Seeking Play Testers and Editors

[LordEntrails]

So, as discussed here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?35925-WTCW-What-the-Community-Wants&p=311978&viewfull=1#post311978) there is some intereste and need for a community set of play testers and editors (i.e. critical reviews before a product is published).

Those of you interested in discussing such should jump in here.

A couple of quick thoughts;
- I usually get my play testers from FG Daze and FG Con.
- Is a post to the correct forum enough, or should we setup something more?
- How do we want to address different systems? Different threads or...?

[ll00ll00ll00ll]

I was thinking about this on the drive home, I'd be happy to put together a form fillable pdf with various categories, etc. that can be filled out by both the developer and the testers, so that the terms, test points, minimum system requirements, etc. can all be hashed out in a standardized format... if anyone has thoughts on specific categories or items they'd like to see on such a form, post them here and I'll get to work (a warning, this is a nights & weekends affair for me, so my speed won't be impressive)

[Nickademus]

Might be nice to name out some responsibilities of a playtester, and set up some choices that a person can volunteer for (for instance, I don't have the time to critique adventures or run them as playtest but I can critique artwork and FG module design, maybe some writing here and there).

[Tailz Silver Paws]

I think this could be a good idea and a problematic idea. Having been a play-tester for a games company before, there are a few things I'll voice an opinion about to get the ball rolling.

NDA Agreements: This is a pretty big deal, when I was a play tester I signed a non-disclosure agreement. The material I was being given to test was/is proprietary product. You can't brag about it to your friends, you can't drop hints about what is coming up, and you sure as hell can't share it around. If you do, you can be guaranteed to be kicked out of the play test group, maybe sued for breech of NDA contract, and your probably going to cause damage to the company you were play testing for.

Play-testing schedule: We were required to test material within a certain time frame, and not just one or two games. But really thrash it out within a given period of time.

Reporting: We wrote up reports on every bit of play testing. Also each report followed a basic outline: What is the premise being tested, eg: what are you testing, a new rule, a new method of rolling dice, whatever? Where were the expected outcomes, what were the actual outcomes.

Play-test members: Because of the nature of what is being tested (see NDA agreements above), you can only play-test with other play-testers. You can't play-test a new game with your friend from down the street who might post about what he/she tested with you on facebook and thus destroy your own NDA agreement (I've seen it happen).