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A playtest is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and design flaws before bringing it to market. Playtests can be run "open", "closed", "beta", or otherwise, and are very common with computer games, board games and role-playing games, where they have become an established part of the quality control process. An ''open'' playtest could be considered open to anyone who wishes to join, or it may refer to game designers recruiting testers from outside. Prospective testers usually must complete a survey or simply provide their contact information in order to be considered for participation. A ''closed'' playtest is an internal testing process not available to the public. ''Beta testing'' normally refers to the final stages of testing just prior to going to market with a product, and is often run semi-open with a limited form of the game in order to find any last-minute problems. With all forms of playtesting it is not unusual for participants to be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement, in order to protect the game designer's copyrights. The word 'playtest' is also commonly used in unofficial situations where a game is being tested by a group of players for their own private use, or to denote a situation where some new strategy is being tested. ==Video games== In the video game industry, playtesting refers specifically to the process of exposing a game in development (or some specific parts of it) to its intended audience, to identify potential design flaws and gather feedback. Playtests are also used to help ensure that a product will be commercially viable upon release, by providing a way for consumers to play the game and provide their opinions. Playtesting should not be confused with Quality Assurance (QA) testing, which is the process in which professional testers look for and report specific software bugs to be fixed by the development team. The exact requirements for a person to be considered for participation in a playtest vary. Some playtests are open to anyone who cares to volunteer, while others specifically target professional gamers and journalists. Some playtests also try to evaluate the game's appeal to players with different levels of experience by selecting players with varying exposure to the game's genre. An example of a video game that made extensive use of open playtesting is Minecraft, which was made available for purchase in its pre-alpha stages. This both helped to financially support the game and provide feedback and bug testing during its early stages. Playtesting began even before the game features included multiplayer or the ability to save games. Mojang continues to make use of playtesting with ''Minecraft'' through weekly development releases, allowing players to experiment with unfinished additions to the game and provide feedback on them. Some games make use of playtesting with only part of their content, leaving other important sections unexposed to the public. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is being tested along these lines; its playtest only includes the multiplayer portion of the game, while the single-player campaign remains unrevealed.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7157306/Heart_of_the_Swarm_Beta_Now_Live_-9_4_2012 )〕 Heart of the Swarm is also an example of a playtest where average players are not being considered for entry; the initial wave of testers are only being selected from the ranks of professional SCII gamers and from the media. Team Fortress 2 uses a method of playtesting whereby players that purchased the game can participate in an open beta. The beta is nearly identical to the actual game itself, but includes items that are on their way to being released in the full game. The purpose of this beta is to test those items before their release, to ensure that they are balanced and fair; in this way, the game is constantly being playtested despite the fact that it has been released.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Team_Fortress_2_Beta )〕 The developers of Hawken have chosen to use a method of playtesting whereby the alpha version of the game was tested openly, by members of the public who chose to create their accounts on the Hawken website before the game's official release. However, a closed internal test will be used on the upcoming Beta version.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=HAWKEN Alpha 2 Announcement )〕 Valve does not often make use of open playtesting, in keeping with the company's tradition of tightly controlling what information they release to the public. However, both Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive were openly playtested, with beta invites being distributed to (and in some cases by) volunteers. Valve also has a general beta signup form on their website;〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.valvesoftware.com/gamersurvey.php?action=survey )〕 this survey is intended to recruit testers both in the Seattle/Bellevue area and from other locations, to test new games and gaming hardware that Valve is developing.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.valvesoftware.com/gamersurvey.php )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Playtest」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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