This week they announced a date for when the Alpha will start, available only to Special Edition (SE) buyers, and they have stated SE will be discontinued when the Alpha launches. The Regular Edition buyers will join in at some future time, let us lovingly call it a "Beta" point.
Of course, this makes my day. I get the earliest access to the game, get to have fun discussing mechanics and picking the game apart, and in general it should be awesome.
However, there are some unhappy people. Specifically, those who bought the Standard Edition. They don't get alpha access. They have to wait until the Beta arrives.
Truthfully I find it very hard for me to be sympathetic towards these people's complaints. First off, I paid extra money just to have access to the Alpha. Additionally, it was stated as part of the package that one version gave access to the Alpha (Special Edition), and one made no mention about getting into the Alpha (Standard Edition). If you wanted access to the Alpha, should you not have bought the one that said "First access to alpha"?
Of course, some people argue that since the Engine Test was released to both Special and Standard edition buyers, it might have been slightly misleading. However, that was a very rough test for compatibility and not in any shape or form the game. It was merely to test the engine code on a variety of machines.
There is also some debate on what this mysterious "Beta" will be. Personally, I find that because of the variety of definitions in the industry no one really knows what an Alpha or Beta really is for a particular game, except the developers themselves. Most modern games go through an Alpha, a Closed Beta, and an Open Beta where they invite players outside their development group to test out the game and give feedback. These three simple phases do not include the many stages of internal builds that a game goes through within the company.
My personal definition is that the Alpha is given to a unique set of players. Players you either trust or who have taken the extra steps to be involved either via actions or payment. You can release to them something bug ridden and they will not run away in disgust, they will try to help fix it. If there is are balance issues, they will try to find and reveal them. The game does not have to be feature complete, and the Alpha players will take that into consideration.
The Beta should be nearly or completely feature complete. This is when you get the general masses in, test server loads, and let sheer numbers stumble across the bugs you missed. Players at this stage are probably more interested in playing a game and not as much about feedback, but they will gripe and moan on the forums so if something is horribly wrong. They also expect a game, not a partial build of a game and some might try it and leave because it is not complete.
Of course, different companies use these terms in different ways. For example, Blizzard, makers of World of WarCraft and StarCraft, view Betas as a complete game and only really do balance and server load testing. In StarCraft2 Beta they have made some very interesting tweaks based on feedback such as removing the attack delay on an air unit, opening up more micro possibilities. However, the game is pretty much all there on Day 1 of the Beta and it is only minor tweaks on stats that they are interested in for feedback. Others like Stardock, developers of Elemental, have been pumping out Beta builds starting with a striped down cloth map, no tactical battles, and barely any of the mechanics besides run your hero around the world. This Beta is only available to those who pre-order the game and seems to be whatever they have polished up at the time as they slowly release more and more features.
Still, being part of an "Alpha" has a huge amount of draw since most associate it with an exclusive time where they can make big differences with their feedback. I personally get a huge kick out of helping design things, especially games. Plus there is the allure of taking part in something so exclusive. Perhaps that is exactly why the NS2 developers chose that term to describe the first part of their more public testing period. Huzzah for marketing strategies.
Really though I think there is a deeper problem here than just a confusion of terms. In some ways it leads back to a sense of entitlement. Today gamers gorge themselves on free Betas where they can test out the game for free, get tired of it, and never have to pay a cent for the finished product. There is also a sense of "hey, we pre-ordered and so we deserve something in return." Coupled with the sentiment of "We gave you money, now deliver to use a product" this turns the forums into an ugly place at times.
Here is a quote from someone on the forums:
I kindly reminded this person that the Special Edition says it will give Alpha access. The poster commences to backpedal and little, and maybe meant something about the Beta being a point at which they have no say or something like that. Still, it is a whiny "I deserve something more" post. Bleugh.as a person who pre-ordered, i already have faith in you guys and i have completed a gesture of good faith by buying it early. when i looked at the pre-order options (way last year) it was pretty obvious the premium version was "because you extra love us mores, we can't really give you much, but its because you love us even more and you want this to happen". in your recent updates, it looks to me like you are stumbling trying to come up with things that you can give to the "premium pre-orders" and exclude from everyone else.guys, we all love you, thats why we pre-paid, why are you tiering our love like this. i feel, i feel hosed.........
Something I am a big fan is how many development teams are letting you pre-order and participate in some really early builds to get feedback. I find this an exceptional business model for Special Editions of a game personally. Contrast this to the $100 Civilization 5 Super Special Edition. Ugh. Buying a Special Edition that also lets you get access earlier feels like a solid system. You not only play to those like me who love getting their feet wet in the development of the game, but you also hit those who want the special feeling of being important and part of the exclusive Alpha club. Granted, you can no longer offer that lure once the game progresses to a release, and since it seems like no game can be released without a Special Edition, I can only scratch my head what to give that does not sound like a gimmick or fanboy bait. I will leave thoughts on that for another post.
What I dislike is when a developer opens up the floodgates too soon and stupidly shoot themselves in the foot. Many gamers can not comprehend an incomplete game. They just do not care, they want to play. Exposing these to a rough build of your game can generate bad press and actually cause you to lose sales. Many many independent developers and mod makers do this. Really they expected great praise for their hard work and feedback on all the rough parts, but instead they get laments about how horrid it is. I have several games on my watch list, but I will not even try them again until I see some serious positive press about how amazing it is and how it has changed gaming forever. They have effectively poisoned their own pool and caused me to lose confidence in their ability to do game design. And I think I am one of the nicer ones. If they had instead kept it internal and brought public a clean-cut polished version, I might have stayed on. It would have taken them another year, but at least I would no longer be telling people to ignore their game until further notice.
At the end of the day, Alphas and Betas are just another step in the development cycle of a game. Who they include is up to the developers. Still, I think some people need to pay a bit more attention to these stages. They are huge publicity as well as development phases in a game's lifetime, and should be used deliberately. Similarly, gamers should not treat these as early access to a full-fledged game and should act accordingly. This being the internet, I am sure most gamers do not really care.
And it's not like anyone reads this drivel anyways.
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