Babbler Badge for all involuntary betatesters

NovisNovis Join Date: 2003-08-09 Member: 19193Members
I'd like to suggest some small symbolic "sorry" kind of badge for all those of us who suffered from the rushed out engine rewrite, for betatesting an unstable release for a week without reverting now, because we silently accepted that it "had to be done" for PR-reasons.
Technically we should count as "supporters" for donating our time on generating .dmp files (not to mention the psychological suffering) - at least I do hope that this stunt has paid off business-wise for UWE.

Comments

  • maD_maX_maD_maX_ Join Date: 2013-04-07 Member: 184678Members
    Lol, I'm as annoyed as the next guy about this past weeks events, but REALLY? Your suggestion means only the people who bought since this past Friday wouldn't get a badge... Seems a little silly if everyone gets a badge (I guess they could as some badge art to decorate the scoreboard).

    Seriously this past weeks release was done poorly, but they have been doing things their way from the start and I'm sort of ok with that.

    Being OK does not mean I'm going to stop bitching about AV, rine jump, Exo beacon, performance,..., If they don't want our input they should tell us, and until then bitching whining is our bread and butter.
  • KamamuraKamamura Join Date: 2013-03-06 Member: 183736Members, Reinforced - Gold
    edited September 2013
    If you buy a software product on release today, you are in fact enlisting as a beta tester. That's just how the industry operates today. And some companies are so dedicated to thoroughly and properly beta-test their product that they prolong the beta phase even after the release - sometimes even for several years.
  • Canny_MessapianCanny_Messapian Join Date: 2013-09-06 Member: 187890Members
    Or you could contribute like the rest of the people with badges.

    ...some of whom wish they didn't spend their money to encourage devs to steepen the learning curve on a game the majority of us were reasonably happy with.

    But a badge? Hardly appropriate... Instead of that, I'd be happy if the next update(s) were about fixing lag/fps issues, memory leaks, crashes, improving loading time and, once and for all, resolve all those errors we get in the console while loading the game (which, it seems to me, nobody has addressed in ages).

    In other words, I don't want more stuff - I just want to be able to play the game. That's why I contributed money, not to fund the devs' license to skew the game around when it already has so many issues.
  • Canny_MessapianCanny_Messapian Join Date: 2013-09-06 Member: 187890Members
    Kamamura wrote: »
    If you buy a software product on release today, you are in fact enlisting as a beta tester. That's just how the industry operates today.
    The industry? The game industry or the software industry? I'm not saying they do it on purpose, but if I broke my codebase and failed to figure it out until deploy - and that happened every single time time I upgraded - I'd be out of a job.
    Kamamura wrote: »
    And some companies are so dedicated to thoroughly and properly beta-test their product that they prolong the beta phase even after the release - sometimes even for several years.
    With the difference that the people testing the beta know about it and they sign up for it.

    I think it's cool you guys defend the devs, don't get me wrong. Just try not to give them too many cookies either.
  • CCTEECCTEE Join Date: 2013-06-20 Member: 185634Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited September 2013
    You buy a product from an 'indie' developer. There's a risk in that, deal with it.
    Personaly i am still paying back for the years and years of FREE and awesome fun i had in NS1.
    Even if i did not enjoy the hell out of NS2 games.
    Maybe someone can create a 'No 1 supporter of feeling sorry for myself' badge for Novis? Here is a start:


    Edit: damn, thats a big ass badge.
    Edit2: i removed the big 'FU' badge cause it was too huge.
  • EucomolhamasEucomolhamas Join Date: 2013-03-10 Member: 183841Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    @Canny_Messapian With beta-testing Kamamura means the "finished" product as in pretty much every game from big developers, some games take a long time until they're playable
  • Canny_MessapianCanny_Messapian Join Date: 2013-09-06 Member: 187890Members
    @Canny_Messapian With beta-testing Kamamura means the "finished" product as in pretty much every game from big developers, some games take a long time until they're playable

    This game was already playable, @Eucomolhamas. It was rendered unplayable (for me and a bunch of other people, granted) by the last update, which featured all kinds of new, shiny stuff. Given choice, I'd choose an OK game I can play, over one with all kinds of features but which will crash every 10 minutes or so.

    I think that's not really that difficult to understand. I regularly purchased the game and contributed towards the Reinforced Program. I don't understand what's so inappropriate about expecting the game to work. If updates always bring such massive issues, probably we need less of them, not one every other week.

    If OTOH you're happy with the new update, good for you! As for me, I just want to play the game. That's what I paid for at the end of the day, unreasonable as it may seem.
  • current1ycurrent1y Join Date: 2003-12-08 Member: 24150Members, NS2 Playtester, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester
    OP has a point imo.
  • NovisNovis Join Date: 2003-08-09 Member: 19193Members
    Maybe just focus on the "symbolic sorry" part - I don't give much about hats in whatever form they come, the babbler badge just came to mind when I was thinking about if they're going to release shadow babblers one day... heck, it could be just a forum title saying "I survived the 2013 public betatest".

