Steam and negative reviews V2

Wrong... There is a very well defined definition of an alpha test vs beta test. Those of us that have spent time and money professionally learning to be an engineer understand this difference.

If you don't believe me, read up on the multiple revisions of the IEEE International Software Testing Standards (1983, 1998, 2008, 2013)

There are five main classifications of testing: smoke, unit, integration, system, and acceptance testing

A beta test is an external user acceptance test to ensure the software delivers upon the contractual needs of the customer and there are little to no issues with the software in their environment. UAT is the final test which assumes all previous tests have passed and therefore the build is considered to be feature / contract complete and payment will be rendered.

An alpha test, by comparison, is an internal user acceptance test to ensure the software is ready for external user acceptance testing by passing all smoke, unit, integration, and system tests. While alpha is defined to be 'strictly' limited to a build that has passed smoke, unit, integration, and system tests, it has been fostered in as the defacto name for any internal build regardless of test status or feature completeness since the build remains internal.

You could argue that some user acceptance testing has taken place on an alpha build, because Starbound has been tested on external machines and environments, but you would never be able to say that what we have is a beta build because it does not meet contract / feature complete standards.

 

While you make a valid point, it misses mine pretty much completely. I was talking about the Nightlies, something we didn't pay to be a part of. Unless there's a couple people out there who bought it under that pretense, but I think I'm safe in saying that most of us didn't. And the difference between an Alpha and a Beta is that a Beta should be nearly done, it should have the playable parts intact. Whether or not Starbound is an Alpha or Beta is debatable. My point still remains that Nightlies are not a good replacement for stable updates. That is the argument I'm making. Nightlies are pre-alpha, if anything. At least Beta doesn't have the kinds of issues that the devs are aware of. We payed to be a part of the Beta.

 

I feel that the semantic argument between beta and alpha is one we've had countless times before without any real resolution, and is further convoluted by nightly builds right now. The base game as released through early access was a beta of the game. I played the internal alpha and internal beta and can quite comfortably say it was beyond them both. However, as we well know Chucklefish weren't happy with how progression worked and decided to rework it. Does that mean the game we got is now an alpha as the intended progression structure has changed or what? Then, as Ice_Kitten quite rightly added, nightlies complicate the mix. They are recognizably unstable and so can quite comfortably be described as alpha content. But does that mean the whole game is now in alpha or is it in beta or is it in gamma or do we add in mu and phi and rho and the whole greek alphabet?

Long story short, this argument solves no purpose than to anger people that other people don't share their opinion of game development phases, so let's move the discussion onto other topics ok?

 

Why do I always think that the guy who brings a howitzer to a wooden sword fight is using simple shock and awe to hide something?

There has got to be a reason for somebody to care so very, very much and I can't figure out why.

 

Bartwe, someone people around here hailed as a god, said the 'beta' was alpha. Even Tiy himself has said it is a tech preview. You can shut-down the argument all you want, but between those two admissions and my proof above, you are just in denial.

I won't say another word on the matter...

 

Also hyperbole is the world wide webs bread and butter basically most yelp reviews show the nature of user reviews in general.

 

Two points does not a trend make.

 

as a person who plays alphas
starbound isnt in alpha
starbound is in beta

why is this topic still open?

 

So.... back on topic. This thread, right now, is prime example why Steam reviews is great thing, despite being full of... well... of what both sides accuse it to be full of. While here, on forums we debate it to death with unavoidable OT, on steam review you make a point about something (yeah, review isn't always a "review") and if this point is valid or not is decided by simple voting. And amount of said votes clearly indicate general mood of masses.Yes, it's not always justified mood, but it clearly indicate that something must be done to change it. Ofc, theoretically, one, could push one review on top, using questionable technics, but you simply cannot alter all reviews in someone favor.

 

For discussion, Though like @Sledra said we need to get off the "Is the 'beta' a beta" argument because it tends to just go nowhere. Plus there are various other "issues" to discuss that are not whether or not the products level of development was aptly named and whether or not that constitutes as false advertising or Malicious dishonesty with the intent to sell or whatever.

That is a good point.

 

the olny things that i would say are false advertising is some of the pictures on the store page show things that arnt in the game

like working ocian biomes
and underwater citys
(yes i know all the items are in the game files for hylotles thats not what im talking about)
and this image

witch i can tell you, that isnt a generated house and that TV is nowhere in the gamefiles as data or in sprite form

but im smart and know the game is in beta so they arnt in yet

they still should replace the images with something else

 

I think there would be a big difference in review...polarity? (positive vs negative) if we were taking a sample of reviews made shortly after the next update rolls out. Right now, we are in a period where a Stable update has not been released for awhile (since mid-late April, I believe). Right now, I think that means that a lot of players have played through all of the available content and are wanting more, thus the frustration with no new content to experience. Reviews right now are very likely to be more negative than they would be otherwise, if we were talking a month after the most recent patch, etc.

Timing makes a huge difference in polling, and in gauging customer satisfaction. I think that looking at the "satisfaction" ratings right now is helpful when combined with satisfaction ratings right after an update release, but neither is helpful in a vacuum by itself.

 

I wouldn't call an international standard a trend... but if you'd prefer to dismiss the international standard and the words of the developers themselves, well, you are beyond help.

While a mob is generally unruly, there are sometimes good reasons at the center of the mob. As you said, the fact that so many people feel very strongly that what we have is not acceptable is good reason for Chucklefish to have a gut check.

 

another reason they might be going slow is becouse unlike some indie devs they take weekends off
not saying they shoulnt be aloud

 

The steam page could use some fixing to get rid of the "the image and text blurbs are false advertising LIES to sell copies." plus the pages is out of date. But then agian editing the page may be seen as a cover up "they removed the thick and fast wording and took off the false images for damage control, but we have screencaps". I mean it happened when Paranatutical Activity removed the thing about co-op in the future after they found out they could not do it, people claimed it was not to stop false advertising but instead to make it look as though they never "promised" it.

We would have to see if @Tiy or @Molly think that changing up the store pages at this point in time would do more harm then good or if it would help. I really don't know how people will react to it having "false" (meaning things that have changed or that are not quite in the game yet) removed.

 

Bah! To heck with the Steam community, TO HECK I SAY!

The only community I have ever found more rude, idiotic and down right mean is the LoL community.

 

Does anyone remember old school message board Road Trips?

That was where one forum got tired of their own echo chamber and decided to take the fight to the other guy and spam the living crap out of the forum they disagreed with.

Fun times. Or so I hear.

 

Sounds like some vintage internet right there.

 

Beta-

"Beta, named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet, is the software development phase following alpha. It generally begins when the software is feature complete. Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, as well as speed/performance issues and may still cause crashes or data loss. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it."

You can get all philosophical and start questioning the meaning of words, but when it comes down to it this isn't what every other company on Earth refers to as a "beta". From where I'm sitting it was only called a "Beta" because they couldn't deliver on the full game they promised when they took pre-orders in 2013, and downgrading from full game to "alpha" release would have forced CF to take responsibility at that time for just how slow and ineffective developers they are.

 

I beg to differ on that point:

http://steamcharts.com/app/211820#1y

*Edit: For added fun, I like to make the sound of slide whistle while looking at StarBounds usage statistics.