IamHe wrote:game is in EA and while Open Beta usually means free access its not part of its definition
game is buy-to-play model not pay-to-play (there is optional sub)
Thanks for the reply. And you're correct, it isn't part of its definition. But neither is paying for it, or indeed anything else beyond software being available for public testing.
For the 15 years I was deep into MMO gaming, I was also a dedicated tester, and I don't mean like those guys who just played in open beta's for the fun of them.
Open Beta was considered exactly that, open to all. Paying to access something you are effectively testing is something of a new, or rather more common, occurrence in this day and age, far to common for the liking of many I'd say, but it does give dev's another source of income, sadly in some cases its ill-deserved.
It used to be software devs paid people to test the software (Alpha/Beta Testers) and used Public Beta's for controlled stress testing, last minute bug testing and fine tuning.
If anyone can actually answer my question in full though, that would be appreciated, as I really want to know where the dev's stand on refunding. Thanks.