Testing

From Neverend

Pessimistic testing phases

All feedback from Alpha and Beta testers should be considered. Any flaw, no matter how small, should be looked at. Anything that seems broken should be viewed and fixed. Anything that needs a complete redesign should be taken care of sooner rather than later.

After private betas, public betas, load testing betas, and the final beta, everything should be looked at as "what do people think is wrong, and how can it be made right?" In this way, the initial retail release will leave a strong impression for doing the "right" things, rather than the typical "it might get fixed in a few months so wait until then."

As retail progresses, new ideas will be submitted by users. All ideas sent in game and by e-mail should be logged, and placed in categories such as "unsorted," "possible consideration," "possible in the future," "unlikely," "way out there," "impractical," "unbalanced," "wrong game design," and "no way in hell." By sorting out suggestions and considering them, the wants of players can be more easily addressed with each update.

Also, developers can browse messageboards for fan sites and general MMORPG sites. They can subscribe to "cheating" sites or money sellers and use this knowledge to fix bugs and exploits, and stop money sellers.

Fan sites can also help get opinions from users. All complaints should be listened to and at least considered.