything conserning testing and I find approximately 20 bugs/min, and I squash them. I am negative person so that suits me very well as I only know how to point out errors in everything. Sadly after this I woke up and I wouldnt know a bug if it was standing in my eye. I am negative person tho, that was still true awake.
I would want to be good as a tester and sadly that would need a game to test. Can't wait for alpha, hint hint!
I can give a lot of silly ideas which might have gems among them if someone ever would stop and think about it.
I (beta)tested most MMORPGs that came out (or didn’t....) since EQ. I typically start a session with the things the developer is focussing on and if there is time after that I pick a subject that I try to break. That can be a class, a tradeskill a zone or a new dungeon or whatever looks to me has the most fragile code ;)
If the testing period is longer than a couple of months I tend to grow fond of a race/class combo and stick to that for the higher level testing.
-Fara
I tested WoW but only in beta back in the day. Made a few class suggestions that later became reality eventually. That’s my extent with full game testing.
Ive tested many an EQemu and I much prefer the direct contact with the dev/s in a situation Such as emu. They can communicate exactly what their desires are and I can let them know if that’s being communicated through the content.
MMO testing I have really only ever done tail end of closed beta for stress testing the servers. Though I still claim that a joke fake feral druid tree ended up influencing the BC feral druid tree and powers as I had both something similar to mangle and lacerate on my tree, sadly the capstone of Werebear form did not make it in. I wish I could find that image of the fake tree.
Earlier phases of testing have different targets and needs than the stress test weekends. The type of tester I would consider myself would be analytical systems testing over graphics and animation testing, my post history sorta hints at that. A good tester will look at what the developers are looking to work on that week and try and break it. At the end of the week you write up all the ways you managed to break it and any and all log/information that can be attached to it. Finally a little feedback on the intended experience and a few suggestions on how to improve it, even if it doesn’t really need improved.
What all can be done also depends on the level of GM commands that the testers have access to and their ability to fix what they break, even if it just resetting game elements.
Trasak
i play the game as normal and report the broken things i encounter trying to be as precise as possible.
i only beta tested age of conan, i'm no expert when it comes to testing, so i will not try to find exploits and complex things who could occur for someone more experienced in beta testing, i just do with my limited beta capacities, but i gladly try to help as soon as i think i found something broken.
I have tested a few games, varying from early alpha to mass public beta. With Vanguard, I was in very early before many of the classes had been implemented. Most of that experience was back in the era where you applied to be accepted and didn't purchase your "testing privileges".
I do software architecture and QA as part of my RL work, so I find most game testing to be quite unstructured by comparison. Like Land said, I generally follow the instructions of the dev team. When that's done, I think of imaginative ways to break things which weren't in the test parameters.
Sometimes my extracurricular activities are self-indulgent. If it's a game, maybe I'll just wander around, explore, try random stuff, chat with a few folks... Other times, I'll find one thing and attempt to do it 18 different ways. It all depends on how much time I have to complete the more formal testing.
Kilsin said:Do you have experience testing MMORPGs and if so, what kind of tester would you describe yourself as? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters
I've lost count of how many MMORPGs I've tested over the years. But what kind of tester am I? Thorough I hope. I once noticed a discrepancy in merchant selling prices in Vanguard and spent the next few hours buying and selling items to figure it out. Tedium has nothing on me. :p
I may not be a tester nor the son of a tester, but I'll test testing till a true tester comes!
sounded better in my head... I'm a deep drive tester. I love getting a theory and then trying to test it until I figure out exactly what its doing. I'm not a Dev. by trade either so normally this means I can only tell you the exact behavior of a game, and not what on the back end is causing it to behave such a way. So if you have a bug, or theory of one and want someone to truely track it down then I'm your guy :).
Keep track of the forums, find out what the dev's want tested. But otherwise I tend to try out different classes and give feedback, explore, explore and explore. It is amazing how many graphic glitches you can find when you go off the beaten trail.
But I have done beta for a lot of games out there, Dark Age of Camelot, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Wildstar, Guild Wars 2, SWToR to name a few.
Fun story, if you ever played DAoC in the VERY early days you might remember the log in 1 minute immunity they used to have in game. I was part of the reason it got taken out as I was able to show I could get through the relm castles and into the newbie area's of the oposing factions. Nothing like showing you can get into the newbie area's and pvp people that are not ready for it.
I keep getting pulled back into EQ though lol. I am hopeing Pantheon will replace that addiction lol.
I've tested many games over the years. Some beta tested, a lot alpha tested. One thing I've learned over the years is that no one can test everything. There are people who love questing, crafting, etc and those people will be the ones who will find the majority of bugs in those systems. Personally, I go for game breaking bugs or things that can give a quick and unfair advantage to those lucky enough to learn about the method. I also find people to help me test things that could potentially be a problem late in the game.
For instance, in a game that I won't mention here, we found out that at level 5 we could take a group and go kill level 32 neutral mobs. The game mechanics made it possible to do. Normally neutral mobs gave little to no xp but these gave massive amounts due to the level difference. We were able to power level 5 people from 5-30 in about 2 hours game time verus the 25 or so hours it took others. It was a huge gaping hole that they missed. We reported it several times through alpha and beta. Yet somehow, it still made it to launch. Then they wanted to ban people for using it.
Testing games or content can be a lot of fun for me, testing the new content on Vanguard with Wigin and Ceythos was one of my favorite experiences. I guess i consider myself more of an inquisitive tester, and one who focuses a lot on the balance of things, class abilities, items and enemy power levels compared to many other things that exist. Balance has always been my most fascinating subject and one that i tend to fixate on in testing.
