[David E. Gervais]

Originally posted by Renegade 13:
Sounds reasonable to me. By the way, if a beta test is won, what exactly does it entail in terms of time committed and the duties expected of a beta tester??

First, when you enter the Beta you have to sign/agree to a standard NDA that prohibits you from disclosing info about the game to anyone outside the beta.

Second, you need to have time to actually play through the game and make notes of any 'bugs' you find. (A 'bug' can be anything from actual 'error' Messages to sound or graphic 'glitches'. It can also be gameplay issues. When something does not 'feel' right, make a post in the beta forum and let everyone know what you think.)

I'd say that if you can dedicate 1-2 hours/day playing the game and sending bug reports, you would be an average Beta tester. If you want to move up to the 'A-List' of beta testers then put in as many hours as you can.

Basically, it's a commitment to spend time helping with the great bug-hunt. One of the perks is that often you can contribute gameplay ideas directly to the man himself. The first stage of the Beta is 100% bug hunt. "Go on, I dare you to crash my game!" "What, you did? can you tell me what caused the crash? what were you doing when it happened? Did you get an error message? Strange none of the other beta testers can reproduce that error. Have you updatae all your drivers? are you sure? Oh, you have a nVidia graphics card eh? try reverting to an older driver and see if that helps,.. I'm using vxx.xx and it works fine. etc, etc, etc...

I hope this bit of babble helps give you an idea of what being on the beta means.

Cheers!