Dear Beta Applicants (Please Read)

[Angelwithsoul]

Dear Beta Applicants,

Like some of you, I'm getting a little frustrated with all the people asking:

1. Why am I not invited yet?
2. What is NDA?
3. What's keeping CME, I want to play!

I thought it would be appropriate to answer these people as bluntly as possible:

----------------- ASK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE ---------------

1. Why am I not invited yet?

Answer: There are currently 150k people like you who have signed up for beta testing, Invitations are going out at far as we know. However this does NOT mean that you will be invited. CME will pick the people it thinks are qualified enough to be beta testers. Which means some of you will get invited, And most of you won't.

2. What is NDA?

Answer: NDA (Short for "Non-Disclosure Agreement) is a contract you have to agree to to be able to participate in beta testing this program. By signing it you agree NOT TO TELL ANYONE that you are in beta, been invited or anything else related to this program. If you breach this agreement you can face legal ramifications, Ranging from life-time ban to the more serious hefty fines. Also, If you are under the age of 18, Forget it, You are not getting in!

Edit:
The argument that you could end up in jail is hereby revoked, It appears that at the moment the legal system is still lenient enough not to pull this card. If it will stay like this is however not known for sure, Laws are being passed every day, Rules become more strict. But for the moment, No, You will not end up in jail. (But, Don't tempt the law. )

Edit 2:
Should there be a chance you are under age and you DID get in be aware that if you signed the NDA yourself, You are illigaly participating in Beta, Or if your legal guardian signed the NDA for you any breaches in the agreement will end in legal ramifications for the person who did sign the NDA.

3. What's keeping CME, I want to play!

Answer: First of all let me start by saying that being a beta tester does not mean actually "playing" the game. Beta tester means exactly what it says. You are TESTING the game. Those who have been chosen to test the game are chosen to help find bugs and report them to the available CME staff. So anyone of you who has applied to Beta because you thought you could play the game, Sorry but you are going to have to wait a while longer.

I'm sure CME is hard at work trying to get Stargate Worlds up and running.
So stay calm, Sit back and enjoy the ride.

If you don't get chosen to help in beta-testing this program, Don't go on a suicide mission through these forums, Remain calm and wait for your turn.

Some of you will get chosen, Some of you won't. Deal with it.

And so ends my rant, I hope some people have become wiser by reading this thread.

And for those who already knew all this, Let us be kind to the people out there with questions and try to help them as much as we can.


---------------------- Some of the things people will see if they are accepted as Beta Tester -------------------------

They find out they get thrown out of the game because of a bug.
The game freezes up.
Background sounds might stall.
Certain places might not be textured or the textures won't load for them.
Certain ingame items won't work properly or at all.
NPC's won't react to your presence or will react while you are still far away.
NPC's who will kill you in one blow and vice versa.
Missions/Quests can't be completed.
Walking somewhere on the map and suddenly find yourself falling through the floor.
A gate being open, But you can't go through because it doesn't recognize the player.
Immediatly starting the game you die for no apparent reason whatsoever.
Expect login servers and game servers do be down, A LOT!
Your character will be lost more then just once due to server wipes

And these are just a few of the things you will face when being a beta tester.

Oh, And for those who think they can take their character from Beta Phase to the Official release, Sorry to dissapoint you but ALL beta characters will more then likely be wiped!

-------------- Another important factor in getting to beta test --------------

IF you are invited to beta testing, Be warned that due to server stress and/or other errors which can occur, The files you need, Be it small bug fixes, entire patches and/or other content CAN AND WILL often result in being unable to finish downloading, You must have patience while being a beta tester, Because there will often be times you have to download certain files mentioned above again and again. Don't whine about it, You did sign up for this!

---------- This part concerns people under the age of 18 -----------

While you can't participate in the Closed Beta as of the reasons mentioned in this post, You are however welcome to apply to Open Beta once it becomes available. Considering there is no NDA for the Open Beta. You will still have a chance of trying out the game. Though be warned, There will still be bugs in the game by that time, It would be much appreciated if you helped out the community find those bugs and report them to the developers who you may find in-game.

