Category:SAO Beta Tester

It's said that one hundred thousand people, the number of half the Nerve Gear sold at that time, volunteered to be a tester. The beta test only recruited a thousand testers. Beta testers also received the additional benefit of being able to pre-order the game.

During the first few months of Sword Art Online, beta testers were regarded with significant hatred. It was commonly believed that due to the selfishness of the beta testers, they abandoned the new players within the first few days of the server service and instead monopolized the best quests and monster spawning spots. The first 2000 deaths of SAO were blamed on the beta testers.

This stigma was so strong that by the third week, no player would dare reveal themselves as a beta tester. Those that did suffered the threat of being PKed or lynched by angry mobs. At best, known beta testers were alienated and ostracized from guilds, towns, restaurants, etc. For this reason, Argo always refused to sell the identities of any beta testers.

Kirito helped dispel the stigma on beta testers by coining the term, Beater and claiming that a majority of beta testers were inefficient and incapable players. Only a select few of beta testers (like Kirito himself) knew even more secrets to SAO than typical information brokers and beta testers. As a result, much of the enmity on beta testers was transferred to Beaters, and Kirito helped ease the burden on the beta testers.