How the YGG Game Testers Program Prepares Web3 Games for Success

Yield Guild Games
Yield Guild Games
Published in
9 min readSep 16, 2024

Since 2022, Yield Guild Games (YGG) has empowered its community to participate in the process of turning early-stage web3 gaming projects into high-quality titles through its Game Testers Program. By trying out the latest web3 games and providing critical insights and data through feedback and bug recording, YGG Game Testers (GTs) get to have a direct influence on how the projects develop and grow.

The Game Testers Program is one of the ways the guild protocol nurtures its community and game partners. The program’s skilled cohort of testers assess games, quickly identify bugs and other issues, and provide valuable feedback as the projects move closer to launch. While honing their skills, these community members also build their credibility and uncover opportunities for careers in web3, including the possibility of joining a game’s development team.

Currently, the Game Testers Program has an average of 700 active GTs per game test and 1,964 registered GTs on Discord — a 1,320% growth in active testers over the last two years. In the first five months of 2024 alone, YGG’s GTs have completed tests for 18 games, including highly anticipated titles such as Shrapnel, MetalCore, and Blade of God X.

“I imagine the YGG Game Testers Program really scaling and becoming a big part of the guild protocol,” said Mae-zing, YGG Senior Game Operations Manager and the YGG Game Testers Program Lead since 2022. “A lot of gamers imagine themselves working as game testers, and getting incentivized while playing is a dream come true for many of us. We’ve also created an environment where testers can grow into other roles. It’s been great to see our team starting out as testers and using the skills they have learned to explore many different opportunities in web3 gaming.”

Upskilling the YGG Community

While many in the program start as gamers wanting to try the latest games in development, they often discover new abilities and interests during game tests. The YGG Game Testers Program gives them a chance to explore other areas and different roles involved in web3 gaming. Many GTs have gone on to create content on social media, host livestreams, or become community moderators. Some of them also grow to become professional players who compete in esports tournaments.

Many GTs become anchors for YGG’s presence in these games, often participating in their communities and climbing the leaderboards even after testing has ended. Here are some of the recent achievements of the GT community:

  • Shrapnel’s first STX campaign culminated with YGG players in the top 3.
  • Sipher saw 600+ sign-ups from YGG.
  • Games such as MetaCene and DuskBreakers have recognized YGG as their top 1 guild. Game Testers created 22 video content submissions for the MetaCene playtest.
  • Dedicated communities of Spanish and Vietnamese game testers have been formed, with new channels to be created for more communities to connect.
  • Since the official launch of the Game Testers Program X account, over 1,400 testers and community members have followed the account, with impressions reaching 43,000 engagements per post.
  • The Game Testers Program is also collaborating with YGG Future of Work to select the community’s top 5 FrodoBots players who will join the AI vs. Humanity Earth Rover Challenge at IROS 2024 in Abu Dhabi.
  • Allied guilds within the GT community have increased to 12, with more eager to join.
  • An internal leaderboard called the GT Arena has been established, giving GTs a chance to compete for YGG tokens.
  • Due to popular demand, the Game Testers Program is launching its official merch at the YGG Play Summit in November 2024.

To record the information it gathers from its tests, YGG has also built a designated database for the Game Testers Program containing details such as participation rates, feedback, game genres, bugs, and more. This database enables the YGG core team and its partners to reference information from the tests in an efficient and systematic way.

Anyone given access can go to the page and see every entry sorted historically. Partners can maximize the data to help with development and use the feedback from testers for game improvements. Core team members can also reference data from these tests to use for marketing and promotion, including information gathered from esports, sign-ups, social media campaigns, Discord raids, streams, and more. The database gets updated regularly as each season progresses.

“The YGG Game Testers Program database gives us a lot of information from past tests that we can refer to at any point in the game development process. The data stored there will only grow over time,” said Mae-zing. “As we get more dedicated community members to join, we’ll be able to test multiple games at the same time, and we can be present at every milestone of development our game partners have. Our team is also building all this knowledge and experience, making them a high-quality team to tap into when needed.”

The Growth of the Game Testers Program

YGG’s main objective for acquiring premium assets in the most promising web3 games has always been so that its community could be among the first to enjoy them and contribute to their success early on. Through the Game Testers Program, YGG has ensured that its community and partners would receive the most benefit out of its game asset acquisitions.

The program started with a small pool of testers, mainly consisting of game lead ambassadors, moderators and community helpers, and it has grown to what it is today under Mae-zing’s leadership. Best known among the community for leading the Game Testers Program and hosting the YGG Community Stream show Game Hunters, Mae-zing began her web3 journey when she discovered YGG and Axie Infinity in 2021. This discovery reignited her passion for gaming, and she joined YGG’s League of Kingdoms (LOK) community soon after. Her interest in web3 games led her to become the first Game List Manager of playtoearn.com, where she researched and assessed web3 gaming projects before they were added to the site’s comprehensive database.

During this time, Mae-zing was one of the most active YGG players in LOK, rising up to become a community leader for the game within a year. She was invited to become one of YGG’s Game Operations Managers by YGG co-founder Gabby Dizon, then YGG Growth Operations Lead Landphil, and then YGG Game Operations Manager FallenCorpsez, who was also a community leader at YGGLOK, YGG’s guild partner in League of Kingdoms. In this role, Mae-zing was appointed to spearhead the YGG Game Testers Program.

