Beta spamming

[Tankbuster 1733]

I'm a big fan of they way BI deploy beta patches. I have to be, I was one of the proponents of it! :)

But I'm less keen on getting 3 betas in 2 days. This happened a couple of weeks ago and we've had two today and one yesterday.

I appreciate that if a game breaking bug is found in a release beta, you are well advised to push another one with a fix out the door quickly, but this does make issues for some of us.

My GSP, for example has to manually install betas and they get a bit pissed off when they get 3 emails from me in 2 days asking for an updated install. The large download sizes might be an issue for some users on limited data quotas - I remember some South African users saying they had to ration their downloads for this reason.

I do participate in as many of the betas as possible. It's important for BI and us that these things are tested fully by as many people as possible, but if it becomes a hassle for my GSP, they may not install them and that leaves me out of the beta loop.

So, guys, please can you not spam us with betas. You can have too much of a good thing! :)

[Beagle 684]

You are in no way forced to install any beta at all, so what is this thread about?

[Tankbuster 1733]

I'll read your post if you read mine.

[Beagle 684]

Well tanksbuster, but you have to admitt that your problem is a rather personal and somewhat selfmade one. The broad majority seems to have no troubles with 3-5 betas per week...Well sometimes we even miss one or two.

[whisper 0]

He did read.

If the last 2 are too much for you, you are absolutely not forced to push them to your server, unless you want their new features RIGHT NOW!

I don't see the problem?

The last 2 are too close from the one before? Wait for the next one to ask your GSP. What forces you to keep the server up to date?

[seelix 10]

Better more than less betas.:rolleyes:

[murmur 10]

Personally I like seeing all these betas, most companies don't even do anything like this. You get like 3 big patches a year, if that. With this, we actually see progress all along, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

I don't know. It takes me 2-3 minutes to download and install with rollback possibility for own machine and remote server. Not much of a hazzle. And I'll take beta spam over other spam any day of the week thank you very much :p

[TRexian 0]

"If beta spamming is wrong, I don't wanna be right...."

Luther "Viking" Ingram

[Tankbuster 1733]

It's the hassle for my game service provider that is potentially the problem.

I know I'm not forced to install them, but I want to participate in the betas because I know it helps the overall community by testing and bug reporting. I want to do my bit.

I was one of those saying that we needed BI to be more open in their development and public betas was one of the things they started to do. I still think it's the right thing to do.

I do however, appear to be in the tiny minority when I say that 3 betas in 2 days is too much. That's fine. :) I'm married. I'm used to being wrong. :D

[rübe 127]

There is no such thing like "beta spamming".

Case closed.

:D

[gossamersolid 155]

It's the hassle for my game service provider that is potentially the problem.

I know I'm not forced to install them, but I want to participate in the betas because I know it helps the overall community by testing and bug reporting. I want to do my bit.

I was one of those saying that we needed BI to be more open in their development and public betas was one of the things they started to do. I still think it's the right thing to do.

I do however, appear to be in the tiny minority when I say that 3 betas in 2 days is too much. That's fine. :) I'm married. I'm used to being wrong. :D

If your GSP cannot keep up with the betas that you keep asking for, then:

1) Don't put the betas on your server

2) Rent a server box and you can do it yourself

This thread should be closed as there's really no discussion here.

[akd42 10]

Well BIS has truly seen it all now. They've just been criticized for testing their product too much.

[-=seany=- 5]

^ lol yeah, "you cant win".

Please continue to spam the betas BIS , thank you!

I think the op should opt out of beta testing if its a problem, not ask bis to stop or slow down releasing them.

[thr0tt 12]

It will always come back to 'you don't have to use them' and they are compatible with older versions until the major release so no harm done. The cavalier way BI releases games and beta patches is something the community have put up with till now, can't see them changing their ways and performing pre beta release QC that is why they are released here to provide them free man power to test.

[Tankbuster 1733]

FFS. You lot know exactly what I mean, you're all just having a pop like a herd of sheep.

I LIKE BETAS. I want to use them because they are good for you, me, everybody. But my GSP gets faceache when I send him so many emails asking them to install these things. For that reason, firing out so many betas is discouraging me from doing the community thing - using them.

[Wildgoose 1]

FFS. You lot know exactly what I mean, you're all just having a pop like a herd of sheep.

I LIKE BETAS. I want to use them because they are good for you, me, everybody. But my GSP gets faceache when I send him so many emails asking them to install these things. For that reason, firing out so many betas is discouraging me from doing the community thing - using them.

"So BIS slow down on beta's cause Tankbuster's GSP is having problems keeping up with you please?"

