Jessecka says, "Welcome everyone to today's Meet and Greet with the members of the Fed2 Test team"

Jessecka says, "I would like to thank all the members that were able to join us today, since most of them are in many different time zones"

Jessecka says, "To begin, let's introduce those members who were able to make it today"

Roger raises a hand.

Jessecka says, "First up we have Ferreri"

Jessecka winks, "then of course, Roger ;)"

Roger smiles.

Jessecka smiles, "Nightdroid was able to be with us today, thanks :)"

Jessecka smiles, "and of course, the Test Team leader, Freya :)"

Nightdroid says, "Er.. I'm just a specatator"

Nightdroid says, "Spectator"

Freya smiles

Freya says, "a witness"

Elijah has just arrived. Elijah is wearing some medallions and is carrying a keyring.

Jessecka has given Nightdroid a nice tickle.

Elijah smiles, "Hi All. :)"

Freya says, "hi"

Kella waves

Jessecka winks, "and there's Elijah, fashionably late today ;)"

Icey smiles at elijah

Hitman chuckles.

Elijah exclaims, "By 7 minutes!"

Elijah winks, "I'm not that late. ;)"

Jessecka asks, "to get this thing going, why don't we start with our Team Leader Freya. How about telling us a bit about what the test team does for Fed2?"

Freya drawls, "Well, basically we test code as it goes thru the development process..."

Freya says, "and then after it goes into the game before it gets released for players to use"

Freya says, "and we also help test for reported bugs"

Jackrungh asks, "are there specialized private zones for this purpose?"

Freya says, "to a lesser extent we help with brainstorming when Bella requests us to"

Jessecka smiles, "we'll have time for questions later Jack :)"

Freya says, "there aren't any special zones"

Freya says, "we test new sol planets by closing them to everyone except staff"

Freya says, "and we test code by flagging it staff only till it is released"

Freya says, "we also test Fed Term"

Freya smiles

Hitman nods and smiles.

Jessecka asks, "how do players become part of the test team if they are interested?"

Freya says, "well, usually I keep an eye out in the game"

Freya says, "and I read all the feedback reports we get sent"

Freya says, "so I watch for people who consistently send in good reports"

Jessecka nods.

Freya says, "then I ususally just approach them and ask if they are interested"

Freya says, "but players can also email feedback and inquire about joining"

Freya says, "all our Fed2 teams work on that basis"

Jackrungh asks, "who is the fedterm dev?"

Freya says, "Bella is the Chief developer of Fed and fed term"

Jessecka asks, "if a player thinks he or she has run across bug or something peculiar, what is the best thing for them to do?"

Freya says, "absolutely the best thing to do is email feedback@ibgames.com"

Freya says, "include a log if that's appropriate"

Freya says, "there's a How To report a problem/bug form on the IBgames website"

Freya says, "but basically a brief description of what is happening that you think is a bug"

Freya says, "how you did it, was it repeatable. Factual information is what we need"

Jessecka nods.

Freya says, "if you send a log - please- clip the part that applies"

Jessecka asks, "and bascially this is what the test team does as well, correct?"

Roger nods.

Freya says, "we sometimes get sent huge logs with all the exchange info and that's horrible to try to work with"

Jessecka smiles.

Freya says, "no, the test team doesn't primarily handle bugs"

Freya says, "if the report is what we call a "known issue", Hazed sends an email about it"

Jessecka says, "ah"

Freya says, "if it's something new/unknown, Bella and I start looking into it"

Freya says, "I check with people who have expertise in various areas I think are involved"

Freya says, "and then usually Bella sorts out the bug if we find one"

Freya says, "sometimes the test team is asked to test the fix"

Freya says, "so bug reports are a seperate issue from the Test team really"

Jessecka asks, "so the test team is there rather to try and make sure those bugs are gone before the code ever becomes public?"

Freya says, "right"

Freya says, "and to help correct spelling and grammar errors in planet text in Sol"

Freya says, "Fancy is our expert for copy editing/proof reading"

Jessecka asks, "I know your time with us today Freya is short, so before we get into chatting with each member, is there anything else you would like to add about the Test Team?"

