i don't understand why people are interested in beta testing. from video games to computer software, companies are having beta testing software released to the public to use for the final product. why are people so interested in such a concept? what puzzles me is that the beta user isn't being paid. he or she spends their time using the product and are not being paid for. why spend your time testing a product when you aren't being paid to do so. the only real win is the company. with all the beta testing going on in video games and computer software applications, companies are saving more money while at the same time release a product to get more money from people. microsoft is a very good example. they released a beta and people all around the world helped further support windows though people know it's bad and microsoft will do their usual business tactic.
The idea of aiding in the development in a game has always attracted me. Plus, since not everyone is invited to be a beta-tester, it's like you're part of an exclusive yacht party, except with crazy glitches that make the character models do weird Kamasutra positions. As for beta-testing something that isn't really cool software... No idea.
Because 90%-95% of people who play beta's use it as a sneak-peek demo to determine if they will buy the game or not. Simple as.
God, I remember someone on this forum hated beta testing, me ans suis told him otherwise. Customers and consumers want beta testing so that they can get a taste of whatever product. They're moreso timed demos. Devs are interested in it because it's a good way to find bugs that their testing team didn't find, to find exploits and fix them, to tweak, and to estimate or allocate the multiplayer servers. Also devs get to here consumer feedback and act on it if they choose. It's a good point on both ends, considering that the customer gets to try the product before to see if he/she likes it or not. It's good on the developer standpoint to fix bugs and all that stuff I mentioned above (and that in turn benefits the consumer). And it's good on a business standpoint as it sparks interest for the product. A game that would've benefited from beta testing is MW2, CoD4 did it and had few bugs and exploits, MW2 didn't and has a plethora or bugs and exploits (compared to CoD4).
Well.... Video-Game Testing is totally different to Beta-Game Testing obviously and its actual fun not just doing a specific task per hour on VG-Testing. Some players are awarded unique items usually when they continue playing after the Beta... Then we have them being seen as Celebrities or such... :
Microsoft has this MS Office 2010 in beta and its free until october. Why pay for a office 2007 when 2010 is free? it will save me money maybe until october. Why not use open office due to its free nature? i'm more accustomed to MS office, and open office looks like MS notepad or something MS had for like 20 years... and i would like to test the new techs out there rather than stay on old tech. Final thoughts, if its free, why dont we try it? maybe unless you know it will cause you major pain later, then dont. Its like the feeding program to public schools here, we get new products from companies like jack and jill to try their new products before they release it to public consumers. We got like candies, drinks like coffee and juice, potato snacks, new meat products and stuff for FREE.
If you Know a Game called Club Penguin, If you Where Beta (2005) you got a super UGLY Hat that is extremly rare, And in all the Online games Betas are Rare, I think because that Game will be Famous 2 or 3 Years later and when someone sees a beta Gets Excited, That "Add me" and all that. Im a Beta in a Game called Planet Cazmo, And is not such a big thing.
