Early Access Games

[Jay]

It's been awhile Steam has been offering early access to games that are in beta, alpha or worse. In fact, they just hit the 100 game mark not too long ago.

What do you think about it?

Personally, while it's nice to give some games some exposure, I don't like it a whole lot. Why am I playing your beta? Will you finish your game? What am I, your Q/A?

 

[Ravenpoe]

It's been awhile Steam has been offering early access to games that are in beta, alpha or worse. In fact, they just hit the 100 game mark not too long ago.

What do you think about it?

Personally, while it's nice to give some games some exposure, I don't like it a whole lot. Why am I playing your beta? Will you finish your game? What am I, your Q/A?

I don't like early access games. I don't mind volunteering for beta testing, but I don't have to pay for that, and I go in knowing the game is going to be buggy and they want public help in finding them.

Paying for that privilege seems stupid. The only time early access makes sense to me is if it's a game you've kickstarted, because kickstarting is a different beast from pre-ordering.

 

[Terrik]

I absolutely hate early access games. I just don't like the idea. You want me to shell out 50 bucks to beta test your game? Jump off a cliff. I'll pay for it when it's done.

 

[GasBandit]

Generally I don't care for the idea behind early access games, but there are two glaring exceptions to that rule - I bought Minecraft when it was still in alpha, and likewise for Gnomoria. But for every indie success story, there's a dozen The War Z *cough* excuse me, "Infestation: Survivor Stories" going around that never pan out and just bilk their buyers. So it's definitely a major case of Caveat Emptor when you're shopping early access.

 

[CynicismKills]

I think the only time this really bugged me was Path of Exile. Now, don't get me wrong, it's a fun game and it's F2P anyway, but if you're selling cosmetic items and stash tabs for real money (months and months before it went "live"), you're not in beta anymore.

 

[bhamv3]

I'm probably never going to buy an early access game, but it doesn't bother me that they exist on Steam. If someone feels good enough about a game to pay money to beta test it, I'm not going to stand in their way. I have yet to encounter a game that makes me feel that good, myself, but I'm not going to tell someone they're not allowed to do it.

 

[Ravenpoe]

I think the only time this really bugged me was Path of Exile. Now, don't get me wrong, it's a fun game and it's F2P anyway, but if you're selling cosmetic items and stash tabs for real money (months and months before it went "live"), you're not in beta anymore.

Microtransactions and online stores are actually one of the things in games that requires lots of testing, and is why they're often included in betas. Hearthstone has the store open for testing for this very reason, and anyone that makes purchases gets a bonus gift during the beta so they can help test the store.

 

[CynicismKills]

Microtransactions and online stores are actually one of the things in games that requires lots of testing, and is why they're often included in betas. Hearthstone has the store open for testing for this very reason, and anyone that makes purchases gets a bonus gift during the beta so they can help test the store.

And I understand that, but these weren't special gifts. They were mostly cosmetic, so in the end it's not a huge issue, but the idea to open (and expand) a shop during what is still technically a test phase irked me a little.

 

[Bowielee]

And I understand that, but these weren't special gifts. They were mostly cosmetic, so in the end it's not a huge issue, but the idea to open (and expand) a shop during what is still technically a test phase irked me a little.

On the other hand, we have games like Marvel Heroes that release before they're really out of beta to push out the cash shop. Even though I tend to champion that game, it was pretty shitty at release for that reason.

 

[Jay]

I've backed games off Kickstarter and they've been SEAG and that's OK but games in Alpha being on SEAG? That's a joke.

Beta games are bad enough. Some of these Alphas are terrible and don't have endings.

 

[strawman]

Generally I don't care for the idea behind early access games, but there are two glaring exceptions to that rule - I bought Minecraft when it was still in alpha, and likewise for Gnomoria. But for every indie success story, there's a dozen The War Z *cough* excuse me, "Infestation: Survivor Stories" going around that never pan out and just bilk their buyers. So it's definitely a major case of Caveat Emptor when you're shopping early access.

Yeah, but mine craft used beta the way google does. The product works for the intended purpose, but were still altering it, so don't put too much stock into how it works now.

I'm fine with early access if 1) there's a significant discount and 2) you still get the full thing later.

Like minecraft, and kickstarter.

 

[GasBandit]

Oh look at that, Tim has an opinion on this today:

(I'm just glad that stupid D&D campaign "The Wall of Text Within" is over)

 

[figmentPez]

(I'm just glad that stupid D&D campaign "The Wall of Text Within" is over)

Is it? I haven't been reading those, I just assumed that story was on hiatus and would come back in a few days.

 

[GasBandit]

Is it? I haven't been reading those, I just assumed that story was on hiatus and would come back in a few days.

You might be right, I don't know, I didn't read it either, I just noticed in my RSS feed when it went back to regular "isn't the green girl psychotic ha ha" comics.

 

[Frank]

I see CAD is still anti-funny.