Testing Incentives Program Reinstated (as a Lottery)

My take? because at one point those of us who paid up for dev+ *could* get rewards for time and bugs, and the rest of the world felt it was a pay to win senario, so after some stupidity and leaking of info and dev+ brought out of the equation it was opened for all but in reintroducing what was hard earned rewards now its a lottery and while an assumption you would have to guess its only been brought back cos not enough people joined in without bribes

Me I paid up for dev+ for a bunch of accounts not for the rewards (although I do love my bug cloak) but cos thats the kind of girl I am.. However to find its a lottery is disappointing to me

 

The thing is, when the bug reward program was first instituted, everyone could get rewards whether it was on QA or live. It wasn't just for QA, there were simply different types of rewards for each type of bug reporting.

Everyone still has the opportunity to get rewards via the lottery, so I justl don't understand the sour grapes or why the attitude displayed by some that they are *entitled* to rewards. Isn't a lottery better than nothing? I mean, Portalarium is under ZERO obligation to provide testing rewards of any kind. ZERO. And if I was in their shoes I'd be throwing up and my hands and saying WTF? Actually...I already am. WTF?

 

true, but you had to achieve certain goals to attain but at the same time it wasnt only 1 guy who could get a particular thing, and get it for doing 1 bug - so for those who put in a lot of hours and a lot of bugs to me it belittles them to give out exactly the same items for 1 bug and 4 hours (potentially), Id just rather either the old system of x bugs = this thing was in as that was also fair on everyone - you did the bugs you got the thing

 

Jeez how greedy can people be. You know what? Most games don't have bug incentives. People do it because they like the game and want it to succeed.

 

Not sure why you're using "entitlement". The old system was fair. You earned rewards depending on how many reproducable bugs you submitted. The players who recieved rewards put in time and effort to get them. Now it's purely random and the luck of the draw.

I've also been submitting bugs since r1 when there was no rewards and will continue too. However, it's unfair to the players out there who took a lot of personal time to submit bugs for their rewards.. only to find out now that those same rewards will be given out based on chance instead of effort.

 

I have to respectfully disagree that anyone is being belittled, unless it's Portalarium being belittled yet again.

It goes back to the problem of people who seemingly just reported bugs for the sake of boosting their totals to qualify for higher tiers - even if the bug was clearly reported many times before. Even if they couldn't be bothered to report the bugs the way they need to be reported. That's abusing the old system, disrespecting the Devs who had to sort through all that and pretty much giving the finger to others who had already reported the bugs. "Me want rewards, me get rewards, me report bugs already reported because me what rewards." Shame on the community and I am going to keep calling it out.

The lottery is fair on everyone with no way to abuse the system with shoddy, lazy, repetitive bug reporting.

 

Edit***

I use entitlement because some people seem to be upset about a lottery.

For me, it goes back to the problem of people who seemingly just reported bugs for the sake of boosting their totals to qualify for higher tiers - even if the bug was clearly reported many times before. Even if they couldn't be bothered to report the bugs the way they need to be reported. That's abusing the old system, disrespecting the Devs who had to sort through all that and pretty much giving the finger to others who had already reported the bugs. "Me want rewards, me get rewards, me report bugs already reported because me what rewards." Shame on the community and I am going to keep calling it out.

The lottery is fair on everyone with no way to abuse the system with shoddy, lazy, repetitive bug reporting.

 

@Alleine Dragonfyre Im not seeing the greed in pointing out that someone like Alley Oop to get all the things he did had to put in a lot of hours and that now its just a lottery.

For those who just bunged in any old bug - Im not so sure they counted.. @Fionwyn Wyldemane

 

i do appreciate the appreciation, but i had a reputation for submitting a ton of bugs well before the program started and would have been doing it anyway.

 

And yet I don't see @Alley Oop complaining about the lottery, he is still reporting bugs like a house afire.

 

@Fionwyn Wyldemane id I condense your statement : the monetary value of the rewards created this issue. Probably most issues can be linked back to the game not being a game but something people want to make a profit off. (Please no OT discussions on funding of F2P games)

I personally still am not happy with the change but are more concerned with the uncertainty when the game finally is launching and if the hours I “invested” in testing are paying off through a game that is fun and playable for many.

 

True, it was being abused by some and I completely understand and agreed with port for doing away with the rewards. I just can't agree with this random lottery. You say it's fair to everyone and I do respect your opinion.. but to me it's unfair to the people who worked for their rewards. I think no rewards is more fair to everyone than the lottery.

 

Bottom line: bug reporting shouldn't be about "what's in it for me." It should be about "what's in it for all of us."

 

Bottom Line: You disappoint honest people if you "punish" them for the shortcomings of others.

 

I respect your point of view. That said, this is again why I refer to *entitlement*. Some people who worked for their rewards will likely keep rolling along because we like to bug hunt and find that helping develop the game is the cake. The lottery is the icing. The people who feel like they worked hard for their rewards and now feel like it's not fair will either keep bug hunting or not. NOT bug hunting means you have no chance of winning the lottery.

 

Respectfully, no one is being punished. Unless you mean Portalarium because no good deed goes unpunished?

The program ended. The program is back in a different form. Portalarium never had an obligation to add those rewards in the first place, they never had an obligation to continue the program in perpetuity and they had no obligation to reinstate it. They didn't even have an obligation to give us notice that it was ending.

It was and still is a thank you program. Thank you for hunting bugs.

 

You know what? I'm new-ish. I didn't get to participate in all the cool founder stuff that others enjoy. And enjoy to the point that all their founding stuff gives them an easy means to accumulate more cool stuff much easier.

By your logic, I should HAVE ALL THE THINGS. I should have access to EVERYTHING in the game simply because I want them. Guess what? It's not gonna happen and I'm OK with that.

 

This is why it's "punished" in quotation marks. I started bug testing without being even aware there's the incentives - and I assume most of the "old" testers did the same. We wanted and we want to help creating a better game experience. Getting some extra "thank you" pixel candy was appreciated though and I was happy for the first 5 crowns (even though I never spent a single one) and the titles.
But later to be told the program ends because some players abused it and the devs didn't have good IT tools in place to keep their work efficient was a sad moment.

I don't blame the devs for making that call, but in the end this was a reaction like so many: Some people abuse a system, those who didn't have a negative impact. It would have been nicer if they had a way that improved their efficiency without removing the "candy". Perhaps by taking out the crowns and making all other items bound to an account they could have reduced the value for trade and therefore reduced bug farming.

 

this is harder than it sounds: you could do it with the wearables but you can't currently account-bind a deco object, else it would be unplaceable.

 

I can understand your point of view, but *I* am the one saying players abused the system based on the shenanigans I saw. Never did Darkstarr say that, in fact here is what he said about suspending the program from this thread:

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f.../testing-incentives-program-suspension.98153/

The program is back and people still have a chance to be rewarded. No one is forced to bug hunt. Those who do will have a chance to win thank you gifts.