The Daily Grind: No beta, no thanks
It's pretty much impossible for a development team to thoroughly test an MMO solely with in-house QA. Because of this, they involve the community in the testing process, giving the keenest fans a chance to try a game early and play a small part in shaping its future. However, not all games will offer a truly "open" beta, where anyone can sign up and play during that phase of testing. What we're noticing is that many folks are not willing to pick up an MMO at launch these days if they don't get this unofficial free trial beforehand.
This attitude is quite understandable, given a few factors of the current climate. The economic turmoil of late has caused a lot of people to think a bit harder about how they spend their entertainment budget, but beyond that, we've also seen a lot of MMOs launch in a state that many would consider "less than ready". If folks don't have a chance to get in-game and make that call themselves before launch, many are happy to cross that game off their lists (at least until they hear more about it post-launch, either good or bad). Today, readers, we wanted to find out if you have taken this stance towards upcoming MMOs. Is it "No beta, no thanks"? Even if you had high hopes for the game?
