Jagex need to revamp their Beta Testing program.(Not a Rant)

[Y2g2003]

Well... as if it wasn't obvious already...

 

 

 

I was having a discussion earlier today with fellow tip.it crew member Adam about the whole ordeal that took place with the POH bug. And after a very long debate... Adam managed to literally argue me out of a lot of ideas.

 

 

 

Jagex obviously doesn't seem to thoroughly test their updates... or at least in an effective manner. Such negligence has caused innocent players to lose items over the course of time. This case probably the worse bug every to have surfaced in the current live version of RS.

 

 

 

If you look closely at a lot of the quest credits... there is usually only even one person that does "Quality Assurance". Older quests such as the Legends quest had up to ten people doing "Quality Assurance". These days for similar (and longer) quests, like Desert Treasure, there are only two. And the smaller quests are stuck with only one person doing "Quality Assurance".

 

 

 

Now... that might not seem all that bad to you... but for someone such as myself who has taken part in helping develope a game (via beta testing)... I know first hand that it is extremely difficult for one person to locate all bugs. Infact... I would go as far as saying that it is next to impossible. The number of "Quality Assurance" workers just isn't feasible if they plan on having minimal bugs sift through to the live version.

 

 

 

With that said... I feel the lower quests should have at least five people doing "Quality Assurance" and up to ten or more testing the more complicated quests. For things such as POHs/Construction... They probably should have had anywhere from twenty-five to fifty people testing every single aspect of that system.

 

 

 

Another thing that concerns me is the fact that Jagex aren't bothering to look as in depth as they should. This is something that every developer has problems with. They are the ones who program it, so why should it have any faults? Thats their frame of mind (And could you really blame them for having that mind set?). Instead of having their own employees do the testing for them... and probably some of which who might've even done some of the programing... An outside source should probably be considered.

 

 

 

And outside source could come in many forms. The most logical, in my opinion, is for Jagex to open a beta server. They should then have players (more then likely existing members of the service) sign up to take part in a beta testing program. The server of course would be closed off from the public, and the players participating in the testing would have to sign a confidentiality form stating that if any of the information is leaked... it could result in a ban.

 

 

 

Lets face it, players are more prone to finding bugs. Some want to find bugs, yes, but others accidently stumble upon them. And it is usually doing things that Jagex would never think of. There are a lot of level headed players out there that would be more then willing to contribute to the product. Even if that ment taking time out from training on the live servers to test an upcoming update for bugs. I know I'm one of them.

 

 

 

I think I've pretty much said my piece. Any comments are appreciated. Just no flames please. You flame, you get reported.

[Jeffro108]

I would even be part of that crew except I'm f2p:( but hey it would still be a good idea. The only thing is that you would have to get trustworthy players to do it too. I like the idea though

[Bubsa]

I love how a skill can be 4 years late and still have a massive bug in it like the one we saw yesterday.

[kat t]

I think this may encourage more scam emails leading to fake rs websites. I know I received one when rs2 came out about beta testing. :roll:

 

 

 

They would have to carefully select players to do the testing, but i think more players would also be tempted not to take the confidentiality agreement seriously enough. It's unfortunate this wasn't caught sooner, but I agree there were some things I noticed that I was surprised they had missed.

 

 

 

I wonder how things at jagex, if at all, will change as a result of this.

[my_name_is_6742]

To my knowledge, the standard penalty for breaking an NDA (nondisclosure agreement) of that nature is usually in the ballpark of at least $100,000 US (to lazy to convert.)

 

 

 

Plus, if they hand picked them, the way they do player mods, it shouldn't be that tough to find honest beta testers.

[Y2g2003]

I think this may encourage more scam emails leading to fake rs websites. I know I received one when rs2 came out about beta testing. :roll:

 

 

 

 

Anyone who knows better though... would know that Jagex will never e-mail you.

 

 

 

And such a system can be done totally through the site.

 

 

 

And thanks for the supporting comments (especially my_name_is_6742's info there).