Paid playtest — US$10 for 25 minutes — Buried Worlds VR
← Buried Worlds VR

Paid playtest

US$10 for 25 minutes. Honest criticism is the thing being paid for.

Buried Worlds VR is a treasure-hunting game for Meta Quest — you sweep a metal detector, dig, pan river gravel and travel between five real places where real treasure was found. It was built by one person, and it has reached the point where the useful question is no longer whether it works but whether a stranger can work out what to do with it.

So: Quest players, paid US$10 each, to play the opening 20 minutes without being told how, and then answer 5 minutes of questions about where it lost them.

What you get and what is asked

Pay
US$10 by PayPal, sent within 48 hours of your submission arriving. Payment does not depend on liking the game, finding bugs, or posting a review.
Time
About 20 minutes playing plus a 5-minute questionnaire. Breaks and the download do not count.
Hardware
Meta Quest 2, Quest 3, Quest 3S or Quest Pro, and working controllers.
Access
A free key after selection, emailed to you, redeemed in the Meta Horizon app on the account you own the headset with. Yours to keep.
Feedback
A short questionnaire on this site, plus a screenshot of the marketplace showing at least $10 of finds in the game's own money. A clip is welcome but optional. No webcam, no room footage.
Stuck?
Message the developer on Discord and he will walk you through it. Asking costs you nothing and does not affect payment.
Eligibility
13 or over, and new to Buried Worlds VR. Under 18 is welcome with a parent or guardian's agreement — the payment then goes to their PayPal account, since PayPal requires account holders to be 18. Either way, there must be a PayPal account the money can reach where you live.

What you would actually do

  1. Start a new game. Play without anyone explaining the controls — working out what the game teaches badly is the whole point.
  2. Try detecting, digging and panning. Not being able to find or finish something is a result worth having, not a failure.
  3. Save, quit and come back once, so we learn whether progress returns.
  4. Answer the questionnaire, and send the recording or screenshots we agreed.

You have a week from receiving access. If that stops being realistic, say so — an extension is a message, not a problem.

When you get paid

Payment depends on doing the agreed thing and sending the agreed evidence. It does not depend on whether the feedback is judged good enough, whether you liked the game, or whether you say anything nice in public. There is no minimum number of bugs and no store review is expected or wanted as a condition.

You play about 20 minutes, your marketplace shows at least $10 of finds (the game's money), and you answer every question from your own sessionPaid US$10 — whether or not you liked the game.
Your marketplace shows less than $10Not paid yet. Ask on Discord — the developer will walk you through it — then keep playing and submit once you are over.
You are not sure what to do, or something seems brokenAsk on Discord before your week runs out. A walk-through does not affect payment.
Something is missing from your submissionYou will be emailed exactly what, within three days, and can update your submission for a week.
A submission is copied, fabricated, or claimed twiceNot paid, with the specific reason given and a week to dispute it.

What happens to what you type here

  • Your email address, Meta Horizon username, country and answers are stored so the study can be run. They are never sold, never used to advertise to you, and never added to a mailing list. The only email you will get from us is about your own application: a note when your submission arrives, and anything missing from it.
  • The PayPal account the payment goes to is asked for only when you submit your session, and only from testers who were offered a place. It is stored with your application and deleted with it.
  • Unsuccessful applications are deleted within 30 days of being declined. Answers, links and contact details are deleted 90 days after final payment. Findings are kept only with names and addresses removed.
  • If you are under 18, we store that a parent or guardian agreed rather than who they are, and we may ask them to confirm by email before a place is offered. Nothing is collected from anyone under 13.
  • If you are offered a place, your key is emailed to you by this site. None of your details are sent to Meta by us; beyond the pixel above, Meta learns of you only when you redeem the key, under Meta's own terms.
  • This page loads the Meta pixel so we can tell whether an ad brought you here. It sets a cookie and tells Meta that a browser visited and, if you apply, that an application was made. It receives nothing you type — not your email, your username, or your answers.
  • You can ask to see, correct or delete your application at any time, before or after the study, through the privacy page. Quote the reference shown when you apply.

The rest of the site's policy is at Privacy. The game itself collects nothing and has no accounts — that does not change because you took part in this.

Apply

Applying does not guarantee a place. Selection is for a spread of headsets and VR experience, not for enthusiasm — please do not install, record or buy anything until you have been offered a place and accepted it.

This is where the invitation and the key would go. Nothing else is ever sent to it.
Your Quest profile handle, not your real name — it is in the Meta Horizon phone app under your profile. Used to match your application to the test invitation.
Which headset would you test on?
How often do you play VR?
Any two. There is no right answer and no such thing as a wrong taste here.
Only to check that a PayPal payment can reach you before a place is offered.
How could you send evidence of the session?Either is fine and neither is worth more. Screenshots plus specific notes are accepted for the full fee.
Tick it if so — it does not disqualify you, but the study is about first impressions, so people new to the game are picked first.
Left-handed, seated only, a comfort condition, a language other than English — anything that changes how the session should be set up.
How old are you?PayPal does not open accounts for anyone under 18, which is why a younger tester's payment goes to a parent or guardian. We may email them to confirm before a place is offered. Nobody under 13 can take part.
No account is created. You can ask for this to be deleted at any time.

Study terms version 2026-09-16. Questions before applying are welcome on Discord, where the developer is most days. The brief and the questions are on the questionnaire page.