Conspiracy theory: Did Guild Wars 2's closed beta really happen?

As most close Guild Wars 2 followers would know, the closed beta test supposedly started December 16th, but I'm sure many of you were asking "Where were the invites?" Why is it "Not open to the public" all of a sudden? As you may recall, the closed beta was set to begin before the end of 2011 and as we got closer to the end of the year, many of us were thinking it wasn't going to happen and it would just be pushed back.

So did the closed beta really happen? Why act like the closed beta was something anybody could apply to and suddenly say "Not open to the public" right before the end of the year? According to Anet's community rep they have an "Internal selection process" for closed beta and there will be no public application (http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/closed-beta-date-reddit-t24643.html?p=1015222). What list of potential applicants do they even have to select people from? I can only think of those who signed up for the newsletter or previous Guild Wars 1 players. But then how can they "Select candidates carefully" (http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/closed-beta-date-reddit-t24643.html?p=1014815)?

F&F refers to the developer's friends and family beta/alpha for Guild Wars 2. Is there any specific reason why the selection process is not revealed? I mean having a beta is not exactly an industry secret. And if the feedback from these tests determine when they actually SHIP the game, I think it would kind of be important to know who these wonder players are since they apparently can be invited to closed betas without signing up for it (http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/game-faq/).

What would Anet's motivation be for staging a moon landing? *Cough* I mean non-existant closed beta? It could be that they want us to continue to be strung along by the hype train and ensure we buy the game. It sure would be a waste if the hype engine that's been running for 2 years now crashed and lost the interest it had. We are already seeing players starting to lose interest in the "Big news" they cook up every 3 months. A delay of the game would just mean more lost interest, though when a developer says "Polish", a jaded MMO player should know that is a sneaky way of avoiding the delay word. The same 3 zones being shown over and over at conventions was sort of an indicator.

Do I actually believe the closed beta did not happen? I think it's a possibility, seeing as how the closed beta was silently announced on reddit with none of the usual fanfare they give to even the most irrelevant non-gameplay news. With the NCSoft stock report originally giving the investors the 2011 OK, they would want to keep a delay on the quiet. Of course, this is only postulation and it could be that Arenanet is "On track" for whenever "When it's ready" is. In the end, it doesn't really seem like it will matter since "When it's ready" means Guild Wars 2 can be pushed back indefinitely without actually saying it's been delayed. I'm slowly losing interest with each passing burst of hype and seeing a closed beta was going on would have kept me hanging on a little longer. For a company that was so open and eager to blab about the game to just clam up strikes me as odd. But in the end, I guess it doesn't really matter if Osama was buried at sea, but thinking about it sure does pass the time.