If you purchased Natural Selection 2 I have some awesome news for you. Every one of you are eligible to become an internal beta tester.

I was just put in charge of the North American Public Test (Internal) group of Unknown Worlds Entertainment for Natural Selection 2 a couple days ago. After getting my Mantis, GoogleGroups, and other admin bullshit setup, I'm able to offer serious players of NS2 a position as an internal beta tester.

What's the difference between internal and external? Well, the internal playtesters work specifically with the developers of the game to help provide bug fixes for internal builds so they may be released to the public. As internal testers, we are always one build ahead of the public release. This means we get to see things that everyone else doesn't see, including character releases, map releases, and tons of other stuff. We get to perfect the product, then release it to the public to play on.

You might ask what you get from this? No it doesn't pay, but if you're a hardcore gamer like me, being able to speak with all the devs through chat is extremely satisfying and rewarding. It feels good to be a part of a bigger cause for indie gaming, more specifically... the flat-out production of the game itself. Indie companies usually have to rely on pre-order sales and their community to fix issues and help provide feedback on features implemented in the game.
On top of having all the bragging rights, this is also something that you existing (and future) coders, scripters, and game developers may want to participate in because you can put it on your resume. Working for a very-well-established indie game company such as Unknown Worlds Entertainment will get you one step closer to getting a bigger and better job. I'm sure that Charlie (the game creator and project manager) would have no problems signing off on a resume for those who ask.

All that is required for those who want to participate in this is a copy of the game itself, a good attitude, and the ability to show up twice a week for playtesting for an hour or so. It's not hard at all. You launch the game... you play... you report bugs through a website with a description... you're done.

If you think you'd be interested in this (even if you don't know how to play the game well), just send me a PM or catch me in Ventrilo. I need about 20 more people. After those slots are filled, I can't fill any more.

If you donate me a mobo, CPU, RAM, and GPU I'll gladly do this for you. :)

Just bought the game, hook me up Acid.

Will do as soon as I get home!

Okay, I've gotten a few responses for the NS2 internal testing. Give me a couple days, and everyone who applied will receive an email. For those who applies, do me a small favor and PM me your email. An important note is that you WILL HAVE to use a gmail address, so if you don't have one, go ahead and set it up now, then send it over to me, and I'll set you up!