Are many of you still playing Battlefield 4 and putting up with problems and issues with the game? I actually have lost track of Battlefield 4 as bug after bug went reported with EA/DICE announcing that there won't be expansion projects and focus on fixing Battlefield 4 problems. It seems that it's almost the middle of 2014 and they are still in the "all hands on deck" mode and there is no announcement of a new Battlefield 4 or Medal of Honor title yet.

Their rival, Call of Duty, has already announced a new title in the franchise called "Advanced Warfare" and it is proceeding as planned for its November 2014 release.

Realizing that they need more help in fixing the FPS video game, the developers and publisher have announced the "Community Test Environment":

The Community Test Environment (CTE) will provide passionate fans the chance to evolve Battlefield 4 with us and become a part of the development process.

We’ll be able to test new ideas and solutions to current issues before we roll them out to all Battlefield players.

Among the first things we will work on is the “Netcode,” which is what the player experiences with the game world including player-to-player interactions like damage registration. This involves tweaking to the “tickrate” servers and networking in general.

By launching this new program, not only will we be able to address player feedback at an early stage, but also increase the overall quality of the game. We are excited to explore the possibilities together with you.

In a nutshell, it is an invitation to become an unpaid tester to the fixes that they want to deploy to the game. You pay for the game, encounter a host of issues and bugs, and now you get unpaid to help it get fixed.  One player commented at Toms Hardware quipped:

It was a paid alpha test; now they're launching into beta.

It's basically a loaded comment meaning that players who paid for their copies of Battlefield 4 when it was launched were paying for a half-baked video game and with the launch of the CTE. They are now guinea pigs for a video game is already half a year old when they should be looking forward to a new chapter in the Battlefield/MOH series.

Still, if you want to help out, you can join the CTE if you are a premium member and PC gamer at that. Only limited slots are available and they say  that the first wave of seats have already been filled up. A dedicated CTE client will have to be downloaded before one can start helping in the tests.