Having done software/web QA and related IT stuff for years, doing it for free in an unstructured way was never very appealing... I've signed up for a couple of betas but it all seemed like chaos
I try to help by reproducing and documenting live bugs in games I enjoy
I care enough about what Pantheon could be to help as best I can, and I hope that the experience of the devs we have along with that of Pre-Alpha and Alpha will allow for a more structured beta environment than I've seen before, plus I've switched career paths so I'll have more time and patience (hopefully) to contribute more when we get there
Kilsin said:Do you have experience testing MMORPGs and if so, what kind of tester would you describe yourself as? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters
I just play the game and report any bugs I run in to and try to post in the forums regarding whatever topics devs bring up.
Much respect to the guys who actually run into every wall to try and find holes in the world. Dunno how they do it=)
I guess it depends on exactly what you're asking. In general I would consider myself an analytic tester. I've tested many MMO's (EQ2, SWG, WoW, SWOTR, Vangaurd, EQ Landmark, Warhammer and 8-10 more). I've gotten sort of a pattern for testing over the years.
I keep a spreadsheet open on my second monitor and use it to record everything I do. I color code entries based on record type, from first impressions, to impressions over time, to statistics on advancement rates. Bugs are red :) I also record typos or clunky dialogue patterns. The spreadsheet format allows me to include NPC names, Loc, my level, time of day, and severity of the issue or rating of the impression and it allows me to sort based on anything. That gives me an easy to use representation to correlate data and use later to write up a test session report broken up into categories; First impressions of new areas, "feel" of combat, "feel" of crafting, visuals, gui accessibility , etc.
I'm probably not a particularly skilled tester in regard to finding exploits and reporting them. I've never pursued exploits in games, and know little more than the theory of dupes for example. I can recognize obvious things like pathing or wall exploits when I see them, but it doesnt occur to me to try to find them.
Call it luck but, I have been privileged to Beta and Alpha test multiple games from Star Wars Galaxies, Vanguard Beta 2.0, Star wars the Old Republic (Early Beta) and a ton of single player games ( too long to list). When I beta test a game, I often have a 3 phase plan in hopes that I am contributing to the best of my ability for the team and future players
The 1st phase is the fun factor. Let's face it; you just got your Willy Wonka Golden ticket to Beta test a game that has been on your radar with overwhelming hype. Your mind is not ready to jump in and start finding bugs. For a solid week (or weekend beta), I play the game as if it was live and report minor things that interfered with my play session. In this phase, I usually write small notes if I found the "fun" is severely lacking or an experience I thoroughly enjoyed.
The 2nd phase I give back to the game that gave me the opportunity to test. Each day I create a new character and check a zone or an area in and out for stuck npc's, glitches with the map, falling through the world, Internet latency, etc. Some people might take offense to this, but I often try to find loopholes in the game and report what I was able to do ( I had a field day in Vanguard). In this phase, it is very crucial to check patch notes, and Beta forums to see what the Developer team is requesting of us to test.
The third phase was always my experiences and what could be done to enhance the fun factor with as much user input I can. I would often create a different race and class. I just nitpick the game and write heavy notes on what could make this zone, quest, dungeon soloing, Area etc. experience better. Interacting and posting on Beta forums is big during this phase to see what others are experiencing or sharing the same opinion. In this stage, you also have to give credit where credit is due so I would also provide as much positive feedback on the same topics.
When we sign up for beta testing a game, It is because we have the desired interest to jump in and play like a kid waiting for that new video game on Christmas. When you get into Beta, you're Volunteer and have a responsibility to make sure this game will keep you, your friends and others coming back for more. With Pantheon, This is the game we have wanted since the Classic Everquest. Good luck to all in beta and make sure we have a great game when Pantheon goes live!
Yila
I have been alpha and beta testing since 1998, when I was lucky enough to get in beta 0 of Asherons Call. Been a steady stream of alphas and beta since. I really enjoy the focused tests sometimes given during alphas, where the team asks you to do X over the course of Y days. Sometimes it is as simple as exploring a town and interacting with the world, sometimes it is a simple stress test, other times it is your standard level up class X to level Y, or try class X skills. I really like that purpose, where i know what feature they are wanting my feedback on.
In a beta test, I basically just run around and explore things. Try out a little of everything.
Experience, yes. I was one of the first 100 testers for Star Wars: Galaxies when it was in development (we were selected from the game's forums by the dev team - this was back before betas were a pay-for option, and before crowdfunding. Coming in so early, we did all kinds of testing - from focus tests where we would do things like all shoot at the same target to see if the server could handle it, to repeatedly go back and forth between two shuttleports on the map to load test the transfer process for moving characters from one map to another, to kicking the tires on all the basic gameplay systems. As time went on and testing got more advanced, we were looking for problems with objects in the world (floating bushes, holes you could fall through), making sure PvP actually worked (the best bug was when people would "die" but still be walking and moving around, just with their character standing up in the da vinci pose), and so on. I've beta'd a few other games as well, but I generally avoid beta testing unless I really feel like I can make a difference for other players by doing it.
As far as what kind of tester I am - I will be the first to admit that I'm not the type of tester who finds a lot of bugs. Bugs avoid me. If I find one, you can be pretty sure that dozens of other testers have found it too. I'm just not "lucky" at getting things to break. However, what I am good at (at least I think so) is providing feedback on how experiences fit together. So when I test, I try to do as much of that as I can - because that's important too.
