Alright, my posts are long overdue, due to an AoG. Lightning hit near my house, affected the lines, and took out my router and some other electronics, leaving me dark for awhile. I am still in the process of replacing my router, but until then I am connected through a shaky internet connection. But enough about me, let’s get to my current topic of curiosity.  

Why do you play Betas? Or do you even play in a beta version of a game? I am actually fairly curious about this. Do you play them due to wanting to help make the game better by eliminating bugs? Test it to see if you like the game before it goes gold? Or do you play it for the sake of killing time? Maybe you’re just one of those people who avoid it like the plague because you may lose your current toon, and you feel it isn’t worth the effort. No matter your reason, tell me and let me know if you do, and why.

As for me, I do it for a few reasons actually. One I am partial to trying out new games to see if I like them, and experience different games to see if I can actually find one to sate my fickle play style and keep me hooked for a longer period of time than a few weeks to a month. The other, as some of you may know, is to help write previews and reviews for games on this site.

Yes, I know, writing about a beta can be ‘bleh’ since sometimes things change radically by the time it gets released. New content gets added, new areas are explored and other things like exp distribution or item drops get regulated. A lot of things can change it, but it is still worth it in my opinion.

 I do on occasion actually play for the “help the game get better”. If I find any bugs I try to report them as long as the company makes it easy and not a mini puzzle game of “find the report button on the game or site”.  If they do that I tend not to bother, as bad as that may sound.

As for the risk of losing my toon, well I actually don’t mind that. I tend to have a fickle play style for mmos, even in groups of friends. A game can only keep my interest for so long before I see something shiny and run off chasing it. But even if I do stick with it, I don’t mind losing a character or two in the process, I just have gotten accustomed to it after playing betas for years.

So, how about you guys and gals?