Author: Peter Berger
Date: 11:10:42 09/06/00
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<snip> >I really don't understand why people want to be paid money for beta testing >computer chess products when they are presumably computer chess enthusiasts - it >goes against all of my sensibilities to demand payment for something you'd want >to do yourself, unless it literally becomes a full time job. > > >Regards, >Adrien. I nearly completely agree with you but thought I'd like to add my 2 cents on the reward side . I haven't done any decent beta-testing of chessprograms so far ( whatever this might mean ) but I have played with various chessengines and from time to time also reported strange things/ problems to the programmer . It can be plain fun :-) a.) I think probably the first thing was some extremely minor feature in Chess System Tal II when playing with it as an interface on ICS ( disable babbling when you are playing as human player to not disturb opponent or let him think you are cheating though informing the opponent if you turn anything helping on ) . I wouldn't have thought of emailing the author then ( didn't know him personally ) but by accident met him on ICC and told him . It was fun to see it implemented in CSTal 2.03 ; it is a _very_ tiny thing indeed ( I took this example on purpose ) but it was nice to be of help to a better program and it is indeed a feature I personally like very much :-) . b.) A funny counter-example : For quite some time the LittleGoliath time management when pondering was somehow broken as it would always answer immediately when expected move made . This really annoyed me as I thought it hurt Goliath's performance very much . I thought this was a _feature_ not a bug and I even remember some discussion in a German chessforum where I tried to explain to some other user why I think it is a _very_ bad idea indeed . About something like a year or half a year later there was a version upgrade where it was explained that a very nasty bug has been found in LGG ... Probably the author would have appreciated if I simply had emailed the problem to him earlier :-) I think when you spend some time anyway playing with chessprograms it can be much fun to have the possibility to help making them better or at least suggesting ideas ; it is no job and if for some reason you find out you don't like it anymore you can simply stop it . Same true for the other side : if the programmer for some reason doesn't like it anymore he can simply stop providing beta-versions to you . In fact it is simply a typical business relationship . Both sides give something and get something as reward and everyone will decide if he/she thinks what he/she gets is worth the prize and then either continue or stop . And the reward for the beta-tester is underestimated by the people who come up with the idea of getting paid IMHO . It is simply fun to see a problem fixed that would have annoyed you else ( probably you would have bought or downloaded it anyway ) or see a new feature you personally appreciate very much . It is also fun to see the problem mentioned in something like a Crafty main.c even when it is sth like "Minor repetition bug fixed " ;-) And it is also clear judged by posts here especially with the major commercial chessprograms that there is a major thrill in putting your hands on a program only few people have seen ... Another thing I'd like to add . I spent quite some time with "beta-testing" various Bringer beta-versions and when it is about the real thing , the engine , I think about 70% of my ideas where crap at least ; that isn't exactly what I would pay money for . It is an input for the programmer that has to be taken with just the same grain of salt like results of testmatches . Another topic are real testers ( team-members probably ) as you pointed out , but this is another story .. The psychological problem with beta-testing is that you develop a deeper personal relationship to the program IMHO . And it can also be very rewarding to be able to share your thoughts with the programmer ( I can't do that when it is about certain things I really don't like in Microsoft Excel ) . Some seem to forget though who actually invents and codes the thing :-) Regards. pete
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