----------------- What is expected from you when you are invited to beta test -----------------

Like previously stated, Being in beta doesn't mean you can have a fun time playing, This is a serious matter. You are the selected few who will pave the way for the rest of the community, You are invited to help take out as much bugs as you can find.

Several things you probably will be doing when beta testing are:

1. Finding ways to get to places you're not supposed to go.
2. Finding holes in the map through which players could fall.
3. Exploring the edges of the world maps for holes which could lead players off the map into unmapped space.
4. Try all different animations of your character in several different orders.
5. Explore the world listening for sound problems, and graphics related bugs.
6. Try out missions and report all bugs to the developers team.
7. Try every weapon to make sure none of them fail to work.
8. Shoot at something or someone and see if this item, NPC or other beta tester responds in the correct manner. (i.e health dropping, armor decreasing etc.)
9. Try different graphical settings from low quality to (if your PC can handle it) very high quality.
10. Try out groups, Part of the game means you have to work together, So make sure there aren't any bugs in there.
11. Guild creation, Explore every aspect of it. Try different name combinations, Try promoting people in the guild and see if it all works according to plan.
12. Try out different items you can use for enhancing your character, Make sure they work properly.
13. Find all stargates and test them out, Do they work, Don't they work?
14. Approach locations from different directions. (I personally have found this too lead to server crashing on several occasions in WoW)
15. Gather as much people as you can together in one location and see if the server can handle all of them together.
16. With said people (#15) go find some huge instances and once again check to see if the server can handle all of them in action.
17. Explore every nook and cranny of the maps while trying to find any texture problems (i.e textures which won't load, or simply aren't there)

etc. etc.

This and MANY MORE will be expected of you if you are invited. The goal of beta is to find as many bugs as possible and report them to the developers team so that they can fix it and that when the game is released it will near to completely bug free.

--------------- Edit: Additional intel for people invited to the Beta test (Contributed by user: Sarizaddi)----------------

One of the biggest things that doesn't get tested for enough is Greifing.

Tests for greifing vary widely, but can wildly affect playability and atmosphere of the game.

Such tests include

Conveyor Belting - abilities and effects which force character movement which can be used to force characters off the map or into undesired places (for example, using explosive devices or force fields to knock characters off maps or off cliffs or into places they can not escape from, or even force them across server lines or from being able to enter a zone);

Skill Interference - player interference with crafting, skills, abilities of another, such as using abilities or weapons or game mechanics to cause interruption of crafting, block a player from being able to click on a quest item or npc, or unanticipated interruption of abilities or skills with your own skills or abilities not meant to to so (such as interruption a player's actions by opening a trade window);

Scamming - through improper or unintended use of trade windows, vendors, or "auction house" systems;

Quest interference - such as unintended ability to kill escort type npcs or quest npcs, stealing quest spawned items from players on a quest, killing mobs intended for kill by the questing player

NPC Interference - intended or unintended ability to kill NPCs such as Vendors, Auction House characters, Story Based NPCs, or Interactive Items

Cross Faction Border Crossing - some areas intended for only SG personnel or only Goa'uld personnel, finding a way to force a border crossing with a character of the opposite faction. (Am example might be using a movemnt forcing device like an explosive to "blow" you through a fence and into SG starting area.

NPC Mind Control - unintended means of taking over or forcing an unintended action by a pet, NPC, or interractive item. An example might be using a movement cause effect to "move" an unkillable Vendor NPC. Another might be using a hostile ability on an NPC to force it to become hostile to someone else.

Attack by Interface - Using game interface screens to disrupt, block, or render helpless another player, such as spam group invitations which prevent a player from being able to type, opening trade windows constantly to block their screen, using spam in chat windows to block their ability to read or interract in NPC Conversation or text based commands,

Of course that doesn't include blatant greifing like stealing from players, or "killing their herd" (killing all of a lower level characters exp mobs) or killing a player repeatedly to prevent them from any interraction game at all. That certainly may need to be on someone's mind, but the job of a Beta Tester I would say is to find -unintentional- methods a player might grief another.

