Archive for March, 2013

Alpha Questionnaire is Here!

Posted on: March 12th, 2013 by T'nara the Wise

We are ready for our next step toward alpha testing: the Alpha Questionnaire! Invitations have been emailed to everyone confirmed on the alpha mailing list. So, check your email, click on the link, and fill out that questionnaire. The sooner we get the results, the sooner we can organize our tests.

How Will the Results Be Used?

The questionnaire results will be used to group alpha testers so we aren’t testing 50 things at once and don’t get muddled and confusing test results. For example, for one set of tests, we may group people by distance from our servers, so that if there is any lag, we can determine if it is due to distance, or if our server software needs to be more efficient.

We’ll group people based on their time-window of availability. All other things being equal, we’ll also use your answers to let you try out the features you’re most interested in as early as possible.

When We Start the Test Sessions…

Depending on the test, we may group people differently. So, you won’t be “stuck” in one group. You may meet, chat, and do magic with different people each test session.

We will email you when you’ve been selected for a test. We’ll tell you the day, time, and duration of the session and ask for an RSVP. We’ll give you several days before the first test to download and install the client, so you’re ready to roll by the test session.

For the earliest tests, everyone doing the test session will log in, we’ll teach you magic, let you play, and after a couple of hours, we’ll all go to the Festivale for a party. Then we’ll shut down. We’ll ask you to fill out a feedback survey, and we’ll go off and fix bugs, add features, and prepare for the next test session.

At some point, we’ll leave the servers up for you to log in and just play, but to begin with they’ll only be up during the test sessions.

I didn’t get an invitation! What do I do?

If you think you are on the alpha mailing list but didn’t get a questionnaire invitation, please do the following:

First, check your spam folder. If it’s there, please add our email address to your contact list, so it’s not treated as spam in the future. Click on the link and fill out the questionnaire.

Alternatively, if your sign-up confirmation email is in your spam folder, click on the link to get yourself confirmed.

If it’s really not there anywhere, please sign up again here. Maybe you mistyped your email address the first time or something. Who knows? Don’t forget to confirm your email address after signing up! We can only send invitations to confirmed email addresses.

Sending invitations to complete the questionnaire requires a human (me) to do some stuff manually, so I’ll only do that once a week or so. So if you sign up again, or only just now are confirming your email, please be patient. Your invitation should arrive before too long.

In the Home Stretch

We are soooooo looking forward to opening our doors for this private party. We’re breathlessly anticipating the magic you’ll do, and the surprises you’ll give us.

So, please fill out your questionnaire at your earliest convenience, so we can get this party started!