-------------Additional intel for people invited to the Beta test:-------------

One of the biggest things that doesn't get tested for enough is Greifing.

Tests for greifing vary widely, but can wildly affect playability and atmosphere of the game.

Such tests include

Conveyor Belting - abilities and effects which force character movement which can be used to force characters off the map or into undesired places (for example, using explosive devices or force fields to knock characters off maps or off cliffs or into places they can not escape from, or even force them across server lines or from being able to enter a zone);

Skill Interference - player interference with crafting, skills, abilities of another, such as using abilities or weapons or game mechanics to cause interruption of crafting, block a player from being able to click on a quest item or npc, or unanticipated interruption of abilities or skills with your own skills or abilities not meant to to so (such as interruption a player's actions by opening a trade window);

Scamming - through improper or unintended use of trade windows, vendors. (and/or "auction house" systems if they're available.)

Quest interference - such as unintended ability to kill escort type npcs or quest npcs, stealing quest spawned items from players on a quest, killing mobs intended for kill by the questing player

NPC Interference - intended or unintended ability to kill NPCs such as Vendors, Auction House characters, Story Based NPCs, or Interactive Items

Cross Faction Border Crossing - some areas intended for only Federation personnel or only Klingon personnel, finding a way to force a border crossing with a character of the opposite faction. (An example might be using a movement forcing device like an explosive to "blow" you through a fence and into the starting area of the opposite faction.

NPC Mind Control - unintended means of taking over or forcing an unintended action by a pet, NPC, or interractive item. An example might be using a movement cause effect to "move" an unkillable Vendor NPC. Another might be using a hostile ability on an NPC to force it to become hostile to someone else.

Attack by Interface - Using game interface screens to disrupt, block, or render helpless another player, such as spam group invitations which prevent a player from being able to type, opening trade windows constantly to block their screen, using spam in chat windows to block their ability to read or interract in NPC Conversation or text based commands,

Of course that doesn't include blatant greifing like stealing from players, or "killing their herd" (killing all of a lower level characters exp mobs) or killing a player repeatedly to prevent them from any interraction game at all. That certainly may need to be on someone's mind, but the job of a Beta Tester is to find -unintentional- methods a player might grief another.

For example that in (game name not mentioned), there was a way of trading a object to player that weighed more than they could carry. When the trade went through, since it was more weight than the person could carry game mechanics kicked it to force the player to drop inventory items and equipment until the player was back within the weight threshold. Essentially, it forced a player to drop all of their valuable gear in exchange for this boulder heavy item, which the greifing player would then steal off the ground.

Another example is that in (game name not mentioned), crafting an item involved a crafting graphic and animation sequence. In order to add realism, mechanics made it so if you were hit by an attack, such as making the mistake of crafting items during a battle or in the wild where wild monsters can attack, crafting could be interrupted. However, the same held true that even in a city, if a player casted a spell, such as a healing spell, on the crafting player, then the crafting would still be interrupted. Since crafting interruption caused the loss of all material ingredients, hostile or griefing players would wait around at places it was common for other to craft, and would cast heal spell or such on them to lose them all of those ingredients, which translated to lost money and time. This was common for players who wanted to "eliminate the competition" by targeting the competitive crafters to prevent their competition from having crafted products to put on the market.

Another example is in (game name not mentioned), in most places player vs player is optional and normally you are not required to participate. But if you click on a player that is "flagged" for PvP, then you become flagged for PvP also. In particular, a "flagged" player can stand over a quest NPC, or the bobble of your fishing pole, or a quest item, and you are unable to click the item, you instead click the player. This flags you for PvP, making it legal for the greifer to them attack and kill you. The greifer essentially blocks you from interracting in the game.

The point I try to make here is that I would appreciate, as I'm sure many countless thousands of others would, if Beta Testers would watch for these holes in game mechanics and programming. I know I would make this a strong concern if I make it into Beta Testing, but since there's no guarantee of that, I hope someone else is watching our backs.


--------------- Closing Statement ------------------------

I hope this thread has informed you on the basic topics regarding Beta Testing, NDA rules and Invitations.
Let us please keep the questions on these topics to a minimum, If you have anything further to ask, Please feel free to ask in this thread.
We don't want to have 10 threads going from different people asking the same questions, Do we now?

And remember what you've read.

The end goal of a beta tester is to find as many ways to break the game as possible. Part of that is repeating actions that break the game over and over until you discover exactly what it is that triggers the break. Does it happen on every system, or just on particular hardware combinations? Trust me, after having done beta testing for a living it is NOT all fun and games. It can be repetitive, frustrating, even boring work - but it is absolutely necessary to the development process.

If all you want to do is play the game before everyone else, beta testing isn't for you. If, however, you take it as a personal challenge to make the game do things it isn't supposed to do, to break it, to bring it to its knees and make it beg for mercy, then and ONLY then is beta where you want to be.

-------------Some added info provided by other member(s) of the community:------------



-----------------And as a last effort----------------------

To all people who have made it this far by reading all this info. Congratulations, You show that you actually care about the meaning behind beta testing. Hopefuly all this info is helpful to you. Please once again I ask you to take this Beta Phase business very serious. This isn't the time for playing this game earlier then everyone else. If you get invited, Know that it is to help test the product, To make it work with as less bugs as possible. If you are here to "play" the game, This will be a great dissapointment for you. You can look forward to all the bugs mentioned in these first two thread posts and then some.

[COLOR="Red"]You are now ready to take the plunge, Beta registration has started. And without further ado...

https://www.startrekonline.com/user/register?destination=preview_application

UPDATE - CLOSED BETA HAS STARTED!!! ~as of the 22nd of October 2009

AND FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T JOIN CLOSED BETA DUE TO LEGAL REASONS....

OPEN BETA WILL BE FROM JANUARY 12 to JANUARY 26, 2010!!!

Good luck![/COLOR]

Also, For those of you who took part in the Champions Online 6 months / Lifetime membership plus guaranteed access to the Star Trek Online Beta Test phase. Please understand that due to the high amount of people who've signed up for this offer, Cryptic Studios can't invite everyone all at once as this would simply crash the server. Please be patient, Your invitation IS coming.

Welcome to the forums!
 
__________________
See you out there,

Angelwithsoul