this post was submitted on 12 May 2024
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I disagree, people provide helpful reviews for closed beta games all the time. These help inform users on the trajectory of the development, core aspects of the story and main gameplay loop.
If you're exposing your game to the public, public opinion is expected and deserved.
In the article it says it's a closed alpha. That's not exposing it to the public.
Thats like reviewing chicken dinner before its fucking cooked. “Gee Bill, this chicken is really rubbery and gave me salmonella, I really think it’s going in the wrong direction. 3/10” jesus fuck we gotta review everything these days??
I mean, that's a fair criticism in a way. If Bill lets you taste the chicken at that point, it's reasonable to comment on what he let you taste. If he didn't think it was ready enough to get your opinion on, he shouldn't have let you taste it at all.
It's more like inviting someone into the kitchen when dinner's going to be done soon to provide feedback towards the finished meal.
Taste this, does it need more salt, more time in the oven, what should I garnish with, etc.
If the taster starts doing an influencer food review in the kitchen commenting on the understated food that needs more time in the oven and doesn't even have a garnish, they're missing the point.
On the other side, look at BG3, which was able to incorporate fan feedback and make a superior game than they would have.
Exactly. I do believe the studio should have communicated that better, though. Or maybe they did and some people decided to gripe anyway
Alpha and beta aren't really the same though. Alpha is meant to be unstable and feature incomplete while beta is supposed to be simply missing polish. For Alpha reviews to have real value they need to provide that context. Otherwise, it's just an exercise for the reviewer
Betas are feature complete. Alphas are not. Reviewing a game that isn't even functionally completed is peak dumb. Reviewing it in beta is less dumb, but also a bit dumb because that's when a majority of major issues that could lower a review score are squashed.