Playtesting?

[Ruavel]

We are not excluding Canadians (or other non-USA residents for that matter) as we discuss the plans.

The only hitch I can foresee is because testers will be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement I am not sure how it would work with people outside the USA.

Easy.

1. Send electronic copy of agreement to international playtester
2. International playtester prints agreement
3. International playtester signs agreement
4. International playtester scans signed pages
5. International playtester emails signed electronic copy
6. International playtester posts signed hardcopy to Wotc

I realise that's alot of effort on the part of the "International Playtester"...

but I, for one, would be prepared to make that kind of sacrifice to be an Australian 4E playtester...

 

[Blessed Kitten]

I am not a lawyer, but I think the issue is not signing the NDA, so much as it is being able to enforce it across international boundaries.

Say you have someone in Sealand that signs the NDA and becomes a play tester. Say they then decide to break the NDA, what could Wizards do about it?

Which I guess raises the question, what is the penalty for breaking an NDA, generally?

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I wouldn't get my hopes up that the donuts survived the trip.

That gets my LOL moment of the day!

Olaf the Stout

 

[Ruavel]

I am not a lawyer, but I think the issue is not signing the NDA, so much as it is being able to enforce it across international boundaries.
...
Which I guess raises the question, what is the penalty for breaking an NDA, generally?

I would speculate that the penalty would depend on whatever is stipulated in the NDA itself. It could be something as simple as being removed from the playtesting process, or it could leave the offender open to litigation, if the breach were significant enough ("Look everyone. I posted the playtest documentation on my website").

My experience with NDAs is restricted to ones between employer & employee, where a breach results in anything from informal reprimand to dismissal (no saving throw ).

but you raise a very interesting point. One can certainly see why the WotC/Hasbro lawyers might balk at the idea of including overseas playtesters...

...but the game is popular all around the world, and the broader the cross section of testers, the better the product is likely to be.

I guess it poses something of a conundrum and explains why Scott Rouse was "not sure how it would work with people outside the USA".

edit: spelling mistakes, expansion & clarification

 

[Scott_Rouse]

1. How many playtesters do you guys plan to use?

Many, I don't know a total though

2. How many must be in the RPGA?

Half? Not sure yet.

3. Do you know when the application is going to be available? This week or "sometime in September"?

Sometime in September

4. What format will the playtest documents be in? I'm wondering it will resemble the final product with art and some layout work, or if it'll be a stack of xeroxed napkins with scribbles on them.

Word documents and spreadsheets with drawings from the preschoolers in our building.

5. Will there be a supplied adventure or will you guys just send the rules and tell us to go to town on them.

Under discussion, could be series of encounters or a full adventure

6. Who should I send the check to, and/or provide sexual favors for, to insure I get in?

Cash man, Cash :\

 

[Baron Opal]

Hey, hey! Why go fly fishing in Washington when you could have an all-expense paid weekend to...Oregon!!! You, yes YOU could have the excitement of fishing the exotic Willamette Valley! What devoted fisher could ask for more?!?!

... what?

 

[Quartz]

I am not a lawyer, but I think the issue is not signing the NDA, so much as it is being able to enforce it across international boundaries.

IIRC - it's in a Dragon article somewhere - there was a group in South America - Argentina or Brazil - who were playtesters for 3E and got excluded from the rest of the playtest for breaking the NDA.

 

[Tharen the Damned]

We are not excluding Canadians (or other non-USA residents for that matter) as we discuss the plans.

The only hitch I can foresee is because testers will be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement I am not sure how it would work with people outside the USA.

Playtester prints NDA Document out and sends it via Mail or Fax to WoC.

This method worked fine with me and my group for our playtests with Green Ronin.

 

[Piratecat]

Word documents and spreadsheets with drawings from the preschoolers in our building.

Okay, that would be awesome.

It would be interesting to see the form of the playtest documents. In 3e, we didn't get electronic copies; everything was printed (with instructions not to scan, although the quantity of pages discouraged that anyways). Technology nowadays allows watermarking of a person's actual name, of course, although it can be defeated by someone stubborn enough.

When we got a "do not copy" Pixar script at work, I was impressed by how robust the anti-copy and anti-scanning tech was.

Cash man, Cash :\

Quick, everyone! First person to dress up like Johnny Cash wins!

 

[BlackMoria]

Well, I hope maybe having all sorts of playtest experience will give me a leg up on the rest of you mugs, since our group did all the playtest for Malhavoc Press.

Well, it can't hurt to mention that.

**koff, koff** <slips Scott a crisp $100 bill>