Closed Beta (invite only) launched June 1, 2004.  Public Beta began October 29, 2004 and ended March 15, 2005.  No one played Beta for a year, no one even played for five full months unless they were one of the lucky few to be invited at the beginning, in which case it was less than ten months.

I recently celebrated my one year anniversary in MxO.  Since the launch of Live, my main RSI PS10N has over 85 days of /play time.  Do the math: I’ve spent 85/380 days Jacked In.  That’s 22.37% of the whole year, not just waking time or free time.  (Contrary to popular belief, I DO NOT eat, sleep or work, but you can find me at Recursion’s Tabor Park West Hardline instead.)

The Beta clothes do mean something.  They mean you were in Beta.  When they become tradable, they loose their meaning altogether.  When there are big parties hosted by the radio stations, the Beta players don their colors and line up for screen shots because it’s a way of saying “I was there, and I’m still here.”  As things are now, when I see someone in Beta clothing, I can know with certainty that the player really was really in Beta and it’s a conversation starter.  “Do you remember when Sigh kissed the numbered Agent under the Hypersphere Monument when Seraph was there?”  When a Beta coat/jacket is worn it shows clearly that the player had something to do with the refinement of the game and I want to know what was special about their Beta experience.  “What did YOU do to get the coat?”

I didn’t get a Beta Jacket.  Why?  Because I didn’t do what was necessary to earn one and so I don’t deserve one.  Having millions of $info to buy a copy of one does not mean I deserve one.  And if you didn’t do what was necessary to earn the rest of the outfit (i.e. play the game before March 16, 2005) then you don’t deserve them either, regardless of how many millions of $info you can pay an unscrupulous player to make and delete an alt long enough to sell them to you. 

I can imagine the future, when everyone and their toon has Beta clothing and there is no way to know who was really there and who is just a poser.  Having a Beta player at an event will become meaningless, striking up a conversation about shared experiences will be pointless because the answer might just as well be, “oh, I wasn’t really in Beta, I just paid a few million $info for this.”  Following that logic, just go ahead and make the Assassin’s Masks abled to be copied too, since this change is showing that it doesn’t really matter what you earned for doing something someone else didn’t do.  “Hey, everyone should have everything regardless of what they did or didn’t do,” is the unfortunate message this decision states.

More times than I can count or remember I’ve been talking with a player who wants to know how I know all the tips, tricks and secrets which I’m happy to share.  They want to know how old the faction is and if we have ties to the Legendary characters.  The Beta clothing is a good, if not perfect, way to prove the legacy.  Truth is already hard to come by in The Matrix, with so many false fronts and deceptive appearances.  Why take away the ability to show, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that someone was part of that piece of Matrix history?

There is a solution which should please everyone and it has precedent.  Beta clothing was given to those who played before first Live and it shows that they actually did.  Zion Hardware Requisition or Merovingian's Boon or Glimmer of the Source were given to those who turned in fragments of Neo’s RSI during the Race to Find the One event and shows they did in fact do that.  (Some may still have a piece of Neo in their inventory.)  Attribute Reconfiguration Hack and Awakening Glasses/Jacket were given to those who made the transition from Monolith to SOE and shows that they really did.  Having Corrupt Code or a Flit Gun in your inventory shows that you were there for the Death of the Destroyer; likewise a PDA still lingering shows you were there to confront the Red Eye Agents.  Halloween masks show you were there for the Masquerade, Party Hats or Orgasm Cake show you were there for the 2005/2006 holiday season, etc.

So, the proposal…

1) Keep the baseball hat idea, give them to everyone who spent time in the QA Test Server (as planned,) and make them non-tradable so that they become a token of having actually beta-tested CR2.0.  Even better, change the logo to read “CR2 Beta” or “QA Test Server”

2) Do NOT make existing Beta clothing tradable, instead introduce a new line of  non-tradable “CR2.0” or “One Year Anniversary” clothing for everyone who’s account was opened before March 31, 2006. (I suggest a coat since even Beta players don’t all have a coat and the hat is covered already.)  This will uphold the tradition of specific token gear to denote participation in a specific event only if you were really there for it.  You can almost hear the conversation months from now.  “Hey, where did you get that CR2.0 coat?  Where can I get one?”; “Sorry man,  you had to actually be there to get one, but don’t worry, there will be another event soon and if you’re still here, you’ll get something cool for that.”

When something means something to people, especially when those people are your paying customers, don’t make it meaningless for them.  Instead, introduce something that is equally meaningful for all those who participated.  My investment in MxO so far is $235 and 85 days of mind-numbing fun and interaction with this great community and if that buys me just one request over the 380 days, it’s this: don’t make the original Beta clothing tradable; let it stand for what it was always meant to stand for “I was there and I’m still here” and maybe we can add “See my CR2.0 / First Anniversary Trench?  I was there for that, and I’m still here, too!”

/signed

PS10N, leader of  The Brethren, one of Recursion’s few remaining Beta Factions still operating under their original name and charter. 

P.S. The Beta clothing do have an enhancement of sorts.  I remember being one of the few people who didn't have to run around naked to prevent the Fly Virus from decaying their outfits... because I was wearing my incorruptible Beta clothes.

P.P.S  If this whole thread has been a giant misunderstanding and the Beta Clothes are simply going to become Vendor Tradable, then in the immortal words of Gilda Radner, "Never mind..."