QUOTE:
Originally Posted by http://Ask.MetaFilter.com
It's being made by EA, who probably have their own inhouse professional beta-testing squad. You're best bet is to apply to EA. Hope you like long hours!
posted by Mach5 at 2:29 PM on May 17


the first thing you should know is the following:

companies generally have paid beta testers, and don't always open beta tests to the public unless they have particular community/multiplayer issues they need identified on a large scale quickly. (the exception to this rule is when they want massive word-of-mouth publicity for a soon-to-be-released project.) Spore does not need that kind of publicity just yet, but if they sought it, they would do so only shortly before release, to ensure the best possible product was being played. Spore MAY just need that kind of massive community feedback, but if so it will again be shortly before release, because their issues will likely be technical (how do machines running processor [x] under service patch [y] do with the game?) and/or interface related (how do people feel about the menu interface?) and will ONLY be for pc and possibly mac. no console free beta tests.

IF spore gets a free beta test, and it may not, it will be for an exceptionally short period of time (2 weeks, in all likelihood) and will probably be offered through a service like fileplanet, which has the bandwidth to shrug off 4000 1gig downloads in a day. Fileplanet mostly opens beta tests to subscribers, which involves paying a yearly fee to them for the privilege of access to these tests and also access to their unlimited bandwidth, no-wait file servers.

If it isn't offered through fileplanet, then they will likely offer the test to newsletter subscribers, which you can sign up for on the spore website.

In my opinion, neither of these options is likely. I don't see Spore being publicly tested, frankly. But, you lost nothing but the occasional email annoyance by signing up for the newsletter. I don't know if I'd sign up for fileplanet in anticipation of the possibility of a spore beta test, but if you check the site periodically and see that there's a spore test, you can sign up for fileplanet then and there (a $50 cost, iirc) and test to your heart's content. but again, you'd be paying a rather hefty sum for what will probably be 2 weeks of playing a game you'd have to then go and fully purchase after release. beta tests expire, and your access to the game will evaporate when the testing period is over.

good luck, and I hope it works out for you one way or another.
posted by shmegegge at 2:33 PM on May 17

QUOTE:
oh, and in terms of hour requirements? public beta tests make virtually no demands on the tester, and rely wholly on the goodwill of the occasional tester for feedback. they'd love it if everyone gave quality feedback, but they know that a lot of people simply won't give that much feedback, if any at all, and they account for that when they arrange these things. I've engaged in public beta tests which I never even got to play because of situational nonsense, and nothing bad ever happened to me because of it. these things happen.

if you're asking for a way to work for Will Wright for free at his studio? the only thing I can think of is contacting the company somehow and saying "hi, I'd like to test your games for free for you. how do we get the ball rolling on that?" the likelihood of this working, as near as I can tell, is 0%.
posted by shmegegge at 2:37 PM on May 17