Valve's Beta testers

[Grif]

Alright folks, not to sound dumb, but after reading these news Latest News (read them first) I kinda realized that its quiet possible. Besides after reading so many post here for the last few days, no one even thought about it or brought it up. And now to think about it, that beta testers quiet easily could have done something like this.... its a possibility and a big one.
Any comments?!
Cheers

 

[Dsn2K]

VALVE beta testing is internal.

 

[MooCow]

Depends how strong the NDA they were put under was.


^ that too

 

[Grif]

Hey, but still. If they had someone inside as a beta tester who was in contact with outsiders it could have been easily done. Im just saying its a possibility and they should look into it as well. Who knows....

 

[OCybrManO]

I doubt they let the testers go roaming around on their computers.

 

[MooCow]

If the design process is anything like hl1 (http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991210/birdwell_pfv.htm) then the tester will have a developer literally looking over his shoulder all the time.

 

[Rilcon]

Vivendi has to have some sort of testers. I mean, imagine they published the game without testing it out and they end up selling half a million cds full of porn.

 

[Grif]

Originally posted by Rilcon
Vivendi has to have some sort of testers. I mean, imagine they published the game without testing it out and they end up selling half a million cds full of porn.

LOL, true that. And i believe i read somewhere on gamespy or gamespot an interview about them doing thorough beta testing and stuff like that. If i find it ill post a link

 

[OCybrManO]

They don't have anything to do other than mass-produce the game... and even if they test the game before they ship it out they never get a copy of the source.

 

[wako]

Valve's beta testers are the developers...


Big companies usually dont have beta tests like the ones we usually see...

 

[RoyaleWithCheese]

Good point, but I doubt there's a real chance that this has happened. First of all I think that Valve is very careful about the people they use for testing (e.g. Gabe's father), second, as mentioned before, I think they will never have acces to the source. And even if they had access, they would be monitored constantly.