I will give one example that in (game name not mentioned), there was a way of trading a object to player that weighed more than they could carry. When the trade went through, since it was more weight than the person could carry game mechanics kicked it to force the player to drop inventory items and equipment until the player was back within the weight threshold. Essentially, it forced a player to drop all of their valuable gear in exchange for this boulder heavy item, which the greifing player would then steal off the ground.

Another example is that in (game name not mentioned), crafting an item involved a crafting graphic and animation sequence. In order to add realism, mechanics made it so if you were hit by an attack, such as making the mistake of crafting items during a battle or in the wild where wild monsters can attack, crafting could be interrupted. However, the same held true that even in a city, if a player casted a spell, such as a healing spell, on the crafting player, then the crafting would still be interrupted. Since crafting interruption caused the loss of all material ingredients, hostile or griefing players would wait around at places it was common for other to craft, and would cast heal spell or such on them to lose them all of those ingredients, which translated to lost money and time. This was common for players who wanted to "eliminate the competition" by targeting the competitive crafters to prevent their competition from having crafted products to put on the market.

Another example is in (game name not mentioned), in most places player vs player is optional and normally you are not required to participate. But if you click on a player that is "flagged" for PvP, then you become flagged for PvP also. In particular, a "flagged" player can stand over a quest NPC, or the bobble of your fishing pole, or a quest item, and you are unable to click the item, you instead click the player. This flags you for PvP, making it legal for the greifer to them attack and kill you. The greifer essentially blocks you from interracting in the game.

The point I try to make here is that I would appreciate, as I'm sure many countless thousands of others would, if Beta Testers would watch for these holes in game mechanics and programming. I know I would make this a strong concern if I make it into Beta Testing, but since there's no guarantee of that, I hope someone else is watching our backs.


--------------- Closing Statement ------------------------

I hope this thread has informed you on the basic topics regarding Beta Testing, NDA rules and Invitations.
Let us please keep the questions on these topics to a minimum, If you have anything further to ask, Please feel free to ask in this thread.
We don't want to have 10 threads going from different people asking the same questions, Do we now?

And remember what you've read.

The end goal of a beta tester is to find as many ways to break the game as possible. Part of that is repeating actions that break the game over and over until you discover exactly what it is that triggers the break. Does it happen on every system, or just on particular hardware combinations? Trust me, after having done beta testing for a living it is NOT all fun and games. It can be repetitive, frustrating, even boring work - but it is absolutely necessary to the development process.

If all you want to do is play the game before everyone else, beta testing isn't for you. If, however, you take it as a personal challenge to make the game do things it isn't supposed to do, to break it, to bring it to its knees and make it beg for mercy, then and ONLY then is beta where you want to be.

Welcome to the forums

Special thanks to everyone who've contributed to making this thread happen.

[Shadow_Alien]

Nicely done

[Jeff Westen]

Here, Here!

Chances are that so early in testing, you will spend more time submitting bugs than in the game itself (at least you should) and if you are in the game, I bet you will spend most of that time figuring out what to do and dealing with bugs and crashes.

[Angelwithsoul]

Originally Posted by Vlad Cole

Here, Here!

Chances are that so early in testing, you will spend more time submitting bugs than in the game itself (at least you should) and if you are in the game, I bet you will spend most of that time figuring out what to do and dealing with bugs and crashes.

Indeed, A large group of people out there think it's all fun and games, But they will be very dissapointed when:

They find out they get thrown out of the game because of a bug.
The game freezes up.
Background sounds might stall.
Certain places might not be textured or the textures won't load for them.
Certain ingame items won't work properly or at all.
NPC's won't react to your presence or will react while you are still far away.
NPC's who will kill you in one blow and vice versa.
Missions/Quests can't be completed.
Walking somewhere on the map and suddenly find yourself falling through the floor.
A gate being open, But you can't go through because it doesn't recognize the player.
Immediatly starting the game you die for no apparent reason whatsoever.


etc. etc. There are literally hundreds of thousands of different things which can go wrong while you are testing the game. I'm not sure some people see that side of being a beta tester.

