I should have written this post a long time ago. If I had I would have been able to written with more detail and more clarity.
I was a beta tester on March of the Eagles. I can’t remember if my non-disclosure agreement says if I can relate my feelings about this game or not, or even if it is still in force. But if this post helps Paradox by informing one future beta tester, then it is worth it.
I remember in great detail the first time I played a Paradox game. I was living in the middle of nowhere with not a lot to do. I made a friend, who excitedly gave me cracked copies of Civ 5 and EU3. I was not in the slightest interested in EU3, I was a Civ fan. I had been playing Civ since 1991. But Civ 5 stank. It was the first Civ game I found… boring. Maybe it had really shitty beta testers. Beta testers like me.
I fairly reluctantly loaded up Europa Universalis 3, more because of his almost unbelievable high praise than anything else. I remember thinking the name was stupid and pretentious. Come on? I have a smattering of Latin, but what a name?
But, I was hooked. It was exactly the kind of game I had always wished to play. The game I had designed in my head many many times before. I bought it the very next day and I have not played Civ since.
I saw the call-out for beta testers for March of the Eagles and applied. Apart from lots of bug reports for EU3 I had never tested a game in quite this way before. I was successful. Thank you Paradox and many apologies.
I played March of the Eagles for maybe 30 hours in total. I tried very hard to like it. I did not. There was a game in there somewhere, but what I was playing was just… boring.
I was very clear about my feelings. I was bored playing the three of four countries I tested. Very bored. Nothing really grabbed my attention.
So I went on to the beta-tester forums to write about my experiences, but in the end I did not write what I planned to write.
It seemed to me that every other beta tester loved the game. Absolutely loved the game. Were we playing different games? How could they like something that I hated so much? We’re all nerds here, right?
Then I remembered that I had played Victoria 2, and that although it was more enjoyable than March of the Eagles, I still found it less accessible than EU3. It might be because I have less brain cells than the average Paradoxian…
I hated MotE, but feeling that I was in a minority of one, I buried those feelings and wrote a few posts based on the gameplay bugs I had encountered and not the real experience bug that was the biggest problem.
I tried to play a couple more games, couldn’t, and just accepted that as I could not see the same amount of awesome in the game as my colleagues, I probably was not a natural beta tester. Best to leave that to the experts.
So I did. Life got busy, and beta testing dropped out of my mind. Then the game came out and it unfortunately has not done well.
Maybe if I had said, “Sorry guys, I find this game really boring for this, this and this reason,” it might have had an impact. Maybe that post would have encouraged other quiet beta testers who felt the same to talk about their experiences, then the beta testers might have developed into two camps, those who saw the awesome, and those who did not.
But I didn’t, and neither did anyone else who felt the same way, whoever they might be.
So for those people who have bought this game, those people who enjoy this game and wonder why there is no support and no expansions for this game, it is partly because of beta testers like me.
I did not realize it, but I represented a demographic, I am in the likes EU, half likes CK2, does not like V2 and MotE section of the Paradox games Venn diagram. But because people like me were too quiet, the developers never got to find out about our unvoiced opinions until after the game was released.
When you make something yourself, whether its a story, a youtube video or a game, it’s almost impossible to get an objective perspective, this creation is your baby. This is where beta testers are really useful. They can point out that your baby has ugly ears and a funny smell. Painful, but sometimes, it helps to know these things. In my beta testing reports, I might have mentioned the ears, but I kept quiet about the smell.
Why did I write this?
If you want to become a beta tester for Paradox, remember you not only represent yourself, but also people like you. If you don’t talk honestly about your experiences, you help build a blind spot, but you also take a place on the beta-testing team from someone who might give more valuable advice.
I was a beta tester on March of the Eagles. I can’t remember if my non-disclosure agreement says if I can relate my feelings about this game or not, or even if it is still in force. But if this post helps Paradox by informing one future beta tester, then it is worth it.
I remember in great detail the first time I played a Paradox game. I was living in the middle of nowhere with not a lot to do. I made a friend, who excitedly gave me cracked copies of Civ 5 and EU3. I was not in the slightest interested in EU3, I was a Civ fan. I had been playing Civ since 1991. But Civ 5 stank. It was the first Civ game I found… boring. Maybe it had really shitty beta testers. Beta testers like me.
I fairly reluctantly loaded up Europa Universalis 3, more because of his almost unbelievable high praise than anything else. I remember thinking the name was stupid and pretentious. Come on? I have a smattering of Latin, but what a name?
But, I was hooked. It was exactly the kind of game I had always wished to play. The game I had designed in my head many many times before. I bought it the very next day and I have not played Civ since.
I saw the call-out for beta testers for March of the Eagles and applied. Apart from lots of bug reports for EU3 I had never tested a game in quite this way before. I was successful. Thank you Paradox and many apologies.
I played March of the Eagles for maybe 30 hours in total. I tried very hard to like it. I did not. There was a game in there somewhere, but what I was playing was just… boring.
I was very clear about my feelings. I was bored playing the three of four countries I tested. Very bored. Nothing really grabbed my attention.
So I went on to the beta-tester forums to write about my experiences, but in the end I did not write what I planned to write.
It seemed to me that every other beta tester loved the game. Absolutely loved the game. Were we playing different games? How could they like something that I hated so much? We’re all nerds here, right?
Then I remembered that I had played Victoria 2, and that although it was more enjoyable than March of the Eagles, I still found it less accessible than EU3. It might be because I have less brain cells than the average Paradoxian…
I hated MotE, but feeling that I was in a minority of one, I buried those feelings and wrote a few posts based on the gameplay bugs I had encountered and not the real experience bug that was the biggest problem.
I tried to play a couple more games, couldn’t, and just accepted that as I could not see the same amount of awesome in the game as my colleagues, I probably was not a natural beta tester. Best to leave that to the experts.
So I did. Life got busy, and beta testing dropped out of my mind. Then the game came out and it unfortunately has not done well.
Maybe if I had said, “Sorry guys, I find this game really boring for this, this and this reason,” it might have had an impact. Maybe that post would have encouraged other quiet beta testers who felt the same to talk about their experiences, then the beta testers might have developed into two camps, those who saw the awesome, and those who did not.
But I didn’t, and neither did anyone else who felt the same way, whoever they might be.
So for those people who have bought this game, those people who enjoy this game and wonder why there is no support and no expansions for this game, it is partly because of beta testers like me.
I did not realize it, but I represented a demographic, I am in the likes EU, half likes CK2, does not like V2 and MotE section of the Paradox games Venn diagram. But because people like me were too quiet, the developers never got to find out about our unvoiced opinions until after the game was released.
When you make something yourself, whether its a story, a youtube video or a game, it’s almost impossible to get an objective perspective, this creation is your baby. This is where beta testers are really useful. They can point out that your baby has ugly ears and a funny smell. Painful, but sometimes, it helps to know these things. In my beta testing reports, I might have mentioned the ears, but I kept quiet about the smell.
Why did I write this?
If you want to become a beta tester for Paradox, remember you not only represent yourself, but also people like you. If you don’t talk honestly about your experiences, you help build a blind spot, but you also take a place on the beta-testing team from someone who might give more valuable advice.