Beta Participation Improvement: Incentives!
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They don’t even have to cost anything!
Add straw polls for instance. People are quicker to to say “yes” or “no” and write a sentence as to why than to search through and create an essay post on a register-community.
Add rate’ems. Have users rate a feature 1 to 5 stars. If the concesus is generally extremely positive, you know you’re on the right path. If it’s generic or low, you know to ask questions, etc.
Reward people for participating! Each answered survey or rate’em can give some BETA XP. Get enough XP, and you get a BETA Profile photo banner, then a bronze BETA Profile Plaque, up to gold, even. This kind of system could even be incorporated with Hub Titles as reward for rep levels.
Very bony framework, of course, but I would think it would target what you’re looking for participation-wise.
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I'm going to be 100% honest here. I have no idea what you're asking/suggesting.
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When you do Community Beta tests, as posted in a thread you posted a very informative and detailed response to (thanks by the way! No idea the name, though), it almost feels as if the amount of dedication required to participate makes it feel like a job or chore to do so. If you look at, for instance, the Xbox Insider Program, they have a much more interactive system, where they ask for instance, a series of yes/no and “how satisfied are you” questions, followed by a request for a sentence or two on how they can improve on a feature if you weren’t a big fan of it. After submitting these surveys, you are rewarded with a small amount of XP. This XP is used in a bragging-rights only system, but makes trying new things out and telling what you think seme fun and rewarding.
I’m aware that the XIS community is quite massive compared to hyperPad’s, but I believe that the participation issue can be somewhat alleviated using a smaller scale, but similar method, where users are “rewarded” for giving feedback, instead of seemingly expected to.
I don’t recall the previous BETA tests, but if they’re difficult to get into, that’s understandable, however, if you make it a bit easier, and more people join, some will go inactive, yes, but they would, in theory, have their weight carried by people who are quite active and descriptive.
Additionally, if it’s possible, add the ability to “report a problem” via, say, the pause menu. Allow the user to send a short description of what happened, and autmatically take a screenshot when a report is filed.
I guess what it comes down to, is my firm belief that the more work the user has to do to make your work easier, the less the user is going to want to do that work.
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Ohhhhh I see what you're saying now.
So with your example, players are consuming content... They're playing a game. With hyperPad it's more to it than that. They have to actually use the app and create something. So right away it requires more involvement.
So a survey is ok in some situations. But depending on the stage of the beta. It's mainly use the app. And test the specific functions we've changed or features we've added. But really, we're just asking you to continue using the app and if it's broken then report it in the beta section of the forum (where you only have access to if you're taking part of the beta).
Also with the betas we're selective of who can take part. Because sometimes they're trying out new advanced features that a beginner wouldn't know how to use. Additionally. with the betas you can't share to the hub. So this adds an extra issue for some people.
The major issues we had with betas is that users were excited at first, but then they either don't install the beta, or don't install the following versions so we don't know if their issues are fixed.
As for incentives, we did reward all beta users with "Developer" tiers.
You're right that the betas feel like it requires more dedication. And I think only users who are experiencing issues will take it seriously enough to provide their feedback.
