Game developers are accustomed to a world where internal and external testing populations are extremely savvy, not only about their hardware but also about games and especially about works in progress.

Support groups and steering committees outside of the core-entertainment industry will not be as understanding of works in progress. Beta-testing games will be a very foreign concept for them and even the slightest problems or errors may cause them to stop their evaluations at the very point developers expect them to be deepening their evaluation.

For example, many academics will wonder why they are being asked to find major game-play bugs or miscalculations before common grammar and spelling mistakes are fixed. Other testers may not understand how to focus only on a subset of elements that you think are working and instead critique those that a developer pre-qualified as not working in the current build. Furthermore, unfamiliarity with gaming principles and playability problems will further hurt the ability to test.

To overcome these problems, developers should qualify beta-testers from a subject matter peer-group carefully and use a very small group as opposed to the large groups normally associated with top titles. Developers should prepare to spend more time orientating testers as to what testing entails and tutoring the uninitiated in the process.

If possible, testing should be done in the presence of a developer representative so help with support issues is available. The use of traditional game players and game testing labs, despite topics that might not be of interest to the average player, should be utilized. In many cases these traditional testing avenues, even devoid of topic expertise, will prove more useful.

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