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Message: <blockquote data-quote="slobster" data-source="post: 7927913" data-attributes="member: 6693711">Disclaimer: I don't work in software and I have trouble properly downloading updates for my graphics card sometimes.That said, I do play vidyah games from time to time. In common usage, among gamers and games companies, especially small ones, a "beta release" refers to a build of a game that is known to have a few issues, but is released to a subset of the public (or less often just to the public itself) to play, with the understanding that there will be issues to work through and that the play experience isn't guaranteed to be bug free. But part of the arrangement is that players who experience the bugs will report them, and the developers will take that feedback into account when refining and patching the product for eventual complete release.Often beta releases are free but for a short period, but there have been games that sit out in wide release for literal years as a "beta", with the player base eventually joking about the fact that the game "isn't technically released yet".Is the term "beta test" abused by lazy video game companies who just want the excuse to make players be their unpaid quality testers and bug finders? 100% yes. But not every beta release is so cynical, and on a small project like this from a company whose primary business isn't even software (yet), it's easy for me to be more charitable.All that isn't to say that the people here who are actually programmers are wrong. Obviously y'all are way more qualified to talk industry stuff than I am. But I just wanted to mention that the term "beta test" has a different connotation, apparently, for games than it does for serious software development, and WotC was likely using the term in that colloquial manner and not in the finance/safety/nuclear football level of standards.Just my 2 cp! Don't murder me!</blockquote>

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