Are We Losing Sight Of What Beta Means?

Your post title is exceptionally melodramatic.

I would pay for a beta key(no more than $20) for a few games (even alpha)... mainly Path of Exile, Firefall, and Planetside 2 so it really depends on how much their planning to charge.

Also DCUO has 3 different account types with little restrictions and an easy way to upgrade. For $5 you can go from a "free" account to a "premium" account and you get chat restrictions lifted, extra character slots, extra bank slots, etc. So I would suggest PoE DEVs to look at other micro transaction games for ideas.

Btw, restricting chat options for FREE ACCOUNTS should be in place before OB/Retail +Global Chat should only be for Premium Accounts or Accounts that spent money in cashshop.... Would stop farmers from spamming! :3

You don't want your game to have development funding to make the game better.

You're losing sight and are personally troubled by entitlement issues.

Get a shrink, not a forum.

The original thread title was "GGG Is Losing Sight And So Are You"

So sorry about the shrink comment, but. just, wow.

They are only allowing to donate and gain access to the beta because people asked for it. It was not their idea, people wanted it so they are giving it. Also, as someone stated above, people pre-purchase cash shop content and also recieve a beta invite as a plus.

I don't really see how this is any different than games such as MMOs or shooters usually that give beta access if you preorder. Or if you buy Crackdown getting Halo 3 beta. At least with PoE you would get it for much cheaper and helping support them to add more content rather than a game like Tera where they get a bunch of people to preorder for beta access then take away PvP battlegrounds for months after release.

I don't see why it's that much of a problem. Betas are as much about getting hype for the game as they are for testing bugs. A stress test event like this has two functions; obviously it's first and foremost function is to test server stability under heavy loads, but the second function is to bring the game to people who haven't played it yet, to get them talking about the game with their friends.

And they're not accepting donations for beta access (I would definitely be against that if they were). They're allowing you to purchase a microtransaction to get into the beta. You're purchasing a product that they're offering. It's not like you're not going to get anything out of it.

It's not donating to have beta access, it's pre-ordering store points to get beta-access. This is completely different...

I want to say thank you to all of the constructive posts. I don't respond to bitter and derogatory remarks.

On donations. My question is, when you donate something, i.e. in this case money, does the person 'donating' money expect something in return?

I really don't want to lose the focus of this post, yet, I can see someone doing this so I went ahead and searched:

As per Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Definition of DONATE
transitive verb
1
: to make a gift of; especially : to contribute to a public or charitable cause

It's not that I am against 'donating' or 'giving' it's that, I don't 'expect' something in return when I do. Thus, handing out beta access to a person donating money seems a bit contradictory? If they were to give beta access to a person, then why not make it a 'contribution' or quite literally sell the rights to beta as a micro-transaction? But, donating money to buy access to the beta? Thoughts? Constructive please, otherwise don't waste your time.

This thread is bad and you should feel bad

If you want to get technical about it, people are purchasing beta access. They are giving money to GGG and GGG is giving them beta access. The transaction may include other things, but none of those people can honestly admit that they are excited about preordering extra stash space. They are giving GGG money so they can get their loot fix earlier.

As far as gaming and society goes, we are already well down this path. Preordering games is no different. You are paying money for something you will get in the future. Whether or not this is right, I cannot say. I have always been a retail box guy myself.

If I did not already have beta access would I be willing to pay ~$10 to keep playing? Absolutely.