Freya says, "he has meticulously examined all the sol planet locations and objects etc"

Freya says, "the test team have played a major role in the development of Fed2 as you know it"

Freya says, "we've incorporated a lot of their suggestions"

Freya says, "I think they are all great people to work with"

Freya waves the flag for her team

Jessecka grins.

Hitman applauds

Ferreri grins

Roger smiles a buck-toothed smile.

Jessecka smiles, "well, thank you for giving us a bit of your time today Freya :)"

Freya smiles, "my pleasure :)"

Jessecka winks, "now, on to the rest of our victums ;)"

Freya grins

Hitman giggles.

Jessecka smiles, "lots of people ask me all the time what test team members are like, and I was hoping today we could get a better picture of the people behind the characters :)"

Jessecka winks, "so, let's start with Roger, since he has the sweetest smile out of everyone ;)"

Roger smiles, "OK. :)"

Jessecka asks, "What do you do in real life Roger?"

Roger says, "I work at a technological company that provides internet services."

Jessecka asks, "so this helps quite a bit in what you do with the test team huh?"

Roger says, "I help keep track of the company's assets so that we know where every router, port adapter, network module, or other fixed asset is."

Nightdroid asks, "It's 11:00, do you know where your switches are?"

Icey snickers.. nope..

Hitman chuckles.

Roger says, "I've been an eager tester, excited about testing new code when some comes along."

Jessecka asks, "how long have you been on the Fed2 Test team Roger?"

Roger says, "Since shortly after the exchanges went into the game, but before the public could trade on them. I got onto the team shortly after that."

Roger says, "I think that was about a year and a half ago."

Jessecka asks, "since you have been part of the test team, has there been any one part of testing that you enjoyed more than the others?"

Roger says, "It was really exciting getting to test the factory code when it first came out about a year ago."

Jessecka smiles.

Freya says, "later all"

Up to her usual tricks, Freya has left.

Jessecka smiles, "ok, next we move to Ferreri :)"

Roger says, "One of the things I wanted to try was to see how a factory that used its output as input would work, such as petros, or the agricultural commodities."

Ferreri get's up to leave

Jessecka asks, "and how did that go Roger?"

Icey hands jess some gentle tape and handcuffs..

Jessecka gets out the duct tape to keep Ferreri in her seat.

Roger drawls, "I think Bella handled the coding for it quite well..."

Roger says, "If you're putting the output to your depot, then the input for your factory will be delivered there right before your factory needs it."

Roger says, "It would be nice if for such factories, if it could take the input out of the stock in factory storage."

Icey winks, "i agree ;)"

Jessecka smiles.

Roger says, "That way, it might be possible if you wanted to output to the exchange, you might not even need a depot. It would just take some of the output made and turn it into input."

Leostada says, "hmmm"

Nightdroid says, "You'd still need some way to get the factory started initially, though"

Roger says, "True."

Jessecka smiles, "Ok, Ferreri, tell us a little bit about your work experiences outside of fed, and how that helps you with what you do on the test team :)"

Ferreri says, "I worked as an Enginerring Manager in an Aerospace foundry for about 20 years then as a Systems analyst in a sudo-gonvernemt company"

Ferreri says, "I look at details"

Jessecka smiles, "that would be a good asset for being on the test team :)"

Ferreri winks, "I didn't say I could type ;)"

Jessecka laughs.

Jessecka asks, "how long have you been on the test team?"

Ferreri says, "about a year and a half"

Jessecka asks, "and what part of testing has been your favorite part?"

Ferreri says, "we each have our good parts, Roger is great with typos and grammer, I try to see if things work as they should"

Ferreri says, "I read typo too well to notice typos"

Jessecka giggles.

Jessecka smiles, "Ok, on to Elijah :)"

Icey snickers something about occyian and iceyian...typos ;)

Jessecka asks, "so Eli, what do you do in real life and how does that help you in your test team duties?"

Elijah says, "Um."

Jessecka pokes at Elijah.