    "I paid for it, now let me use the product" might sound like an insult in the ears of hardcore supporters, but it doesn't mean I not going to pay for what might be developed when it's done, I just don't want to participate in the development process - where in this case not reverting to a working state seems not so much a technical but a business decision, and providing financial support for future products shouldn't be a requirement.

    I understand your supporter's compassion, and accept your disagreement - despite some comments sounding like yapping fanboys - but I just do not share this level of dedication for NS2 at the moment and hence wouldn't like to see this release strategy as an accepted procedure.
  • SUPER_SARSSUPER_SARS Join Date: 2013-02-13 Member: 183039Members
    edited September 2013
    I survived the patch week because I'm a masterbetatester.
  • EucomolhamasEucomolhamas Join Date: 2013-03-10 Member: 183841Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    @Canny_Messapian The game was playable, and is still playable. I can't play CoD and such because of the community, yet I don't go about telling people that it's unplayable, I prefer saying "I don't like it".

    About the crashes etc. I've been sticking to UWE servers and those with guaranteed stability until a fix for the lagging servers, and so have been playing perfectly ever since the patch came out.
  • KrovakonKrovakon Join Date: 2012-05-20 Member: 152332Members
    Flayra did promise all the beta testers a "Beta Tester" badge about a year ago? Wonder whatever happened to that.
  • Maxx11_v2.0Maxx11_v2.0 Join Date: 2012-11-18 Member: 172221Members
    edited September 2013
    You have every right to be upset about the broken build but asking for a badge in return is a little silly.
    joshhh wrote: »
    I'm sorry you're upset. Maybe we should demand free DLCs and constant support!

    ...oh wait

    Bare in mind that there wouldn't be any need for constant support if the game wasn't so broken in the first place. You're fooling yourself if you think otherwise, NS2 is a great game but its no technical marvel.

    The free "DLC" is a nice nod to the community but its not quite the selfless gift you make it out to be (it was rushed to be ready for PAX, that should be a hint). I'm not getting into this again, but lets just say its our responsibility as consumers to call a company out if they pull something, be it a titan like EA or an indie studio like UWE. Give credit where credit is due, and UWE certainly deserve their fair share, but hold up on the "blind praise no matter what" unless you want to prove that it doesn't matter how they treat their customers.
  • Canny_MessapianCanny_Messapian Join Date: 2013-09-06 Member: 187890Members
    @Canny_Messapian The game was playable, and is still playable.
    Not for me until I upgraded to 64 bit, nor for a bunch of other people, as I said. But so long as you can play, no problem, right? :P
    I can't play CoD and such because of the community, yet I don't go about telling people that it's unplayable, I prefer saying "I don't like it".
    But I *do* like it, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it and I wouldn't have donated. Logic 101.
    About the crashes etc. I've been sticking to UWE servers and those with guaranteed stability until a fix for the lagging servers, and so have been playing perfectly ever since the patch came out.
    The lag issue is at present not fixed, and when it occurs, it seems to affect everyone in the server. Feel free to take whatever compromises you will.
    As for me, I've already specified what would make me happy:
    [...]I'd be happy if the next update(s) were about fixing lag/fps issues, memory leaks, crashes, improving loading time and, once and for all, resolve all those errors we get in the console while loading the game (which, it seems to me, nobody has addressed in ages).
    And guess what? Looks like they're hard at work, so - assuming they do iron out the bugs, you won't hear me complain, I promise.
  • Ghosthree3Ghosthree3 Join Date: 2010-02-13 Member: 70557Members, Reinforced - Supporter
    This thread made me lol.
  • ScardyBobScardyBob ScardyBob Join Date: 2009-11-25 Member: 69528Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    Krovakon wrote: »
    Flayra did promise all the beta testers a "Beta Tester" badge about a year ago? Wonder whatever happened to that.
    Its called the Deluxe armor.
  • AurOn2AurOn2 COOKIES! FREEDOM, AND BISCUITS! Australia Join Date: 2012-01-13 Member: 140224Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Forum staff
    ScardyBob wrote: »
    Krovakon wrote: »
    Flayra did promise all the beta testers a "Beta Tester" badge about a year ago? Wonder whatever happened to that.
    Its called the Deluxe armor.
    Oh not this again.
    No, it isn't.
    Our so called "thank you beta testers" isn't so exclusive.
  • KwisatzHaderachKwisatzHaderach Join Date: 2012-02-06 Member: 143872Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Supporter
    Are you really bitching about hats... er sorry: badges?! Reading this thread I thought I was on the wrong forums.
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