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Message: <blockquote data-quote="slobster" data-source="post: 7928744" data-attributes="member: 6693711">I'll try one more time, myself. Granted these aren't dictionary sources or anything, but since we are talking about a term in common usage I imagine that should be okay.[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.gamepressure.com/games/beta-tests.asp[/URL]This site tracks games that are in some form of early release, including closed betas and closed alphas (games that are distributed to a select group of players for playtesting before release, often people who have preordered but sometimes just people who managed to get their hands on a beta key or something), as well as open beta test games, which are games in beta that anyone can download and play and report any bugs encountered to the developers.As you can see, several of the games classified as in "open beta", which again means anyone can download and play them, have been so for several years. Just browsing the first couple pages I can see that Ashes of Creation has been in Open Beta (that's their classification) since 2018, Escape from Tarkov has been in closed Beta since 2017, Lost Sector Online has been in open beta since 2016, etc. Upvoid Miner has apparently been in open Alpha since 2014!I'm sure you consider that an incorrect use of the terms for software design, and sure, you are more qualified to talk about industry terms than I. But in terms of common usage, among gamers specifically, this D&D initiative tracker usage of the term Beta Test made complete sense to me from the beginning, is in line with the examples I've given (in this comment and before), and represents a common usage of the term.Have a good day!</blockquote>

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