Disclaimer for alpha version - need opinion

The alpha launch is getting closer and I am doing various support materials. My current task is to compose the discamer which has to explain to players that alpha version is far from the finished product and people should not expect final quality of the game and treat it only as a minor sneak peak + a chance to help us make the game better by providing feedback:

ATTENTION!

You must read the disclaimer below carefully and accept it before you proceed!

You have been chosen to participate in the alpha test of Totem Tribe II: Jotun. You must understand that the alpha version of the game is FAR from final quality and even might be unplayable for you. We have opened access to the alpha version of the game for testing purposes only and expect a detailed feedback report from you. If you just want to play and have fun you might want to wait until the beta or even release. Playing alpha might be frustrating and tedious due to the large amount of bugs and work-in-progress content.

There will be a LOT of BUGS and by trying the game we expect you to carefully document and report them to us. By doing so you will greatly help us improve the game. We don't want you to be nice with us when doing the alpha test, we want you to be brutally honest about your experience with the game.

The alpha version only has the tutorial level which is roughly 2 hours of playtime and open-ended sandbox experience afterwards. The comprehensive storyline is planned, but not present in this version of the game. If you want to play quests like in original Totem Tribe - please wait until beta.

IMPORTANT!

Your progress in Totem Tribe II: Jotun ALPHA will be wiped many times and the game will be shut down many times throughout the game as we fix bugs and install improvements. We will try to keep these wipes and shutdowns to a minimum but in order to fix the game intensively and reach beta stage fast we will have to do it. If you want a seamless experience - please wait until beta phase at least.

Note about Enkord Cash: the wipes will not make you lose your Enkord Cash virtual currency though - points you spend will be refunded from time to time, and you will have the full amount of Enkord Cash back on game release so don't be afraid to spend them even in alpha.

STILL WANT TO BECOME A TESTER? READ THE NEXT SECTION:

It is not an easy thing to be a Game Tester. It is hard to know what the developer needs to know, or how to say it so that the developer understands what the tester is seeing. Testers need to be really attentive to all the little detail and always ask themselves a lot of questions when they encounter the bug like: where the bug happened? When it happened? What you were doing when the glitch happened? Does the glitch happen repeatedly each time you try to do a certain task, or does it only happen once in a while? Etc. Also you must understand that reporting a bug doesn't mean it will be fixed right away. Sometimes we will need more info about the bug from other people to fix the bug properly, sometimes things need to be done before we can fix that bug and sometimes we just don't have enough time, because we are real human beings that need to sleep and eat.

Being a tester is more like a volunteer job, than play time. If you want the game to come out the very best, then as a tester you need to work hard alongside the developers to make it happen. If you are not scared with all the disclaimers above and still willing to help us and make the game better, grab a pen and a piece of paper and click the button below.

What do you think about that disclaimer? I think it's a bit of harsh and scary, but we need to get people into the right mood before they try the alpha. Maybe it's a bit too harsh, if so - let me know. Anyway let me know what do you think about it and maybe I missed something important.

P.S. It's just a text sample. On the actual page it will have better formatting - red letters, important sentences outlined, etc.

I don't think it's scary, but I do think that the bit about the Enkord cash should be more obvious and perhaps towards the top. Most people don't read disclaimers at all, so having it at the top will at least mean it's more likely to be seen and less likely for people to freak out about it during gameplay.

More obvious how? What I am trying to say, that you should not worry about game restarts when spending Enkord Cash, cause when the game is restarted, your cash balance will be reverted, so you will have the amount like you haven't spend anything and can spend it again. Naturally this remark makes sense only after I've mentioned that there will be game restarts, therefore if I put remark about cash to the top it will not be clear. Maybe I've misunderstood you or something...

The other thing that would worry me is the bit about the game restarting. That can be quite annoying, and maybe you should consider only restarting at certain times or at certain intervals, so that players are aware of when/if the restart might happen and can be prepared for it. I don't know how feasible that is from your end, but it's something that I know would bother me - if you're going to be restarting every 30 minutes in a 3 hour period, I'd much rather wait until beta test. If on the other hand you're going to be restarting once a day, I'll still play during alpha.

I don't think there will be restarts more often than once a day. Honestly I don't want to have any restarts at all, but alpha stage of the game is intensive development and if restarts is acceptable at any stage, it's on alpha stage. Not being afraid of shut down or reset the gaming progress will allow us to fix bugs more intensively and thus making beta stage to come up sooner.

Maybe a bullet that just states Enkord Cash spent during Alpha will be refunded or something

Yeah, refund is probably the right word, I have edited the text to state about refund. Let me know if it's more clear or not.

I was surprised to see that you would be able to spend enkord cash during the alpha but I guess to test bugs you would need to huh?

You are right, the closer experience of alpha version to the final game, the better for us as we will be able to test and fix more things. Thus making people use Cash Shop and spending Enkord Cash will allow us to test this process thoroughly, which is quite important as the shop is basically our only source of income in this game and has to be flawless.

I agree with the others.  It is straight forward and honest about what to expect and not scary, this sets very clear expectations with your Alpha testers.

Do you want any edits at this point or should we wait for a more finished version?

If you have found grammar mistakes, sure, let me know and I will fix them. Just mark the modified parts with bold text.

Tanks! One step closer to the game, now I will focus on bug reporting forms for alpha :)

There is no way to force people to do something when they don't want that. They can just check zillions of checkboxes without reading anything, but it's their own fault. We did our best with bringing down everything to the table and if people don't read it, who should be blamed? :)

But hopefully it will not be the case. The alpha testers will be people who are really interested in this game. Paying attention to the game news, posting on forums, donating to support the game indicates a high level of interest to this game which means that disclaimer most likely will be read through. It's not a random person from the internet that we need to win attention over.

Johnna,

We have a slight experience of getting help from the community in our other online game and what I've learned is we should never OFFER reward to people for helping us. This might sound shocking or selfish, but truth is, when there are some kind of tangible reward (in-game cash, items, etc.) it will lure a lot of people who are not that much interested in making the game better comparing to the fact how they want this reward.

Therefore when there are no reward for testers and moderators, only people who really want to help improving the game will volunteer for the job. Because when there is no reward except our gratitude, there is no motivation for others to step in.

That doesn't mean I will not reward some active testers afterwards, but that means you should never count on it.