General Discussion

Maybe what is happening is that the game devs/publishers are changing the meaning of beta testing into something like pre-release or pre-order. Maybe they have witnessed enough gamers buying these games with numerous bugs/glitches etc... and see that people are going to buy whatever they release, just as long as they advertise it correctly. So now, they let anybody and everybody into the beta test area to give them a taste of the game, hook em, and then later reel em in. Only thing now is that perhaps they are getting daring enough to want to charge them in the beta test period. Whatever it is, its pretty lame by my standards.

I dont have as many years testing as some of you, but for me, it used to be an honor to become a beta testor and hard as heck to find where you could sign up to do the beta testing. And it was an extreme honor if you made it as an Alpha tester.  If they want to start charging us for beta testing, well guess what, count me out. I, too will join the rebellion! Let them get their money from some other poor smuck. There's not one single reason for them to charge people to beta test. People here can go and on about it, "Oh, well you just dont understand the gaming world...." yadda, yadda, yadda. If they need more money, they should go back to their source of revenue in the first place or seek new investors. NEVER, should they charge people to test a game. 

I also agree that no game will ever be released totally bug free but that game had better deliver on what it promised.

Simple Q. Why do game Companies charge for Beta?

Simple A. Because they can.

Corporations know that customers are mindless sheep who can be fleeced time and again with no consequence.

It's like voting - people could change things, yet they don't.

I like to look at it another way. If a company released a perfect MMO, with all features, lands, everything, attached from day one there would be no reason to innovate. Why expand? Why add new content? You've given the customer everything in the box from the start.

That said, it's sad when games like Vanguard are released as is. On the other hand, Vanguard is a good game, though certainly not where it should/could be.

*Sigh*

To read these threads and see people PAID and involved in the industry trying to tell us that its OK for a game to release unfinished and broken.  There is a reason why police officers aren't paid per ticket they write... its called conflict of interest.  If a game developer were to tell the community... "Yes we know our game is broken and will be full of bugs and glitches... in fact we don't believe any of the promised features will make it out to the players for at least a year... if ever"... how many would actually buy or pay for the product?

I have a secret for any and everyone who feels they've been getting ripped off lately... If you look back in time you'll notice "many" (not all ... but many)... games offer demos shortly before or after release dates.  PLAY THESE Demos.  I for one do, and I find it a great way to judge if a game is really worth my money or not.

You'll notice that many games which do not offer a demo at or around release do it for a reason.  They know that any demo they provided would just reduce the number of sales as players would see just how broken or "crapy" their title is.

MMO's have the unique advantage of having started off with the "idea" that they aren't required to release a demo or "free trial" till many MANY months after release.

The Torrent community is a god-send for us gamers.  While many call it illegal and are fighting against these sites.  I call it a "forced" demo.  Developers who refuse to release a demo of their product... are given NO choice because of the Torrent community.  I have saved myself 100's maybe 1000's of dollars because of it.  And no, its not because I download illegal software for use on my personal computer... its because the 30-60 minutes I spend on the demos I download... save me from spending 50-60 dollars on these products which I will end up never using...

Rather than having these HUGE number rating systems... 1-100 or 1-50... we need more sites to be HONEST and truthful with the community.  Empire Earth was rated at somewhere around 50-60 by this site if i'm not mistaken.  The game is TERRIBLE... it should never have gotten more than 30 or 40 to be generous.

I have never paid to play beta and it would have to be a very special game before I would pay to play it in a beta state.  

What happens in everything is you get a great idea that works and makes money then for the next 20 years everyone copies it,  exploits it, and get every last  penny out of the idea until they move to the next great thing.  Creativity and imagination die at the table of marketing as you just will not be allowed to venture too far from the norm by the Corporate lackies.

In Roleplaying, we see alot of games but really nothing much has changed since paper and pencil  D&D.  No one has thought out of the box.    All we see is more of the same repackaged.     Same for all games for that matter.  No one dares think outside the box.

As long as people continue to pre-order games and not simply wait till the games are out and have been under reviews (from multiple non-affiliated trustworthy sources!) the companies will keep this old practice alive and well.

No tears for people who get screwed because they had to be leet and have it up and running first day, had to get to "end game" (a worthless goal in and of itself).

No tears for the poor company/developers that had such pressures on it, oh wo is us they want sooo much and we have to work sooo hard, people they aren't doing it as a charity, they're getting paid (and doing what they enjoy doing), they're making buckets of money (the big companies)

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Originally posted by Flummoxed
Simple Q. Why do game Companies charge for Beta?
Simple A. Because they can.
Corporations know that customers are mindless sheep who can be fleeced time and again with no consequence.
It's like voting - people could change things, yet they don't.

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in just that many words, yup that covers it

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Originally posted by cvgordy
  If a game developer were to tell the community... "Yes we know our game is broken and will be full of bugs and glitches... in fact we don't believe any of the promised features will make it out to the players for at least a year... if ever"... how many would actually buy or pay for the product?

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lol - about 90,000 - Vanguard

It's quite simple.  Game development comes to a point where the people paying the bills say either release it now, or scrap the project.  Most people don't want to see 4+ years of hard work and long nights disintegrating into nothing, so they release an unfinished game in hopes that they can fix it in patches.