I know it has been discussed here before, but given what's going on with Champions Online right now, i thought i'd bring it up again.

An "open beta" used to be the time right before launch when the studio would open it up to a large audience in order to get some stress testing and to try to stir up interest in the game. It was a demo really, but the developers got useful information out of it and the consumers got a sneak preview.

In the past couple of years, "open beta" has generally referred to a time right before launch when people who have preorderd the game and certain other limited populations can try it out and (presumably) stress test it. Access to the "open" beta is now a perk that's used to sell preorders.

Hellgate is the last big game i can find that had a real open beta. Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, and now Champions Online have all had this new version. They've all been administered by Fileplanet. Fileplanet subscribers and people who have preordered get access to the "open beta" all other access is extremely limited.

Normally, i'd just write off this shift in meaning to just a simple bit of marketing sleight of hand, but it's starting to look more like a systemic problem.

A real open beta provides the kinds of numbers you need in order to have a decent stress test. These new "open" betas don't seem to do that. It seems like standard operating procedure for games to launch with insufficient infrastructure and then to fast-track the purchase of additional hardware using the cash from early sales. The PR department always frames this as "We just weren't prepared for how many people we would have and are bowled over by our own awesomeness!" but we all know that WoW is pretty much the only game that can legitimately claim that excuse.

In addition, the shift towards using "open beta" as a reward for preordering instead of a testing tool and preview for potential customers seems to go hand in hand with the release of some really high profile flops. A good MMO makes its money through subs or micro-transactions over the long term. A bad one tries to grab as much fast cash as it can with pre-orders, first-month sales, and special limited time offers (How did those Hellgate lifetime subs work out?) and then either uses that money to fix its problems or folds/sells out.

If a company has a good game, a truly open beta is in their best interests as well as the consumers'. More word of mouth advertising - crucial for a game where playing with your friends is the standard. Better testing.

I don't blame Fileplanet for this trend - they're just trying to make a buck. These deals for exclusive access are Fileplanet's best draw for subscribers and it's the companies themselves who make the decision to use their service. Though at this point, given what i've observed above, paying for a Fileplanet subscription seems like paying for access to bad games. ;)

Just curious to hear some other thoughts on this, insulated from fanboy loyalty to any particular game or company.

I made the same sort of post a few days ago.

I would remind these companies of this.

WoW had a fully open Beta.

AoC and WAR did not.

Lets compare subscribers.....oh we see a pattern.

Far as I am concerned, these companies can keep selling their beta through Fileplanet and players like myself will keep not buying their products and one day they will learn.

I believe we will only see the increase in the length and use of open betas...

First the marketing is not unexpected. PLayers for years have been using their 'Beta invitres' as some sort of notches on my belt ....Like an "I am so uber even developers ask for my assistance" machismo. People are always asking for beta keys/invites on the forums, etc....Devs picked up on this and saw a marketing opportunity. Thats fine.

The real reason for the extended Beta in my mind is because is aids in averting a disasterous launch. The launch and the spite from the player community that comes from a bad launch can hurt a game for years (or forever..see vanguard). Having a longer and more crowded 'Open Beta" gives the developers a large cushion when things go wrong and an injection of upfront capital to adress any problems (Client problems, bugs, throw as many nerfs as they like) . Then, they can call a 'Mulligan' once problems are assessed and move forward with a 'smooth' launch.

I like Open Beta cause it lets me see if I'm gonna buy the game or not. If there isn't one then I wont buy the game after launch anyways and I have to be a day one vet or I'll never play the game, dunno just bothers me.

I think it has little to do with how the open beta is used. Nothing big is going to change in the game due to the open beta.

It more about companies pushing incompleted or poor games off on us, because they figure they can get away with it. They use the logic that it's an MMO and they are never really complete and they are always changing. To a certain extent they might be right, because no matter how many times they see games take a hit due to an early release, they just keep on doing it and we keep buying them.

Seems like we are in a Dark Age of MMO's.

Players like getting into betas, both closed and open, because it makes them feel special.

Companies are smart enough to know this and now use it to sell preorders and I'm sure fileplanet has to pay them something.

So the players who need to feel special (and have no problem paying to see a game "for free" to see if they want to pay for it) get what they want, and it helps drive sales/hype for the game.

Good post OP. The genre is getting more sly and sharp all the time. The suits are making the calls, not the creative people who want to make a good game.

Its not a new "Open" beta phenomenon, because clearly the beta is not open.  Not everyone can join. If they call it "open" they are lying.

Originally posted by dhayes68

Its not a new "Open" beta phenomenon, because clearly the beta is not open.  Not everyone can join. If they call it "open" they are lying.

