Playtesting?

[Ashrem Bayle]

Thanks for the scoops mhensley!

Hopefully we'll hear something this week at least.

 

[helium3]

The DM for one of my two groups told us yesterday that he's been told he'll be getting a chance to playtest in the next couple of weeks. Mind you, he actually works at WoTC so I think they're still in the "only employees of WoTC and friends and family of designers" phase of playtesting.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

The DM for one of my two groups told us yesterday that he's been told he'll be getting a chance to playtest in the next couple of weeks. Mind you, he actually works at WoTC so I think they're still in the "only employees of WoTC and friends and family of designers" phase of playtesting.

hehe
He's already broke his NDA.

 

[helium3]

hehe
He's already broke his NDA.

An NDA that prevents you from even saying "I'm playtesting" sounds like a rather far-fetched legal document. Maybe if 4th edition hadn't been announced yet I could understand something like that.

Personally, I'm a little concerned that the new edition is only nine months away and they're still only playtesting in-house. Good software takes a long time to develop and if they're still hammering out the basic rule-set they're going to have a tough time polishing up all these electronic tools in time for the big release next summer.

 

[Morrus]

An NDA that prevents you from even saying "I'm playtesting" sounds like a rather far-fetched legal document. Maybe if 4th edition hadn't been announced yet I could understand something like that.

Far-fetched as it may sound, it's real. That's what the NDA's gonna say.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Far-fetched as it may sound, it's real. That's what the NDA's gonna say.

Yup.

The first rule of Playtesting is, you do not talk about Playtesting.

 

[FickleGM]

An NDA that prevents you from even saying "I'm playtesting" sounds like a rather far-fetched legal document. Maybe if 4th edition hadn't been announced yet I could understand something like that.

Personally, I'm a little concerned that the new edition is only nine months away and they're still only playtesting in-house. Good software takes a long time to develop and if they're still hammering out the basic rule-set they're going to have a tough time polishing up all these electronic tools in time for the big release next summer.

Remember the playtesters are going to become valued (I hope) members of the team that will be responsible for the game that we play. If they talk about it, they are opening the door for some possible "bad things":

1) Letting game mechanics out of the bag that competitors may steal.

2) Open themselves to bribes, in order to somehow sabotage the playtesting of the game.

3) Making false claims that could come back to bite WotC (things could change between playtest and publication, so a claim made one day could become false by the next).

Basically, saying anything about playtesting (including being a playtester) could risk compromising one's integrity.

 

[helium3]

Remember the playtesters are going to become valued (I hope) members of the team that will be responsible for the game that we play. If they talk about it, they are opening the door for some possible "bad things":

1) Letting game mechanics out of the bag that competitors may steal.

2) Open themselves to bribes, in order to somehow sabotage the playtesting of the game.

3) Making false claims that could come back to bite WotC (things could change between playtest and publication, so a claim made one day could become false by the next).

Basically, saying anything about playtesting (including being a playtester) could risk compromising one's integrity.

Yeah, except that buzz generated by your playtesters is one of the best ways to engage in viral marketing (blech I hate that word) to amp up interest in your product before it releases.

 

[F4NBOY]

The first rule of Playtesting is, you do not talk about Playtesting.

The second rule of Playtesting is, you do not talk about Playtesting.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

The 4E playtesters are Soylent Green!

--fje