Badlands Quality Assurance FAQ

[speed]

Greetings. Due to some recent questions, I'm going to give a brief overview of what QA is, how people are selected for the role, and what exactly it entails.

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What is QA?

QA is a small group of trusted players that we (the developers) pull from when we need to test a feature.

How is one selected for QA?

There is no formal process for being selected. The only requirement is that we are able to trust you not to leak information about new features you may be testing. Most often, this rank is arbitrarily given out to people that are readily available to help us test as needed.

What perks do QA testers receive?

None. QA testers do not receive any kind of special treatment, compensation, or communication from the staff. Joining the QA team is not intended to be any sort of achievement, nor does it place you above other players.

What is involved in testing?

90% of testing is standing around while we debug issues and connecting/disconnecting from the test server as needed. 5% of testing is following a specific set of instructions and trying to find bugs, while the remaining 5% is gameplay testing (IE: testing payouts, general bug finding, etc.)

Does QA test every single feature?

QA does not test every feature. Many times, testing is done by the developers while the feature is being developed. QA testing is usually left for large features, or features that involve multiple players.

Why didn't QA find _____ bug before the patch? 

QA does not have a chance to test every change before a patch. Additionally, testing is done with a small group of people. We have thousands of active players that are much more likely to find bugs once the feature is released. This is not indifferent from AAA games. No amount of testing will find every bug.

I've found a bug. How can I help if I'm not part of QA?

As always, submitting a bug report is the best way to help us get the bug fixed. We appreciate the time everyone puts into these reports.