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Playtesters Domain - Mission Statement

 — Egads, what is this? A mission statement? On Discworld?

Sure! The playtester domain is not only an administrative entity for ensuring that everyone gets all the playtestery goodness they are entitled to, but it's also positively brimming over with untapped synergy!

The mission statement of the playtester domain formalises the aims and intentions of the domain. The intent is to clarify the position of the domain to ensure that everyone is aware of exactly what the domain is about.

The process of playtesting is provided as an opt-in service for creators to make use of to improve the overall quality of their code and to ensure that the impact of new developments is assessed from all available angles. The primary method of doing this is through the diligent efforts of the many playtesters who voluntarily devote their time and energy to critiquing and commenting on new developments while simultaneously providing valuable general feedback and balanced ideas for improvement.

The key aspects of this are:

• Opt In: Playtesting is not the final judge of quality, and no creator is obligated to put any project through playtesting (except at the behest of his/her domain lord). If creators do not wish to make use of the service and instead wish to pursue their own methods of quality assurance then there is no cause for complaint within the playtesters domain. It is hoped the improved quality of projects that undergo the playtesting process will be incentive enough for lords to make use of the service.
  
• Critiques, Comments, feedback and ideas: The most valuable thing that a playtesters can provide is feedback on all aspects of a project in playtesting. It is appreciated that certain playtesters have skills in certain areas that are lacking in others... however, input on all aspects of playtesting is expected of anyone in the playtesting domain.
  
• Ideas are just as important as bug reports... sometimes even more so. Playtesters are hand-picked from the ranks of players because it is believed that they have the skills, judgement and intelligence to deserve the opportunity to be part of a more co-ordinated process to improve the quality of the MUD. As such, ideas from a playtester are valuable because they are expected to be balanced, well thought-out and relevant.