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Should Large Gaming Companies Pay Beta Testers?


vcczar

Should Large Gaming Companies Pay Beta Testers?   

19 members have voted

  1. 1. Should Large Gaming Companies Pay Beta Testers?

    • Yes.
    • Yes, and not only that, all gaming companies--no matter how small--should pay them.
    • Yes, but only large gaming companies that are clearly racking in millions of dollars like EA, Rockstar, and Paradox.
    • No. If people are flocking in to Beta Test for free, there's no incentive to pay anyone.
    • Other -- mention below
  2. 2. If you selected one of the "yes" options below, do you still hold this opinion if it means the price of a game might go up (possibly considerably) to pay the Beta Testers?

    • I voted for a "no" option above.
    • Yes. I don't believe in unpaid labor. I'll gladly pay more for a game for this principle.
    • Probably no. It depends how much more I'd be paying for games by large gaming companies.
    • Other - mention below
  3. 3. Any other thoughts on this topic? Or on what large gaming companies should do in general?



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Surprised I didn't hear about this. Interesting. 

If people are coming to beta test for free then there is really truly no incentive to pay anyone. Fan boys of the game will love to play it. Although like some companies do, awarding them with some merch, and a free copy of the game once fully released is always a nice thing to do. Other than that, if you got volunteers to begin with, why should you pay them? They're obviously willing, and wanting to do the work for free. 

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Pretty much what Pringles said. If people are willing to do it for free then there's no incentive to pay them. It seems unfair on the surface but hey, that's the free market. If you have people who wanna do a job for free then hell yeah you're going to take volunteers instead of paid employees.

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1 hour ago, Rezi said:

Pretty much what Pringles said. If people are willing to do it for free then there's no incentive to pay them. It seems unfair on the surface but hey, that's the free market. If you have people who wanna do a job for free then hell yeah you're going to take volunteers instead of paid employees.

Basically what you two said as well, but the reward is to get to play a game that they love early. If they don't want to beta test, then they can just not do that. 

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Your compensation is getting early access. If you don't want to put in the time, then don't play the game and use your time for something else. And those who leak the games after signing an NDA should be liable for their actions. If you don't like the game, don't buy it when it is fully released. If you pre-ordered, then that is your fault for paying before seeing the product.

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If AMPU really took off an made so much money that I could live off making games and pay employees, I'd certainly pay full-time Beta testers. The paid full-timers would have a lot of expectations, such as collating the responses and reactions of the volunteer beta testers. 

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On 4/23/2022 at 5:38 PM, vcczar said:

If AMPU really took off an made so much money that I could live off making games and pay employees, I'd certainly pay full-time Beta testers. The paid full-timers would have a lot of expectations, such as collating the responses and reactions of the volunteer beta testers. 

I'll submit my invoice.  Haha!

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I think internal beta testers with quotas for large companies that have to meet quotas and are required to do certain things should be paid.

Public betas? no

Private betas for small teams where the testers most likely have a large say in feedback and the direction of the game, no (like AMPU)

I'd consider things like AMPU-if it where a company, would be like a cooperative. 

Paradox would be like an amazon (aka beta testers probably don't have much pull) 

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12 hours ago, themiddlepolitical said:

I'd consider things like AMPU-if it where a company, would be like a cooperative. 

I think one reason it is so cooperative is because I have two other jobs. If AMPU were my only job, I think I'd be handling everything myself, except maybe the playtests. I probably wouldn't be posting for ideas for Era of the Future and etc.., because I'd have much more time for both research and reflection. You've all done a great job helping out for sure, but it was never my intent to be this cooperative, although I likely would have been more cooperative than most gaming companies, even if this were my only job. 

One downside to me being swamped every day is that I sometimes find myself agreeing to things, disagreeing to things, or ignoring things because I don't have time to think about them and I just make a gut reaction. Fortunately, this is generally in regards to minor things. I'm also less likely to be receptive to being pinged for alterations to the game because of my schedule. I'll be happy the game is made and that I made it for everyone, but there's a lot of times I question whether I would do it all over again if I went back in time. I would if I only had my teaching job as the other job, but three jobs is too many. I had zero gray hairs two years ago. I'm increasingly getting more of them because this 7am-7pm or 10am-10pm (depending on the day) work schedule 7-days a week (with a few exceptions) is just taking its toll. I rarely go out and have fun. It's definitely been a sacrifice, the kind that makes one bitter at times---not at anyone particularly, but just at life. There's a quote by the artist Michelangelo who was spending years sculpting a tomb for a Pope, "I've wasted my youth chained to this tomb." That pretty much sums up how I feel on most days creating this game. It's only duty and a desire to play it that keeps me going on. The game will be made, but I'm never doing a project of this magnitude again unless I have the time to focus exclusively on it and the time to enjoy life when I'm not on it. 

Sorry for the rant. Needed to vent. Back to the grindstone. 

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On 4/24/2022 at 6:43 PM, Patine said:

I think you effectively count as an employee.

Ha, I appointed myself co-producer and chief of quality control.  But a quite unpaid one.  Haha!

Like Vcczar, I do the work because this is the game I always wanted to play, and I've been honored to get to be a part of making it.  But he's welcome to every penny he can get out of it, because he's done a hell of a lot more work on it than I have.

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if you voluntarily decide "yknow what, i wanna beta test this game" despite it clearly not delivering payment, there's really no requirement for them to be paid. wanna get paid? don't test and demand payment.

of course, if you're an actual employee, then it's a completely different discussion, but from what I understood this poll is about free beta testers within the public.

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