Mae-zing co-hosting a Community Stream showcasing League of Kingdoms (LOK) with YGG Game Testers Program Quest Master Bokunogatari and team member Boring4ever, featuring guest LOK community leader Nyx. | Credit: Yield Guild Games

With Mae-zing at the helm, the Game Testers Program progressed rapidly each season:

  • The launch of the Game Testers Program coincided with GAP Season 1, where 53 testers participated.
  • By the second season of testing, the guild protocol started introducing community members into the program, increasing to 232 testers.
  • More community members were introduced to the program thanks to referrals from current testers. The group grew to 282 testers by its third season.
  • During the fourth season, growth went parabolic, as there were 667 total registered testers.
  • Today there are 1,964 registered testers on Discord, with about 700 actively testing games on average.

Mae-zing’s goal is to make the Game Testers Program the biggest it can be, and she wants to involve more of the YGG community over time. As part of her work, she’s been standardizing and optimizing the program to make it easy to onboard new testers while ensuring they are incentivized for their contributions.

YGG has made the onboarding process easy and open to all interested community members. Everything is run through Discord, where clear instructions are posted on how to apply and participate in tests. Anyone with a YGG account is welcome to apply to become a game tester for YGG.

Starting the Journey as a YGG Game Tester (GT)

Becoming a part of the YGG Game Testers Program is an easy 4-step process.

  1. Create a YGG account on the YGG website.
  2. Join the YGG Discord server.
  3. Join the YGG Game Testers Discord server.
  4. Complete the Game Tester application form.

After completing the application, players can wait for updates on the Game Testers Discord server. Once approved, they start out as Chibi GTs with no experience and can work their way up to Elite GTs by participating in game tests and completing GT-related quests. Each role will have a corresponding badge on Discord.

Once someone has started their GT journey, there are three main seasonal quests to complete and two optional quests. Each season starts after the previous GAP season concludes. Requirements for the main quests are based on how many game tests are completed, which may vary per season.

  1. Genin GT: 5–9 game tests completed in the season
  2. Chunin GT: 10–19 game tests completed in the season
  3. Jonin GT: 20 or more game tests completed in the season

After completing a quest, testers are awarded the official GT badge, which they receive as a soulbound token through GAP. To get the official badge, testers must have at least one GT GAP badge.

The two optional quests are as follows:

  1. Sogeki GT: Awarded to GTs who have reported and verified at least 1 bug.
  2. Ninmu GT: Awarded to GTs who have accumulated at least 50 Ninmu points. Ninmu points are based on out-of-game contributions such as sharing feedback on social media and joining Discord raids.

Every YGG Game Tester starts as a Chibi GT and progresses based on the quests they complete each season and the number of game tests they’ve done. Here is how a tester would progress from being a Chibi GT:

  • Trainee (2 levels): Progression requires 1 Jonin Badge, 1 Chunin Badge, or 2 Genin Badges. They must have completed 6–14 game tests.
  • Anbu GT (5 levels): Progression requires 2–5 Jonin badges and 15–40 game tests.
  • Sannin GT (3 levels): Progression requires 6–8 Jonin badges and 50–80 game tests.
  • Kage GT: The tester must have completed 10 Jonin badges and 100 game tests.

Once a tester reaches Anbu level, they are considered an Elite GT. Elite GTs are given priority when it comes to limited-access or exclusive tests. Elite GTs also qualify for Mythic GT quests. These quests are divided as follows:

  • Sensei GT: Moderator quests
  • Sugoi GT: Content creation quests
  • Saikyo GT: Leaderboard quests

Leads for game testing often come from the YGG core team or its partners. They’ll inform testers about upcoming testing periods and the team will prepare the accounts, assets, and participants for the test. Campaigns often last for seven to 21 days, and testers will not only play the game, but they will also participate in Discord raids and X campaigns. Recently, streaming has also become a more common activity among testers.

Some leads come from community demand, where the leadership of the Game Testers Program, called the GT Council, will examine what games are creating a lot of traction among YGG members. They want to have YGG as a presence during the testing period, though this can only happen if there is enough space in the pipeline for the GT team to participate.

What’s Next for the YGG Game Testers Program?

Given the trajectory of the sign-ups and the positive traction of the web3 gaming space, the YGG Game Testers Program is set to enlist 1,000–2,000 active testers by the end of 2024. All testers stand to build their reputation and have the opportunity to reach the Elite GT level. Many members of the program are becoming contributors to the YGG ecosystem in different ways, leading communities and providing their insights to help prepare up-and-coming web3 games for launch.

A new season of game testing is ongoing in line with GAP Season 7, with sign-ups running from September 13–15. The playtest season officially starts on September 16 and will continue until September 22. Feedback gathering from GTs will make up the remainder of the month, from September 23 to September 30.

Want to start earning your Jonin badges and become a legendary Kage GT? Join the YGG Game Testers Program.

Join the YGG Discord and follow YGG on X to get the latest updates.

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Yield Guild Games
Yield Guild Games

Published in Yield Guild Games

Yield Guild Games (YGG) is the world’s first and biggest web3 gaming guild where players can enrich themselves as they find their community, discover games and level up together.

Yield Guild Games
Yield Guild Games

Written by Yield Guild Games

Yield Guild Games (YGG) is a web3 gaming guild where players can enrich themselves as they find their community, discover games and level up together.