Do You Think Open Playtests Improve a Game's Development?

[LordEntrails]

Playtests are absolutely invaluable.

Not unconditionally.
A well managed playtest can be invaluable.
A mass market public playtest that anyone can partake in and provide any level of feedback with a poorly written feedback form and no validation? Yea, that' the opposite of invaluable.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Exactly. Nobody is saying “don’t test your stuff”. We are saying that haphazard “tests” that are really some combination of popularity contests and marketing stunts — don’t make for better game products.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

Not unconditionally.
A well managed playtest can be invaluable.
A mass market public playtest that anyone can partake in and provide any level of feedback with a poorly written feedback form and no validation? Yea, that' the opposite of invaluable.

I do agree that depending on what you're trying to seek, whatever hypothesis you have, different formats of playtests yield better or worse results.

But every form of feedback can be useful. It becomes of challenge of data handling more than anything. You can also get incredibly valuable information from looking at what people are not talking about.