The Daily Grind: Do character wipes influence your beta participation?
A decade ago, there was never any question that characters you created during an MMO beta would be deleted. It was going to happen. You didn't really question it; no tantrums were thrown when it happened. But that's been changing in the last few years as more and more companies allow their open beta testers to keep their beta characters into launch, perhaps as incentive to get gamers playing and testing riskier, newer games. Of course, sometimes that launch never happens anyway, and the game just lingers on in beta forever, giving us the impression that keeping characters is not so much a reward for early adopters as it is a necessity for a game that will never emerge from its open beta.
Would you be more likely to play a beta if you knew you could keep your characters permanently? Or do you just roll your eyes at the idea that such a beta is a beta in the first place?
Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
