do companies reward beta testers anymore?
 

I remeber that companies, in return for helping them spot bugs, would reward their beta testers. I have recieved coupons for the game, a few free copies, and from the makers of postal, a cool "running with Scissors" t-shirt, which I still have today. Does this still happen? Sure, getting to play the game early is reward enough, but some stuff, such as the wc3 beta sooo bad initially, not even that is worth it.

Now a days no. it's more along the lines of "You played the game, that's your reward"

You do get the PS2 Hard Drive for testing the FFXI english beta, but not a lot of people got selected. And i'd be glad to do a beta test of ANY blizzard game and not get a reward, I believe blizzard started some sort of thing so if you've tested for them before, you'll get better odds of getting selected for future betas.

I got a free memory card with my Xbox Live beta kit.

MS always sent a free copy of the complete game when testing finished and the game was released -- Allegiance, Midtown Madness 2.

Haven't closed beta tested for anyone else other than MMORPGs which give free months or really hot discounts at launch.

You get to play the game for free, what more do you want?

We should be posting Beta Testing opportunities more often on this board. Too often I hear about these things AFTER the deadline.

Microsoft does if you do a playtest on location. It is nice because you can get a copy of Office in exchange for playing games for an hour or two.

I know Nintendo hires (paid between $8-10 an hour) people to play their games, obviously on location. Nothing remote though.

I used to beta test for Berkeley Systems and have all kinds of t-shirts and tcotchkes from You Don't Know Jack and all theior old online games. I also have copies of every YDKJ game, even some foreign country ones.

FS

I beta test alot of Microsoft software before. They rewarded me with a free copy (Office, Encarta, Windows). I have also received from them a stress ball, window sticker, and a nerf basketball hoop. Sometimes there are drawings for people who submit a certain number of bugs, and you can win other software or a tshirt or something like that.

I beta tested the PS2 Network adaptor and got a free one when it was over. But as for the games on PS2 and the mmorpgs I played, I didn't get anything afterward.

You have to return the harddrive after the beta test as per the rules they even said that it only works on ffXI

What's even better with MS is testing their regular software, like MS Office. I got a full copy of Visual Studio by doing that (for testing games for them, I usually just end up getting a game, plus I get to play whatever it is before it's released).

The game testing is much more fun than testing the regular stuff (with the regular software, you have to narrate while you're working).

I'm pretty sure you have to return it, just like the Broadband Adaptor, but when it launches in retail you will get one free.

Well, for beta testing Everquest, I got a headache for free. No offense to the Everquest fans but I dont know why they decided to go ahead with a PS2 version.

Where can I find info about becomeing a beta tester? I do not care if it is for PS2, X-box or PC?

- Scott

No MMORPG beta test offers free reward. They do not have too since there is always in the tens of thousands of applicants. I'm following a game now and 120000 of us applied to beta test.

Depends if you're talking about limited, closed beta testing or the larger scale testing.

Most of you got accepted just so that they could test their server load. The game was 90%+ functional when they let you on. Initially there were probably a few hundred or a few thousand testers who had to put up with all the crap and misbalances, and it is their input and bug reports which fixed the game.

Blizzard takes the opinions of its elite players very seriously. They usually change the game dynamics based on what they suggest, and to break up dominant strategies when they become too cheesy (orc towering, NE huntress massing)