What if a new upcoming MMORPG sent you a beta invite, but it would cost $50 before you could participate. Would you do it?
I think personally that MMORPG, and other gaming companies should charge to beta test. I know you probably are thinking I lost my mind, but why would I want to pay to beta test?
It is pretty simple. It seems these days beta testers are really not doing their jobs. They are just doing it for the free gaming time like a free trial to a MMORPG. How many beta testers aren't really even interested in the MMORPG, and just signed up for it along with ten other games hoping to at least get one invite?
How many beta testers are really submitting bugs, offering feedback, putting in countless hours of play time? I know a few friends who were in Warhammer Online's closed beta, and logged in once or twice. The same thing for some coworkers for the World of Warcraft expansion beta testing. What good were those invites? It basically just took up a spot for someone who might have actually worked to improve the game before the release.
I really think that is why so many MMORPG's these days that come out feel rushed, and unfinished. I think most players take beta testing casually, and don't take their beta invites seriously.
This is the whole reason I think they should make beta testers pay. It would be an almost guarantee that players would be logging in hundreds and hundreds of hours playing to make sure they feel they received their $50 worth.
A player paying that kind of money to beta test would also be hardcore. I would take five hundred paying beta testers over ten thousand free invites. The quality of feedback, suggestions would be astronomical compared to the current state of beta testers for MMORPG's.
Is $50 for beta testing an MMORPG worth it to you?
