I daily read lee´s blog an since last week he talk a lot of alpha testers?
But now I ask myself: "Who are they?". Are they the Gold plegers, or guys with specific requirements, or the development team?

I didn´t want any names, I just want to know how tgc found them.

Thanks in Advance

I think they pick them based on those that primarily provide the most feedback (bug testing) initially.

as with all testing it's based on many reasons, technical knowledge, good feedback, active participation and certain system specs just to name a few... it's not strictly gold pledgers despite the original pledge saying it would be - it was debated before but i personally think the current system is fine, if it works for Lee and team then we all benefit.
im 99% sure they all frequent these forums however so they aren't just random picks (alpha's also have their own forums so when lee mentions forums he is actually talking about that 1)

Its probably just his next door Neighbour .... Don't be fooled

The alpha testers are under NDA, so cannot share information about anything that is given to them or the fact they are being given builds and when they are given them, so it is a good thing you don't know much.



Alpha testers are normally chosen for a number of reasons:



- They have provided TGC will valuable feedback on prior public builds

- They are an artist in the TGC store that produces high quality media that would benefit from an early look at the next version, often so we can test what they need works.

- They are working with TGC on features or maps that are to be bundled with the product.

- They are well known long standing community members that are trusted by TGC and the other alpha testers.

- They have to be able to sign an NDA, which means they will be over 18 in most cases.



There is a hidden part of these forums for the testers that holds lots of feedback and bug screenshots for new builds that should not be seen by everyone, hence why it isn't all public and is under NDA. The Alpha testers get builds that Lee hacks together late one evening sometimes and they can be very broken



We obviously cannot have too many testers at any one time, I think there are about 25 at the moment, not including the dev team.

Thankyou all for your words and your time. Now I am very happy

There are no testers at all, it's all a conspiracy!!!