Elijah winks, "What I do in real life is as far away from Testing for Fed as it comes. ;)"

Elijah says, "I have no techincal background at all."

Jessecka laughs.

Elijah says, "I'm a college student and I spend most of my time outside of Fed working with High School and Junior High Students."

Jessecka smiles, "that's cool :)"

Jessecka asks, "how long have you been on the test team?"

Elijah says, "Probably what I'm most proud of is leading a Bible Study for High School Sophmores and Juniors."

Elijah says, "I've been on the test team a long time. I was in the first handful."

Elijah says, "I suspect, but don't remember for sure, that it was Feburary or March after Fed 2 opened."

Jessecka nods.

Jessecka asks, "which part of testing has been your favorite?"

Elijah says, "I guess for me, early on when I was testing ranks as they came out, I really enjoyed being forced to learn ranks through trial and error."

Jessecka smiles.

Hitman grins

Elijah says, "I think players helping newbies learn the ranks is great, but I think a certain amount of self-guided learning is important."

Elijah says, "Of course, that's a perk of being on the Test Team and not the role. Helping to fix errors is always a source of pride."

Jessecka smiles.

Roger smiles and nods in agreement.

Elijah winks, "Watching Fed2 develop has been very exciting... it wasn't that long ago we were stuck in the meeting point and could just talk to eachother. ;)"

Jessecka laughs.

Hitman chuckles.

Roger says, "Coming up on 2 years ago."

Elijah says, "Whole worlds have opened up... the solar system has changed and grown... the story of the game has developed and so have the ranks."

Elijah says, "I really love watching the new, the change."

Elijah smiles, "I'm so excited to get to see players creating planets again, and I'm really looking forward to exploring their worlds. :)"

Jessecka smiles and agrees.

Elijah winks, "Players, start planning. ;)"

Jessecka says, "Ok, let's open up the floor for player questions. If you would like to ask a question, please raise your hand, and I'll call on you in order."

Ferreri says, "I'll offer something about being a tester that is hard to know"

Jessecka asks, "yes Ferreri?"

Icey i have one when ferreri is done ;)

Ferreri says, "When we first became Indy's and the Manu's we were trading futures, didn't know it was wrong, didn't know it was something to report, stuff like that is hard to know, we are all smarter now."

Jessecka says, "yes, sometimes I would think it is hard to decide what is supposed to be happening and what might not be part of the rank"

Roger says, "Similarly, for a while as Traders we were still able to buy and sell physical commodities."

Jessecka nods.

Jessecka asks, "yes Icey?"

Icey asks, "any ideas when founder will be in?"

Elijah says, "We know nothing."

Jessecka laughs.

Elijah says, "Until Bella tells us."

Elijah smiles, "Bella hasn't told us. :)"

Icey says, "poo.. was hopping it was soon.."

Elijah asks, "We could guess, but what would be the fun in that?"

Roger says, "We do see planets in the game, so we do know it is getting closer."

Jessecka winks, "what does Bella say? before christmas.....but christmas of what year we don't know ;)"

Elijah tickles jessecka

Icey snickers..

Jessecka giggles.

Elijah realizes he could have used the tickle command.

Leostada says, "that's called CYA Jess"

Roger winks, "Still almost two months to beat Christmas of this year. ;)"

Elijah says, "I think the important thing is if you're towards the top of the rank system is to really learn your rank well."

Elijah says, "Start experimenting. You might have found a way that works really well, try something new... because the better you know each rank, the better off you'll be to learn the next ranks."

Jessecka says, "I agree, since each rank builds upon skills learn at another"

Elijah says, "Ranks in Federation build off of each other."

Jessecka smiles.

Elijah smiles, "Also, Fed isn't just about the ranks. Go explore planets, visit a pub and hang out with friends. :)"

Elijah smiles, "Play Fed Events... oh... and start designing your planet so you have it ready to load! :)"

Robius raises his hand

Jessecka asks, "ok, anyone else?"

Leostada sighs

Jessecka asks, "Robius?"

Robius asks, "Do all of you test on one thing at the same time or do you each have you own sort of assignment to test each day or week?"