[Xel'Naga]

Again we are presented with a well informed and concise thread that address a problem and puts information in a one-stop-shop type way.

This needs to be stickey'd or it will just be ignored by the throngs of newbies asking these exact questions (and apparently can't search a forum before posting...)

[kayeffem]

Originally Posted by Xel'Naga

This needs to be stickey'd or it will just be ignored by the throngs of newbies asking these exact questions (and apparently can't search a forum before posting...)

what xel said

[sarge mat]

Nice post mate, very well done. Its going to be useful to a lot of people and cut down the number of posts asking thouse questions I should think.

[Angelwithsoul]

Thanks everyone, Just trying to do my bit for the community.

[WilliamC]

Originally Posted by Angelwithsoul

Indeed, A large group of people out there think it's all fun and games, But they will be very dissapointed when:

They find out they get thrown out of the game because of a bug.
The game freezes up.
Background sounds might stall.
Certain places might not be textured or the textures won't load for them.
Certain ingame items won't work properly or at all.
NPC's won't react to your presence or will react while you are still far away.
NPC's who will kill you in one blow and vice versa.
Missions/Quests can't be completed.
Walking somewhere on the map and suddenly find yourself falling through the floor.
A gate being open, But you can't go through because it doesn't recognize the player.
Immediatly starting the game you die for no apparent reason whatsoever.


etc. etc. There are literally hundreds of thousands of different things which can go wrong while you are testing the game. I'm not sure some people see that side of being a beta tester.

You forgot login servers being down and server wipes.

Yes, those of you interested expect your character and all your progress to be wiped frequently as this is common in beta.

[cdxrd]

"Some of you will get chosen, Some of you won't. Deal with it."

That statement is so well said... I've been in so many beta's with so many people who just dont seem to get why THEY aren't invited, as if they are unique and have something extraordinary to offer beta. Well, guess what.. Everyone else thinks the same thing about themselves too. CME will choose the people they think fit the bill, and yes, it sucks not getting invited.. But whining about why you didnt get in just annoys people.. so sit back, enjoy your stay here, read the forums, wish, hope, pray, send khatie $50 and $100 bills via snailmail and flattering emails.. and maybe.. just maybe you'll get that invite..

And for those who are here just to 'play for free before its even out' ... wow.. do you have another thing coming.. lol ..

[kayeffem]

Originally Posted by cdxrd

And for those who are here just to 'play for free before its even out' ... wow.. do you have another thing coming.. lol ..

wait what? That's what betas are right, free games to play? lol

[STORMBANE]

Originally Posted by Angelwithsoul

First of all let me start by saying that being a beta tester does not mean actually "playing" the game. Beta tester means exactly what it says. You are TESTING the game. Those who have been chosen to test the game are chosen to help find bugs and report them to the available CME staff. So anyone of you who has applied to Beta because you thought you could play the game, Sorry but you are going to have to wait a while longer.

.

First of all nice post
and i think this cant be stressed enough
.
So many ppl seems too think that Beta is just free play time

[babsalos]

Very nice post!

[Angelwithsoul]

Originally Posted by WilliamC

You forgot login servers being down and server wipes.

Yes, those of you interested expect your character and all your progress to be wiped frequently as this is common in beta.

Thanks, I'll put these in the starting post now.

[chemical360]

Originally Posted by Angelwithsoul

Indeed, A large group of people out there think it's all fun and games, But they will be very dissapointed when:

They find out they get thrown out of the game because of a bug.
The game freezes up.
Background sounds might stall.
Certain places might not be textured or the textures won't load for them.
Certain ingame items won't work properly or at all.
NPC's won't react to your presence or will react while you are still far away.
NPC's who will kill you in one blow and vice versa.
Missions/Quests can't be completed.
Walking somewhere on the map and suddenly find yourself falling through the floor.
A gate being open, But you can't go through because it doesn't recognize the player.
Immediatly starting the game you die for no apparent reason whatsoever.


etc. etc. There are literally hundreds of thousands of different things which can go wrong while you are testing the game. I'm not sure some people see that side of being a beta tester.

