When did beta testing someones game incur a cost?

[Disposable Heroes]

So I'm from the old school days where you signed up for betas and it was an exclusive club that was an important part of game development. Often times after the game launched, beta players were given a free copy of the game or a nice discount. I understand development costs and such, but there was no magic wand that made those disappear in their predecessors, so what changed and why? I see so many interesting games that are "early access" games that want to charge a fee to help them make a better game AND on top of that cannot even guarantee there wont be a price increase on said game if it gains popularity and they feel they can charge more. So much greed these days! I don't want "free stuff" here. I just don't feel I should pay to beta test your game.

[River]

When digital releases became common. The second that a game could be released and re-released a dozen times a year, it was just a natural shift to release games before they were finished, and just say you'll finish it later.

Really, even finished games are finished anymore. The only difference between a beta release and a full release is a banner on the store page. Full released games can be just as incomplete and broken as beta releases, now that the assumption is that everything will be patched over time.

[gamergrandpa]

It has been this way for the last fifteen years or more. They don't Beta test they "Early access". And sometimes the release price will go up for the new released Purchasers . But you don't have to pay more. I remember the days your speaking of. But the game industry is what it is.

[Kalvash]

Originally posted by Disposable Heroes:

I just don't feel I should pay to beta test your game.

So don't. Problem solved.

[Komarimaru]

Early Access is not Beta testing. If you can't afford it, no problem, don't need to buy it.

In Technical terms...

Betas are generally experimental, not the full game, and not ready for release. Betas involve different testing.

Early Access means the games pretty much done, the developers offering it at a discount most times, letting you play, and even give input. Early Access also lets the real bugs come out too, since thousands and thousands of players will find more bugs then any developer could hope to find, letting them get fixed before final release.

[gamergrandpa]

Originally posted by Komarimaru:

Early Access is not Beta testing. If you can't afford it, no problem, don't need to buy it.

In Technical terms...

Betas are generally experimental, not the full game, and not ready for release. Betas involve different testing.

Early Access means the games pretty much done, the developers offering it at a discount most times, letting you play, and even give input. Early Access also lets the real bugs come out too, since thousands and thousands of players will find more bugs then any developer could hope to find, letting them get fixed before final release.

Semantics’. But it does bring out the real bugs so they can get attention.

[Komarimaru]

Originally posted by gamergrandpa:

Originally posted by Komarimaru:

Early Access is not Beta testing. If you can't afford it, no problem, don't need to buy it.

In Technical terms...

Betas are generally experimental, not the full game, and not ready for release. Betas involve different testing.

Early Access means the games pretty much done, the developers offering it at a discount most times, letting you play, and even give input. Early Access also lets the real bugs come out too, since thousands and thousands of players will find more bugs then any developer could hope to find, letting them get fixed before final release.

Semantics’. But it does bring out the real bugs so they can get attention.

Why does everyone use that word incorrectly? It's not a language study nor thesis. Literally the difference between them.

Never seen a Beta have access to the majority of the game.

[Hefutoxin]

Originally posted by Disposable Heroes:

So I'm from the old school days where you signed up for betas and it was an exclusive club that was an important part of game development. Often times after the game launched, beta players were given a free copy of the game or a nice discount. I understand development costs and such, but there was no magic wand that made those disappear in their predecessors, so what changed and why? I see so many interesting games that are "early access" games that want to charge a fee to help them make a better game AND on top of that cannot even guarantee there wont be a price increase on said game if it gains popularity and they feel they can charge more. So much greed these days! I don't want "free stuff" here. I just don't feel I should pay to beta test your game.

I'm from the old school days where you got what you got. No demos. Full price and all you had was box art and a couple screen shots on the back. In the snow. Up hill both ways.

[Disabled Velociraptor]

Originally posted by Komarimaru:

Early Access is not Beta testing. If you can't afford it, no problem, don't need to buy it.

In Technical terms...

Betas are generally experimental, not the full game, and not ready for release. Betas involve different testing.

Early Access means the games pretty much done, the developers offering it at a discount most times, letting you play, and even give input. Early Access also lets the real bugs come out too, since thousands and thousands of players will find more bugs then any developer could hope to find, letting them get fixed before final release.

Early access is more than beta testing, in many instances it's alpha testing too. You're essentially doing a full service of testing for the company and providing them valuable data on how to improve systems and the game itself. Both of your replies were exactly the same thing.

I've beta tested games far before early access was introduced as a term and it's exactly the same as early access. You release a product early, often missing features or contains a fixed amount of content so players can provide you valuable data to improve systems and the game itself. Early access is no different.

[Green Odin]

Around the time WoW came out when devs realised normal people would pay to play, then the rise of kickstarter showed them that people would pay to hype. Soon after the industry at large realised they could fire their Q&A teams and instead get people to pay for the privilege of doing a terrible job at it.

[Bloodwolff]

Originally posted by Komarimaru:

Early Access is not Beta testing. If you can't afford it, no problem, don't need to buy it.

In Technical terms...

Betas are generally experimental, not the full game, and not ready for release. Betas involve different testing.

Early Access means the games pretty much done, the developers offering it at a discount most times, letting you play, and even give input. Early Access also lets the real bugs come out too, since thousands and thousands of players will find more bugs then any developer could hope to find, letting them get fixed before final release.

Not true in all cases, "7 Days to Die" has been in Early Access for over 5 years lol.

[Mansen]

When the development costs, expectations for larger games and staff pay outpaced the investments most smaller studios and indie solo developers can manage without getting locked into a VERY abusive contract with a publisher.

[Viggo]

It is at discount as they said full release will cost more. And they charge for betas because people are willing to pay. Simple as that.

[II-KING-II]

Thats what gamers want today, unfinished games, lootboxes, season passes, pay2win.

It is a norm now and will only get worst, don't blame the industry, blame the players.

[.Sparkson]

In technical terms...
Developers want to make money on an unfinished product while having a shield against criticism.

[Aurelia]

The days of volunteering for a beta test, and being given a free game never existed. That is what people who know nothing about how beta testing actually worked, think, or they are just blatent trolls.

Infact, if you were a beta tester in the old days, you were part of an exclusive club. One that you maintained contact with, and were expected to supply several detailed reports a week, which included you jumping 2000 times in a corner, or running the same race course 40 times to see if something breaks, and when you were done, you either returned the copy build you were sent, or in cases of online, were removed from access. You did NOT get to keep the game. They were not just "we'll give you a free game and you can play if ya want, and if you want to report anything that's cool too".

Beta testing was a type of pseudo-employment, there was no volunteering. Your time was demanded, and any payments you recieved were given according to your compliance with those demands, or you were cut off.

Early access is literally just as those two words mean Early. Access. Which means you get a discount on a game that is currently under developement, that you can play bug hunt, file reports, complain about, or just let it sit in your library for the rest of eternity never even installed. It makes no difference.
Early access is not beta testing, they are entirely two different things.

These threads really need to stop creeping up like this.