Why can't I be an alpha tester?

So? What's the big deal? I'd be great at it?

I'm sure many of your are asking similar questions, and I don't blame you. We've all lost something that was important to all of us in different ways (or just really want to try it for the first time after hearing so much hype), and we want to get in and jump around.

Well, there are a bunch of reasons why we're both keeping things so small and being so picky about who we're letting in.

Group size:

@aroha did a great job outlining some of the reasons we're keeping the group small, and most of them are technical in nature (http://wp.elevengiants.com/?p=398). Aside from that, since we're working a bit more on stability and scalability (while rolling out some features that we've been working on getting working again), we don't have too much direction to give testers aside from, "Just play around in the game; try out as much as you can, travel as much as you can, just do it all". We've been monitoring how the server has been holding up to the stresses that the group we've allowed access to have been causing it, and expanding the group accordingly every time it seems we've gotten the server to behave a little better. So it's basically just a balancing act between trying to allow as many people in as possible so we can test how the server holds up and keeping the server from crashing so frequently that we need to concentrate more on keeping it up than on fixing things (this actually happened a few weeks ago, when we shut down in order to fix a couple of issues that were causing constant crashes and stuck players). Trust me, we want to get more people in as much as you want to get in.

Pickiness:

Basically, since the group is so small right now, we're trying to keep the group restricted to people that have earned our trust in one way or another. We want to make sure every person in our testing group is somebody that we know will be able to interact with ourselves and the other testers in as positive a manner as possible and work within the organized structure that we've set up to perform alpha duties well. And rest assured, even though most of you may feel you'd work well with this, we probably just haven't interacted with you enough to get a good feel for that. Don't worry, once the testing group gets a bit bigger, we'll start letting most anyone in.

-Kaiyon
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Comments

  • we're all here... waiting with baited breath for the moment the doors open...
    for myself, i've waited this long, and a few months back i never thought i'd tread the streets of Ur again, so just the thought of it happening again sometime in the future is enough!
  • That's ok, I am most anyone most certainly! Just waiting patiently in the line with my book and sammich and cookie. ;-)
  • Thanks for taking the time to post, @KaiyonAlatar. We always appreciate the updates/transparency/information! And can't wait to show you devs how well we can break things! ^_^
  • Thanks for the detailed explanation @KaiyonAlatar and thanks to @aroha for the technical explanation on the blog page. I think it really helps everyone to understand the challenges you all are dealing with behind the scenes. Even the Alpha testers really had no idea of the technical challenges behind the crashes and other server issues other than there were some stability issues. Thanks for providing a lot of clarification and helping us to understand this is a going to be a marathon (with some likely detours), not a sprint.
  • I so miss UR too. I was an Alpha tester in GLITCH -- for about an hour! The next time it opened it was Beta. I played from that point until it ended. And I still miss it so much. Patiently waiting to milk butterflies and pet trees and piggies again!
  • I'd just like to pop in and echo b3achy's sentiments! I find it very heartening to receive these sorts of technical updates. Yeah, perhaps the news isn't the best news we could hope for! But news is news and news is good! And though it may be a long haul to get to where we want to go (I assume a server that CAN handle MMO-esque numbers.) I'll be here every step of the way, whatever that happens to entail : )
  • Thank you Kaiyon, you have o idea how this helps. We have all been in situations where the longer we went with no news, the worse the outcome. So, it is heartening to get some news, even if it isn't that we are opening tomorrow. I too came very early to Glitch and loved it beyond reason until the day we all cried our goodbyes. You, the entire team, give me hope, again, thank you.
  • I agree with the others that I'd rather hear some form up update than no update/information at all, even if it's bad news or nopeyoucan'tgetintothegameyet news. It's nice to hear what's going on with the game.
  • I love how you keep the player base up to date on what is going on, So important. Having been players yourself, you understand the love we have for this game and the itch most have waiting for it to open. But, knowing this special breed of players that can't wait to call this place home, I think most are willing to wait as long as it takes for you devs to be ready to add more in. Just keep the pictures and the updates coming, they are such a joy to see. :-).
  • Thanks for keeping it tight and making sure that things come together. Its important to have a team that works and communicates well. Good luck and really looking forward to launch.
  • It's very impressive that in this community the developers extend updates and relay information as often as they do here. (The same can't be said for all W.I.P. projects sadly..), but as the others stated above we wait for what is to come.....soon.
  • Soon! It makes me swoon
    To think I could hum a tune
    In Ur by July or June
    Or even ever...

  • I was just looking around at old Glitch stuff, reminiscing, and then... what was this I saw? Could it be? A Glitch revival? Needless to say, I eagerly await for Ur to open its doors to us all again!
  • I'm just so amazed and delighted to know that this is happening. Kudos to all! It's like the good old days waiting to be allowed into beta, and the voice of God shutting down the servers... whoever thought I'd reminisce about that?
  • Oh man, I had forgotten the days when Glitch was just open for a few days at a time and I would rearrange my life just to test. What, Glitch is open? I'm sorry boyfriend, I'll see you after the weekend is over. It is like that, but the wait seems so much longer!
  • I hope we all get to play pretty soon seems like it's been years since I've been able to play the game but oh wait a min it has been year I just hope we all get to play the wonderous game again.
  • Personally just being on the forums is really good enough to tide me over so I'm not aaaaching badly to play glitch like I used to sometimes, and I understand the pressure that we make by existing, so no stress devs! Go at your own pace, as long as it is less than 5 years :)
  • I fully understand and I'm trying to be patient ))
  • I was so Happy to discover Eleven! Just found out a few days ago! I too remember when there was limited time to play, and treasured every minute! Wishing the Team Good Luck, and Thank You So Much for your time! This is a dream come true!!
  • All I know is, this forum is full of a lot of whimsy. The best kind of people reside here, so I really can not wait to see what happens when there's an Eleven full of us!
  • As much as I dearly miss Ur, I also feel glad it's being painstakingly stitched back together. I'm willing to wait to wade back in the pool of joy.
  • I really want to play, but I'm glad that you're only letting people in who you trust and know won't do any harm. That's really important, because I've seen games accept people that just had some credentials into their staff and they caused a lot of trouble! Thanks for the explanation :)
  • I don't care if I get tobe a tester or not! I mean don't get me wrong I would LOVE to be a tester but as long as there is a possibility I'll get to play Glitch, even just a different version of it... I'm just so happy to have found this out! Take your time! :D :D :D :D
  • But stay fast enough so as not to run out of momentum and crash. Like you're on a bicycle of motivation.
  • A slow bicycle. But still able to fall over.
  • Waiting>>>I'm so excited that Glitch is coming back as Eleven.
  • Love everyones memories of Glitch ,waiting here patiently and have been since the day GLitch closed its doors ,such a sad day
  • *waits patiently*

    also, how soon can we start throwing moneys at you all to help the dev?
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