Pay to Beta Test?

Once upon a time, the purpose of beta tests was to detect and iron out bugs before games were released. Betas were free and sometimes, testers were even paid specially to search for bugs that normally wouldn't be detected in a casual play through.

Now, a 'beta' is more like a demo for the masses to try out a game. Sometimes, they were an incentive to pre-order a title. But mostly, they are hype builders and advertisements, and as such, betas are open only if the developers know the game is any good, or is it?

Betas can get away with a lot of issues; after all, a game that is still a work in progress can be excused right? Well, currently, people can purchase games that are still incomplete in the form of early access games. Some of these games are like this because of kickstarter backer rewards in the form of alpha and beta access. However, there are games that have been in 'beta' for a long time, raking in sales while being excused of their brokenness. And what is the incentive of coming out of beta? Will people still be interested in a game that has been on the market for so long? Can a game get away with bugs and incompleteness by being perpetually in beta or alpha?

Free to play games have gotten in the 'beta' fever as well. In closed the alphas and betas of many games, we are given the option of buying into the game. These 'founder packs' are a way to make impatient people pay for an otherwise free title. Should the game be officially 'released' and open to everyone, will these people actually pay any amount of money? It's hard to tell, but certainly there will be some who won't. Is there an issue to this? Probably not, but it's important to note that for most of these games, you can buy stuff with real money even in alpha or beta, and there are cases where the game gets shut down, never to be 'released'.  What happens to the money spent on buying in and on items in the cash shop?

I have a few games on early access because I helped kickstart the games, and in the initial phases, they were pretty unplayable, which, funnily enough, meant it was a real beta. However, I realized this would spoil the game for me on official release if I spent too much time, not story-wise, but in the sense that the game might start to bore me. Probably this won't be an issue for most people and most games, but for multi player games, losing people before official release is not a good thing.

Yes, I know you feel like a beta tester playing Battlefield 3, but at least they were brave enough to put it out for critique, so that might be another post. I am not too keen on paying to beta test, but if playing broken games is your thing, feel free. But beware of games that never get released, or you might just end up like a kickstarter backer who gave money for a game that ends up in the void, never to see the light of day.

Mechwarrior Online Open Beta

Mechwarrior fans rejoice. MWO is finally in open beta. Interest players can sign up at their website here: http://mwomercs.com/signup?utm_source=mainMENU With Hawken also on the horizon, mech fans have a lot to look forward to. These games are also free to play.

Beta's have started to become a sort of demo for testers, as well as for YouTubers to get the word out. This is different from the days when beta was held to test the game before launch. Such testing is now reserved for closed beta. This is especially so for free-to-play games, where it is not uncommon for a player's progress to be carried from beta into the complete game, giving them a head start. But then again, anyone who is interested in the game would have joined in the open beta anyway. I guess free-to-play games can take this route because they are going to get into the hands of gamers free anyway, so there's no worry of letting players play too much and as a result, they don't buy the game.

There generally shouldn't be an issue in this shift of focus of the beta test, except when a game developer decide to use the beta as it was originally meant to be - as a test for bugs in the game. What is also often seen among gamers is whining and crying about not being able to get into beta. Gamers now see beta as a chance to play the game before anybody else, often overlooking the true purpose. As a result, when things don't work as they should in such cases, there are actually some who will go out of their way to bash the game and paint it in a negative light. So while it is true that most developers have now polished up their game, do note that there will be bugs. So have fun, but don't let the presence of bugs affect your impression of the game.