Really, If you cant laugh at the reality of your own question, you must have lost your sense of humour somewhere.

For me atleast keep them coming as fast as possible please...

[TRexian 0]

Ok, joking aside. :)

Since it appears in the short term that BI might continue this 'spamming' I think you have 2 choices:

1 - limit yourself to only alerting the GSP 1x per day. Part of this may be an exercise in self-restraint, in that you wait 24 hours after the release of a beta before sending it to your GSP. I don't think that is too long to wait, and strikes a balance between hastle and cutting-edginess.

2- just send the first one in any given day. The risk there is that the 2d one is a patch for something terrible. :)

But really, and I hate for this to sound harsh, I think you're trying to get a solution from BI for behavior that you can control. It is up to you how often to alert your GSP. If you want bleeding edge betas, then you and your GSP need to decide that multiple betas per day/week are ok. If they aren't ok, it is up to you - not BI - to strike the balance. :)

Good luck.

[Grizzle 0]

Does the contract with your GSP limit the number of updates to a server in a given day? If not then I don't see what the problem is. If the tech is upset at so many requests then maybe you should find another provider.

[Nutlink 10]

FFS. You lot know exactly what I mean, you're all just having a pop like a herd of sheep.

I LIKE BETAS. I want to use them because they are good for you, me, everybody. But my GSP gets faceache when I send him so many emails asking them to install these things. For that reason, firing out so many betas is discouraging me from doing the community thing - using them.

Alternate. Don't do every single one, do every other or one of every two. Much less frequent, and still useful. Just because there's a new beta doesn't mean any bugs from the previous went undiscovered and didn't continue on to the next.

[kabong 1]

/me reads initial post in this thread...

D'OH!

/me slaps one hand to forehead

/me re-reads initial post in this thread...

D'OH!!

/me slaps other hand to forehead

/me wonders why Tankbuster doesn't check his own avatar for inspiration on this one.

Move along folks - nothing to see here. :p

Edited September 11, 2010 by KaBoNG
D'OH!

[slay0rwr4th 10]

http://www.qbasix.com/ARMA2/ <- why dont you get your GSP to sign up to this, itll inform him of the latest betas as they come about, I fail to see how they're hard to install, they take 2 seconds to download, I usually miss half of them and just install the latest one that's available, it can only get better, you can also read up in the forum here about the progress of said beta, or check it's log file for gamebreaking fixes.

[twisted 127]

the more betas and involvement we can have, the better.

no one is forcing anyoen to participate.

Edited September 11, 2010 by twisted

[xxbbcc 6]

I agree with most in this thread - having frequent betas is a good thing. No one is forced to install all of them and having them keeps us informed about the progress plus we get fixes as soon as they get finished.

[Dwarden 1124]

I'm a big fan of they way BI deploy beta patches. I have to be, I was one of the proponents of it! :)

But I'm less keen on getting 3 betas in 2 days. This happened a couple of weeks ago and we've had two today and one yesterday.

I appreciate that if a game breaking bug is found in a release beta, you are well advised to push another one with a fix out the door quickly, but this does make issues for some of us.

My GSP, for example has to manually install betas and they get a bit pissed off when they get 3 emails from me in 2 days asking for an updated install. The large download sizes might be an issue for some users on limited data quotas - I remember some South African users saying they had to ration their downloads for this reason.

I do participate in as many of the betas as possible. It's important for BI and us that these things are tested fully by as many people as possible, but if it becomes a hassle for my GSP, they may not install them and that leaves me out of the beta loop.

So, guys, please can you not spam us with betas. You can have too much of a good thing! :)

the public betas have reason

everyone is able to take or not part on theirs free will

if You ask Your GSP to add beta then You must take in mind You are paying them money for service and if they not deliver You should reconsider why You still with that GSP

it's possible to even automate (while it's bit hassle for most non tech skilled people)

extraction (with 7-zip)

from

\ARMA2_OA_Build_%BUILDNUMBER%.zip\ARMA2_OA_Build_%BUILDNUMBER%.exe\ARMA2_OA_Build_%BUILDNUMBER%.exe\.rsrc\0\RCDATA\ALL\

of each beta update to create own 'server package' and overwrite the files needed

(in case you don't want run native subfolder style beta server)

i'm not aware of 'large download' size considering it's only 10-25MB per each public beta

now if it was 1GB (or 100s of MB) each week then one could consider that 'large download' but it's not

the only thing which might be improved is addition of standalone public beta server archive but no ETA on when and if ...

Edited September 11, 2010 by Dwarden