Anthony Gorecki
05-08-2005, 03:05 AM
I submitted a similar message via "bug" report a few weeks ago, but I feel that it would be prudent to give other players a chance to contribute feedback on this issue:Like a number of players on the Test server, I spend most of my time during the day working with computers: more specifically, my time is often spent working on software development projects and various community-driven projects (such as Gentoo Linux). As a part of those daily activities, I test leagues of software applications and file vast quantities of bug reports. Once I sit down for my nightly Everquest gaming session, I continue to do much the same thing.I believe that most of the players on the Test server are aware that the majority of players will never have the occasion nor interest in filing a bug report; many do not even know that they have the ability to file a bug report. Unfortunately, for the group that has chosen to assist with testing and development of the game-- the group that actually does file bug reports on a regular basis-- the bug reporting system lacks seriously in a number of areas. First and foremost, some of the categories and subcategories for the bugs need to be updated:It would be helpful to have more accurate categories under which to file the bug reports, and to have the existing categories cleaned up for clarity. For instance, the difference between "User Interface" and "Frontend" is fuzzy at best. As a developer I might be able to hazard a guess at which category to use, but without knowing the internal mechanics of the application, it would be difficult to guess with any amount of confidence. Without a strong cup of coffee, it would be impossible. In addition, the Resolution category is ambiguous.Under the Sound category, clarification is needed for "Audio emitter" and "dynamic sounds," with emphasis on the former. I'm hard-pressed to think of a problem that would prompt me to file a bug report under the "Audio emitter" category, simply because I don't know the in-game definition of an audio emitter. Is this the process that feeds sound data into the sound server, some type of internal audio scheduler, or a random character generator that's been piped into the poor player's sound system? I have no way of knowing because I haven't been given enough information to make that determination.Under "Hardware/OS," the combination of Router/Hub doesn't make as much sense as would Switch/Hub, with Router added as an independent option: a switch and hub are far more likely to share a common set of problems than a switch and router. It doesn't seem entirely logical to group both layer two and layer three devices together under the same heading unless that heading is univeral for all data transportation hardware.Secondly, when filing bug reports, it would be helpful to be able to view the current status of a bug report and have the ability to edit or contribute additional comments to the original report. Filing a second bug report just to comment on the first report is wasteful and cluttersome. Most importantly, we need to be able to follow up on the bug reports we file to continue to be effective at reporting and investigating the bugs we encounter. Give us the ability to read the in-house responses to our reports and participate in the bug report's discussion when the circumstances warrant such discussion. Show us the resolution of the bug report and show us the current status of the report. It's vastly more helpful to be able to see that a bug has been marked as invalid rather than spending ten hours debugging the game, only to find the next day that the problem was caused by a file that had been committed into the wrong code branch.It would also be helpful, although perhaps understandably not possible, to give us access to the bug tracking system itself. At the least, it would be helpful to monitor our bugs without having to sit in a game world: browser-based access to the bug tracking system would be ideal. That way, we could search for the bugs and endeavour not to file duplicates. When a bug was encountered, we could reference the reported bug data while investigating and debugging the issue.In order to properly test the changes that come through the Test server, we need to know what has changed in the updates that we receive. I cannot count the number of times that I've encountered game changes that were not listed on the public changelogs. We can't test what we don't know has changed. We don't need filtered changelogs, we need the real changelogs: all of them, including the scribble on a sticky-note that's sitting somewhere in a conference room.As a poster mentioned in another thread, the single most important aspect of a development process with testers is feedback, not only from the testers to the staff, but from the staff to the testers. It's often stated that if you treat your testers as if they were your best resource, they'll be your best resource. You've shown that you're trying, but what we have now is not good enough. We don't need a flood of new players to assist us with testing, nor do we need double or triple the experience to send us on our merry way to the higher levels. What we need are the tools and resources to do our jobs effectively. A part of that includes better interaction with the development staff.We ask for no compensation in return for our efforts, and those efforts we give and will continue to give willingly simply to further the game's development process. We're here spending our time working, not just playing, and we deserve better than second-rate support from a company that obviously benefits greatly from our services. Please, do us a single favor: improve the testing process between tester and staff, and give us what we need to work effectively.<p>Message Edited by Anthony Gorecki on <span class=date_text>05-07-2005</span> <span class=time_text>04:11 PM</span>