Exactly. Nothing further to add. You pretty much summed it up.

Originally posted by dhayes68

Its not a new "Open" beta phenomenon, because clearly the beta is not open.  Not everyone can join. If they call it "open" they are lying.

Agree, but that's what they are calling it. They've actually got some people convinced. These people claim that the term "Open Beta" means no NDA and that "Public Beta" is the correct term for a beta that is open to the public.

I find the argument to be semantically attractive, but ultimately wrong. That's just not what "open beta" means in general use, and "public beta" is almost never used when talking about games.

At any rate, why these things are happening is more interesting than the plain facts.

As far as the use of FilePlanet goes that's really them just offloading the cost of bandwith and download servers to a company that specialized in that kind of activity.  When the beta starts the servers are flooded with people trying to download the client.  That kind of spike will bring down most servers that are not designed for that kind of activity.   SInce it is a temporary spike, there is no value in investing in the architecture to manage it so the next best move is to outsorce it to someone whose business it is to deal with these issues.  FilePlanet is not going to do so for nothing so they get an exclusive deal.

"open betas" are no more beta than Windows Vista was a release candidate at launch. Very little changes between open beta and launch. This conditions people into thinking beta stage is one thing, and when a developer does decide to have beta available to it's potential playerbase, said playerbase bitches about stuff not working right.

Open beta is 95% hype generation and 5% stress testing.

Originally posted by Torik

As far as the use of FilePlanet goes that's really them just offloading the cost of bandwith and download servers to a company that specialized in that kind of activity.  When the beta starts the servers are flooded with people trying to download the client.  That kind of spike will bring down most servers that are not designed for that kind of activity.   SInce it is a temporary spike, there is no value in investing in the architecture to manage it so the next best move is to outsorce it to someone whose business it is to deal with these issues.  FilePlanet is not going to do so for nothing so they get an exclusive deal.

That is indeed a great excuse for using Fileplanet, from the company's perspective, but it doesn't explain the whole story.

Why do they insist on calling the "Fileplanet and Preorders" beta an "open" beta?

Are the gains from these deals really worth the costs? Consider also that they could make some alternative deal that gave Fileplanet subs early access and also included a true open beta later. Fileplanet does real open betas all the time (See Fallen Earth) and they're usually for games by smaller studios. I have to believe that these games need to save money as much or more than the big guys like Cryptic do. So what's the explanation?

I've been playing online games since 1997 (Subspace and some TBS that I've forgotten the name of being my first :P), and I can say with 100% certainty that an online game that has no at least semi-open beta is a flop in progress.  They know their game will be a disaster so they try to sell a lot of boxes purely on hype and gaming magazine advertisements reviews.

If anyone and everyone can't get access, its not OPEN.  WOW had an open beta.   Anything with an invite is not open.  If you have to pre-order to get in, its not open.  If you have to join a service and pay a fee to dowload, its not open.  Simply, I won't play any MMO unless I try it first and thats what open betas are for.  Its a demo.  There are very few games I'll ever buy sight unseen.  Luckily even if I don't get in personally, I have plenty of friends willing to let me borrow their beta accounts for a few nights;)

The way I see it, if the game isn't open to all a few weeks before launch, with a dropped NDA,  they're hiding something.  WAR did it and they were hiding plenty.  AOC did it...nothing to see there.  The list goes on and on.   Blizzard has been the only developer that dropped their NDA months before release, let anyone who wanted to get in, play around.  They had no real problems, because they had nothing to hide.  They knew they had a winner and it showed.

I will agree on the fact that many "Open" beta's, should be called Restricted Beta, restricted in the sense someone needs to either have a fileplanet sub. or pre-order it.

If indeed a game puts out a  "Open" Beta then it should be that.

What I don't get is what people seem to have against Fileplanet, I mean  31 million unique monthly users worldwide, looks to me from so many users there is sure to be a considereble part to be potentional players.

I've just registered an account for Champions Online open beta on Fileplanet, and it didn't ask me for subscription.

The open beta has 2-3 Days left for Champions and it is OPEN to the public. Yes the first 4 Days of the beta are like a sneak preview for those who paid first now it truly is open. So this doesnt apply to Champions Online.

As for the game, it is very very good, and very fast leveling.

1 Week or less it takes to reach max lvl. That can be good or bad depending on the amount of content there is to do once you reach this level.

You only need a File Planet sub if you didn't get a beta key from somewhere else (like a pre-order), unless you want the faster download speeds.

 Looks like the open beta transition to final failed... lol