Invitation to Test

It all started at the stop...

...the Quake 3 Arena bus stop in Emeryville, to be exact. That's where the Gamers.com and FiringSquad.com crew met up with Anna Kang, the Director of Biz Dev id Software, to check out the latest build of Q3A and play some friendly games against the id Software bus team. It was great fun, and everybody came away happy.

During dinner, we really got to know the id folks. What really struck me in particular was Anna - she really loved talking about the game. Throughout dinner, she talked with FS for hours on the new levels, weapons, and balance factors of Q3. After talking to marketing and PR flak from countless game companies (who range from "don't play games" to outsourced completely), it's refreshing to know that a company with as much organization as id Software still insists on hiring genuine people. This is not a place where you'll find clueless sods with no care for the actual product.

Anna mentioned that she'd like one of us to come down to Texas one day soon to help beta test the game. This is great, I thought. Down in the heartland, a chance to see cowboys leading bucking broncos and enraged steers down city roads… Hell, if I'm going to be a tourist, I'll exercise all the ignant tourist rights that I'm entitled to.

Sure enough, several weeks later, we received an e-mail from Anna. She was looking for people to help beta test the game, and we were up! Thresh was away in Europe giving a big speech (slacker), so who was next in line? Well, skill-wise nobody else in the office really compares, so I figured it should probably fall to seniority. And who would that be? Why, oh surprise, it was me! Fate works in such mysterious ways, doesn't it? I still can't get over it. Well, no reason to think about it anymore I guess. Muahaha.