I don't think it's just a marketing thing. Take a look at the Powerplay thread. The way FDEV and the community worked together was quite awesome.
it isn't a proper way to address this either.
in beta software bugs are to be expected, but the purpose and usefulness of betas isn't detecting bugs at all, but to see how functionalities match high level requirements and how a system performs and is perceived by their intended audience in a setting as similar to production as possible. testing for bugs is just plain testing, and there is a plethora of testing methodologies available in the development process. in house. by developers.
the concept and utility of betas has been spuriously misused for quite some time now, most notably in the game sector, but very notoriously by no other than google with their products in permanent beta state. this changed the perception of the public about what betas are about.
this has even degenerated into the asinine practice of selling betas as a product per-se, to players who would pay extra for a sneak preview or early access (another perverted concept), which obviously can only work in the overhyped territories of gamersland. that's not just marketing, it amounts to swindle in my view. frontier played this game aswell.
someone would argue that charging for beta is a way to filter out the participants, but that's just more arx some companies have come up with. if you want to do that, the sane option is a closed beta, where you let participants apply and select them based on relevant criteria, from availability to hardware configurations, location, background, motivation and whatnot. they are going to
help you, so you make sure it counts.
now, in this particular context. ok, if you want to entice players to do your work for you and get away with it then fine. you can even instruct them specifically what tasks they should carry out unpaid! splendid. but such a 5 days beta isn't a serious compromise with product quality by any measure, since you have no way of ensuring that that unpaid work will be carried out in any sensible way. go figure.
i welcome frontier's decision to delay and to "rationalize the codebase" and all that, and i have of course no insight into what that means for them internally. i sincerely hope it plays out well, but this beta is not a good sign of any positive change, quite the contrary. looks arx to me, jim.