Thank you. I am glad I am not the only one that has said that. Granted I am new to these forums but not new to the Stargate franchise and still have an opinion on this. I have only been a member for less than a day and see posts about "I have stopped playing games just waiting for the beta" and I ask myself - Do these people have any idea what a beta test is?

These folks are the reason a games is released glitchy and nearly unplayable. This is not about building your character so you can be better than everyone else, this is also not about fun and games, it is about making sure the rest of us do not purchase a $49.99 retail POS.

Edit: That said, yes, seeing the world in action ASAP is fun and surely exciting, but try to set that aside for 30 minutes of actual testing please.

Just my two cents.

[Agiad]

Great Post!

I am curious how many people, like myself, actually stopped posting in general because of the types of posts this addresses. I has been very frustrating watching the unending stream of posts asking the same questions that the CME staff have already answered. I hope this puts those questions to rest.
I will not list my past beta experience because as each different company is different, so too is their beta requirements. Who cares what a poster's past experience is because it says nothing about how well they performed the "JOB" of beta testing.
I can sit tight and wait for an invite and if that day does not come then I can look forward to the launch date and trust that CME has picked the right people to ferret out all the bugs in the game.

[Lordanubis]

To be honest with you I'm not entirely sure why this forum is still open. At the moment it's sole purpose seems to be to cater for four things:

1) People complaining about not having being invited to beta yet.
2) People posturing and trying to make themselves appear manly and a perfect beta candidate by posting System Specs, and a list of games they have supposedly beta'd before.
3) Newbies asking silly questions when they have obviously signed up just to try and get themselves into beta.
4) Impatient people making attention seeking posts about when beta invites are going out, to try and make it appear that they're awesomely dedicated and deserve a spot.

Frankly, now that closed beta has begun and we know that invites have started going out there should be no need for a Beta Discussions forum - none of the testers can talk about the beta anyway. CME could just as easily post any updated beta information into the Accouncements forum with a 'Beta FAQ' stickied there, and until open beta begins and/or the NDA is dropped there is no point in anyone at all going on about beta for any reason.

CME should just close this forum and put a stop to this posturing/idiocy. It is useless and does nothing other than make the community as a whole look immature.

[Angelwithsoul]

Thanks to all for your kind words, Now let us make sure this topic stays on the 1st page so that we can minimize the new people asking questions regarding the topics discussed in this thread.

[ishkoo]

This thread should pop-up every time someone visits the Beta Discussion forum.

[Angelwithsoul]

Originally Posted by Lordanubis

To be honest with you I'm not entirely sure why this forum is still open. At the moment it's sole purpose seems to be to cater for four things:

1) People complaining about not having being invited to beta yet.
2) People posturing and trying to make themselves appear manly and a perfect beta candidate by posting System Specs, and a list of games they have supposedly beta'd before.
3) Newbies asking silly questions when they have obviously signed up just to try and get themselves into beta.
4) Impatient people making attention seeking posts about when beta invites are going out, to try and make it appear that they're awesomely dedicated and deserve a spot.

Frankly, now that closed beta has begun and we know that invites have started going out there should be no need for a Beta Discussions forum - none of the testers can talk about the beta anyway. CME could just as easily post any updated beta information into the Accouncements forum with a 'Beta FAQ' stickied there, and until open beta begins and/or the NDA is dropped there is no point in anyone at all going on about beta for any reason.

CME should just close this forum and put a stop to this posturing/idiocy. It is useless and does nothing other than make the community as a whole look immature.

I know, Seeing all these threads with people asking the same questions over and over again, And the people who don't even know why they're here. I felt this thread would at least make some of it go away and center it into one thread for people to find their answers.