Roger says, "It's more of test all at the same time."

Elijah says, "Um. We all have our strengthes and weaknesses as a Team. I think we generally let Roger find the spelling errors. That's not to say if I find one I won't report it."

Roger says, "Sometimes one of us will think of something that the others didn't think of."

Jessecka says, "seems to me like each member of the team brings a unique view to the team"

Ferreri says, "I find out it doesn't wotk, Roger finds out it isn't spelled right and Jess finds out she doesn't understand it"

Jessecka laughs.

Robius laughs

Roger says, "An example that I can think of off the top of my head was when relaying to a channel went in. I tried relaying to a channel, then thought, "What if I change channels while relaying?""

Jessecka has given Ferreri a friendly hug.

Roger says, "Well when I did that, I got 185 copies of an error message within 2 seconds, and got disconnected as the game crashed."

Jessecka laughs.

Roger says, "I uncovered a bug that called for an emergency maintenance, and Bella put in a fix."

Ferreri says, "I can't count the number of times I've crashed the game"

Roger says, "Then I tested that after it went in, and it all worked OK."

Robius has another question

Jessecka remembers when she crashed the game like 6 times in a row one night.

Jessecka asks, "yes Rob?"

Ferreri says, "Hazed got on comms one day and asked me to please stop"

Robius says, "Is there a time frame of how long you test something before it will actually go in, or do you just test it over and over until you think is ok, no matter how long it takes."

Roger says, "Some things can be tested quickly, and released to the public the next day."

Ferreri says, "depends on what it is, usually within a week"

Ferreri asks, "I think we are into overtime, can you take the duct tape off now?"

Roger says, "Testing out feeding the animals in the zoo was rather easy - buy food from the vending machine, feed each animal, pet each animal, check the messages, and even try eating the food yourself."

Jessecka winks, "oh yea, I remember eating the food, yuck ;)"

Jessecka asks, "ok, any more questions?"

Ferreri says, "somethings were hard to test, like Indy rank, it took weeks"

Roger says, "One time we were even called on to test out the death locations, to make sure messages others would see while in the location outside them looked right."

Ferreri says, "That was fun"

Jessecka laughs.

Jessecka says, "I'm going to tell one on Roger"

Robius winks, "gee, you guys sure go that extra mile, don't ya? ;)"

Roger says, "You'd stand in the lobby to the radioactive rooms, and watch what happens when someone walked into one."

Ferreri says, "my alt died over and over so Roger could watch"

Jessecka smiles.

Jessecka says, "I hadn't been playing fed2 long and didn't know anything about the test team"

Jessecka winks, "when one day, out of the blue, Roger TBs me and asks me to marry him....to test the marriage code ;)"

Roger grins, blushing a little.

Jessecka smiles, "I didn't know who he was or anything :)"

Jessecka says, "he kept promising me it would go away the next reset"

Roger winks, "And I spoke true. ;)"

Jessecka winks, "but I wouldn't do it until I talked to Freya and made sure he was some strange weirdo trying to capture me forever ;)"

Jessecka has given Roger a cool hug.

Elijah laughs.

Ferreri says, "They funnest thing I can remember was whe Pearl was about to open and the tabi didn't work, So Roger and I went to look, He had the descriptions and was showing them to me, Freya shows up and wants to know what we are doing, I told her I was reading over his shoulder"

Roger chuckles and hugs Jessecka back.

Jessecka giggles at Ferreri.

Roger says, "Ah yes, Freya had sent me the file for the Pearl."

Jackrungh raises hand

Jessecka asks, "yes Jack?"

Icey winks, "i and i wanna see all the files roger has... so i can be good at the games ;)"

Roger says, "The event for creating the tabi in your possession wasn't working, but I was able to copy and paste from the file in e-mail so that we could both read the room descriptions."

Jackrungh asks, "ive been looking over the ibgames site, and i dont see anything like ventrilo or teamspeak, has it been considered and rejected?"

Roger says, "And so Ferreri and I looked for typos together."

