Posted by Lethality in News | 24 Comments
Message Malfunction! Erroneous Game Testing Survey Emails Sent [UPDATED]
If you got all excited when you saw a couple of emails having something to do with Game Testing in your inbox earlier this evening, you weren’t alone! Even yours truly went to my closet to get out my beta testing pants before I realized it was an error.
The emails appear to have been fairly wide-spread, with many folks in the community receiving them, and then blowing up on the forums accordingly.
Senior Community Coordinator Allison Berryman popped into the fray on the forums to let everyone know that they’re aware of the problem, and are looking into it:
Hello everyone. We’re aware of the e-mails that are being reported and will have more information for you as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!
So unfortunately it was a false alarm, and there isn’t any evil plan by BioWare to tease you. Well, not with this anyway!
As soon as BioWare posts an update, we’ll update this post.
[UPDATE] BioWare has confirmed that the emails were indeed sent out in error, but that they did come from EA. So there is no concern of any malicious activity or spyware, etc. Also, they have no affect on your game testing status:
Earlier today, two e-mails were sent to members of the Star Wars: The Old Republic community. These e-mails were sent to a larger group than intended, and have caused some confusion in the community. We can confirm that these e-mails were from EA and BioWare and apologize for any confusion they have caused. Please note that receiving these e-mails does not affect your chances to be invited to test the game. Thank you all for your understanding!
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I am currently deciding whether or not to start a class action lawsuit.
As a Toydarian I am of course part lawyer.
Hmmm corporate malfeasance in relation to community sanity, yes that has a solid settle out of court with Zlatto in beta sounding phrase.
What is wrong with you?
I have sense a humor …. what is wrong with you?
Sad Face :(
The e-mail contained spyware if you clicked the links. Delete the specificclick.net cookie if you have it.
That’s pretty serious… I’m on a Mac so I don’t see that stuff, but if that’s true that’s not good. Will update the post once it’s confirmed.
I think you just fell for a regular old spam e-mail. I couldn’t even click on the links in mine.
I’m pretty sure a legit company like Bioware isn’t installing any spyware on your comp other than Origin.
Emotional Rick-Rollery …..
I’m just sad I can’t fill out the survey. Would give me something to do since I didn’t get a beta invite. Lol.
Yep. Got 2 emails just a few hours ago. The first one saying:
“We hope you are enjoying participating in the Game Testing Program and want to thank you for helping shape the most anticipated MMO to date. We’ve posted a fun short survey for game testers…”
The second one said:
“Now that you’ve had a chance to experience your own Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ saga, make sure you don’t miss out when the game launches. Pre-order* for Early Game Access and lock in your copy today…”
I had an opposite reaction than yours, it was more like “Did I miss my BETA invite?! Nooooooooooooooooooooo *gasp* ooooooooo!
Bioware should send extra beta keys for peepz who received this email by mistake! I would forgive them I think… ;)
No biggie. Thought it was bogus anyways.
I got the emails and went through all the stages of emotion in about 30 seconds as well. That doesn’t bother me, but what does is how Stephen Reid handled it on twitter:
Rockjaw Stephen Reid
@
@MatthewGriffit3 You’ll get an apology. We don’t give out compensation when you have spent no money.
I don’t think we should be compensated. A thorough explanation is enough (not to mention that they did compensate the first weekend testers with a new invite). But Reid’s twitter comment is both ignorant and insulting and beneath what I expect from the Sr. Community Manager.
So if you don’t think we should be compensated (obviously true), and you accept a thorough explanation, what exactly is ignorant and insulting about that Tweet?
Man, I would not want to be Stephen Reid if that’s what he has to deal with every day. He doesn’t have to be on Twitter; he does it to help keep people informed and happy.
*shouldn’t be compensated.
Lighten up, Francis.
If you’re bringing Twitter comments into it, don’t forget to bring in the context of them: namely, the #SWTOR hashtag. There were quite a few tweets by people claiming that, since they got this email, they should be allowed into Beta, etc. His job is to address that, and he did.
Ofc the compensation thing (sending beta keys) was a joke.
I was very surprised when I saw this. especialy because I live in new zealand
ahh sucks, i was so happy when i saw those mails :(
Ladies and Gentlemen:
KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON.
Well, me says: let everybody in who received those emails.
FYI – yep, I got them too. =)
I did learn a couple things from this email going out.
1) A fraction of the community is massive enough to crash the SWTOR website. (Not everyone received emails from my understanding.)
2) A larger fraction of the community than I thought is overly vocal, self entitled and spoiled.
It was a mistake. BioWare has actual human beings working there. I know, shocking! We all still are going to have a chance to play the game in late December. Nothing has changed that.
I am so glad that the beta testers I tested with were much much better (I.E. didn’t act like six year olds) than what the community showed me last night. It was somewhat disheartening to see all those attacks.
Suppose I shouldn’t be overly surprised though. And I know there are people who probably feel like I did about it. (And that is, it was a mistake. It affects nothing. Let’s move on.)
i had the same thought yesterday people in beta testing were a lot more mature then on the forum.