There's too much people asking about beta, People have to understand that they're not going to be told everything about it. Somethings they will inform us about, Other things are realy not our bussiness to know. It's beta, It is and always has been a topic that will be closed off from the mainstream people. If not, There wouldn't be any sense of even having an NDA.

We're going to have to deal with the info we have, And be honored if we get to find out anything more about it, Because that doesn't happen often, If at all.

[Aszrayel]

Originally Posted by Vlad Cole

Here, Here!

Chances are that so early in testing, you will spend more time submitting bugs than in the game itself (at least you should) and if you are in the game, I bet you will spend most of that time figuring out what to do and dealing with bugs and crashes.

What Vlad said

[chemical360]

Originally Posted by Lordanubis

To be honest with you I'm not entirely sure why this forum is still open. At the moment it's sole purpose seems to be to cater for four things:

1) People complaining about not having being invited to beta yet.
2) People posturing and trying to make themselves appear manly and a perfect beta candidate by posting System Specs, and a list of games they have supposedly beta'd before.
3) Newbies asking silly questions when they have obviously signed up just to try and get themselves into beta.
4) Impatient people making attention seeking posts about when beta invites are going out, to try and make it appear that they're awesomely dedicated and deserve a spot.

Frankly, now that closed beta has begun and we know that invites have started going out there should be no need for a Beta Discussions forum - none of the testers can talk about the beta anyway. CME could just as easily post any updated beta information into the Accouncements forum with a 'Beta FAQ' stickied there, and until open beta begins and/or the NDA is dropped there is no point in anyone at all going on about beta for any reason.

CME should just close this forum and put a stop to this posturing/idiocy. It is useless and does nothing other than make the community as a whole look immature.

What an interesting post considering that most everyone around here's response to these newbie threads are to make themselves visible to the appropriate people by posting.

Call me a newbie if you like but I read Gateworld everyday when this game was first announced, heck before this game even had a forum. The problem was that I was too involved with consoles to even care about PC games anymore and therefore didn't bother taking part here. I have since changed that mindset and so, here I am.

However, for you to bash people for wanting to take part is ludicrous. I mean do I think I have a shot? Nope. Would I love one? Of course I would. And consdering that the person who sends out the invites is still actively patrolling these forums, everyone still has a chance and has a right to post here.

[woundup]

I'm very glad that some already mentioned server wipes. I my experence the amount of people who think that they will be able to "play" in beta and level straight through to retail is way beyond what seem reasonable.

That and the fact that they never understand why their "super stable" overclocked system crashes evertime the zone or what not ingame.

It can be pretty funny though how the same people complain about lag making the game unplayable when at the same time others are playing fine.

[MKitsune]

I agree that you did a great job with this post.
The only time I've ever beta tested was probably because of dumb luck after several months. XD I feel like I could have found more bugs though.

[Lordanubis]

Originally Posted by chemical360

However, for you to bash people for wanting to take part is ludicrous. I mean do I think I have a shot? Nope. Would I love one? Of course I would. And consdering that the person who sends out the invites is still actively patrolling these forums, everyone still has a chance and has a right to post here.

Not bashing people for wanting to take part at all. I think everyone here wants to take part in some shape or form, myself included, but wanting to take part and making posts that scream out "Look at me with my epixx system specs and dedication to be posting why I should get a beta invite at gone midnight!!!!!" are two different things.

The vast majority of recent posts in this forum are effectively worthless posturing, and even if you don't agree with that they are unnecessary and useless. No matter how many times you ask or post about how awesome the news that beta has started is, information will come with CME want to release it, not before.

To be frank it worries me that so many people (OP for this thread not included, which is a sensible and honest post) think the kinds of posts going on are the valuable contributions that Khatie is looking for. They are neither valuable, nor contributions. Simply unnecessary.

Want to be in beta all you like. I don't mind that, and have no problem at a thread or two anticipating recieving an invite. A whole forum full of stupidity though, I do have a problem with - and that is what this forum has effectively become with very few exceptions.