Ferreri says, "it was fun, finally Freya joined in"

Roger says, "To answer Jackrungh, there is GT for Group Talk, talking to all members of a group of followers at the same time."

Jackrungh says, "is group talk actual voice chat then? i misunderstood if so"

Elijah says, "No."

Elijah says, "It's text sent only to members of your group."

Elijah says, "If you want voice talk, send it into Feedback."

Ferreri says, "only those following you"

Jessecka says, "yes, IBGames is always looking for new ideas, so please, send your suggestions to feedback"

Icey raises hand

Jessecka asks, "yes Icey?"

Jackrungh says, "ok, well if theres the desire for it, i wouldnt mind offering hosting for a vent server"

Icey says, "is there a program ibgames has for blind or going blind people.."

Jessecka says, "that would be something to include in the email as well Jack"

Jessecka says, "actually Icey, I can answer some of that"

Icey asks, "like a speak and read program?"

Jessecka says, "most of the maps for Sol have been transferred into files that blind players can listen to"

Elijah says, "There are programs for blind users that work as screen-readers not developed by Ibgames. I recommend WindowEyes. I work with a blind student who has great success with the program, and it does work with FedTerm."

Icey says, "ok.. thank you.."

Ferreri says, "i've met 3 blind players here now, they get by for a whike"

Ferreri says, "but it is a complaex game"

Jessecka says, "also, a version of the guide specifically geared for blind players has been in the works for awhile now, hopefully we will have something to help players learn to use exsisting tools soon"

Elijah says, "We do acknowledge Federation 2 as a great game oppurtunity for Visually Impaired Users and do strive to welcome them into the community. It's something the test team dealt with early on. We also text-files that can be printed up and used as braille maps."

Jackrungh raises hand

Jessecka asks, "yes Jack?"

Jackrungh asks, "im also wondering about game development, i realize its slow with so few staff working on the code, but when, for instance is planet ownership estimated, objects?"

Jessecka smiles, "actually, we can't answer those questions :)"

Jessecka smiles, "because we don't know :)"

Elijah says, "And if we were to take a guess, we'd just look stupid."

Elijah says, "Your guess is as good as ours. Bella gives us no tenative timeline to look at. He tells us what needs testing and we test it."

Ferreri says, "that's actually 2 questions, I own a planet... but there aren't objects yet"

Roger says, "I have heard that Founder is apparently going to be just locations and messages. All I could say for objects and events is some higher rank."

Jessecka says, "yes, players planets are already online...the founder rank isn't yet though"

Elijah says, "You're right."

Jackrungh says, "well then, you who have been here over the entire development, how long has it taken to get to this point in the development of fed 2 and what percentage is the completion, if you had to estimate a percentage"

Elijah says, "The game opened Christmas 2003."

Ferreri says, "there's no way to tell"

Elijah says, "We had a Thanksgiving Crash that year, and Bella started programing."

Elijah says, "The history can all be found in the old news archieves on the website. Start at Novemember-December of 2003."

Jessecka says, "since each ranks code builds on another, there is no way you can try and decide how long the rest will take by looking at how long the other has taken"

Elijah says, "Almost two years later, we have roughly 2/3rds of the ranks completed? But that doesn't mean the game is 2/3rds done."

Jessecka says, "some ranks go in easy, some take a lot of time"

Elijah says, "For months Bella was working on Planet Economics. Those had to go in before we got the ranks that dealt with those economies. So for a long time the ranks stopped at Adventurer."

Elijah says, "A lot of the code does we never realize because the effects arn't visible."

Jessecka nods.

Jackrungh says, "thats exactly what im most concerned about, the most glorious aspect of fed has always been in the interplay between the functions of real peopl at different ranks, and its amazing independance from the input provided by npcs, with bits of that fragile network removed, or as today... simulated, its unlike other games"

Elijah says, "For example, barely anything new has gone in for the past few weeks... because Bella is coding stuff that will eventually lead to visible results."

Roger says, "Groundhog, Commander, Captain, and Adventurer went in in a matter of weeks. Merchant took some time to get ready after that, then Trader was being tested in the summer of last year, and Industrialist around November."

Elijah asks, "Manufacturer was late spring? Financier late summer?"

Elijah says, "Bella is moving quickly when you look at how big of a project this is."

Roger says, "I think Manufacturer became available last December, and then Financier in the summer of this year."

Elijah says, "Bella is also working on FedTerm -- which is amazing. As well as Planet Design Tools."

Jessecka says, "no, Manu was after dec"

Jackrungh says, "it seems then that as more infrastructure is added, the ranks become easier to inititate, after all, with the economic systems in place, planets are mere spaces"

Jessecka says, "I remember that when Manu was test was when Djentsch joined the test team"

Diamondstar says, " planets are mere spaces but events and objects have varying levels of higher complexity, and there's also the functionality of allowing players to design their own planets within the game."

Elijah says, "The game is very dynamic, and naturally each rank complicates that dynamic. I don't think Commander is any easier than it was January of 2004."

Elijah winks, "Probably harder with more planets to learn. ;)"

Jessecka smiles.

Roger nods.

Diamondstar nods

Jackrungh says, "well i still have quite a bit more to go, though like my experience playing classic 10 years ago, i wish as a captain that ac were replaced by actual orders from the myriad duchies and planets of high level player design"

Diamondstar says, "This will be my fourth time starting fed2 from gh"

Jessecka says, "but let's remember, we are not the designers, we are just the testers, so we can not really say what is on Bella's mind."

Diamondstar says, "Every time I come back there's even more planets...there's 6 more from the last time I was here"

Ferreri says, "back then you had to work all the jobs until the board got under 5 before iy would reset, now it resets every 5 minutes"

Elijah says, "Perhaps that lies in the future Jack, we don't really know."

Diamondstar says, " and the board didn't cycle off jobs no one would take"

Elijah says, "I think the motto of the test team should be "We don't know.""

Diamondstar says, "A lot of times the entire board would be full of jobs that didn't have enough time to complete"

Jessecka says, "I for one think that it is exciting being able to watch the game grow more complex with each rank"

Ferreri says, "We don't know"

Diamondstar says, "until someone would bite the bullet and accept them"

Roger says, "Occasionally, though, we have been asked for input. An example was designing a system for ranking Traders. Profacy came up with a system to award +1 Trader point for every full 1000 ig of profit one made on a future, -1 for every 1000 ig or part thereof lost on a futures contract."

Jackrungh says, "well game design and compexity is one thing, but the most visible enhancement of the game will be when more players are attracted and the markets swell with actual hauling orders from people, perhaps more of the long time regulars should be elected to create planets, as more factories would create more of this actual player on player interaction and reduce the need for ac office runs"

Jessecka winks, "those are great ideas Jack, but why tell us? Send it in to feedback ;)"

Jackrungh says, "heh jessecka, im just pontificating"

Jessecka smiles.

Roger says, "Feedback is where ideas can be sent. And who knows? Maybe they'll get implemented."

Ferreri says, "I think this is the longest M&G I've ever been to"

Nightdroid winks, "Let's have a Meet & Pontificate next time ;)"

Jessecka smiles, "yes, we need to bring this one to a close guys, we have been at this for almost 2 hours :)"

Robius says, "I think this is the only M&G I've been to, well except for my own, of course."

Jessecka asks, "any last words from our Test team members before we close?"

Leostada says, "I've never heard of player to player contracts as a plan for Fed2. I believe they were exploited too much in classic and that could be the reason they havn't been implimented here"

Ferreri says, "It's been fun"

Roger thinks he said everything he wanted to.

Ferreri says, "cya guys"

Robius applauds the Test team for being here and of course for there hard work.

Nightdroid says, "Yes, it's very hard work"

Robius says, ""their" hard work, that is."

Ferreri says, "thakn you"

Nightdroid says, "So thanks to everyone on the team for helping make Fed better"

Ferreri says, "err thanx"

Jessecka exclaims, "thanks to everyone for coming out today, and be sure to be here for our next Meet and Greet, on November 20, when our guest will be Desertwolf, the creator of the site where players can exchange fed2 pics!"

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