Beater


 * Beater redirects here. You may be looking for the episode.



«Beater» (ビーター) is a derogatory term used by the players of «Sword Art Online» (SAO) and meant to be an insult aimed towards beta-testers who played unfairly. It was the result of Kirito trying to protect the dignity of other beta-testers, and to make sure that all of them, excluding himself, were treated fairly, effectively shouldering the burden of beta testers all across SAO for good.

Beaters were often discriminated against and thought of as players who only cared about themselves, thus they usually played solo.

Etymology
«Beater» is a portmanteau of the words «Beta Tester» and «Cheater». Beta Testers have a bad reputation among the players of «SAO», since most of them had gone solo and did not bother to help the new players after the start of the death game was announced.

The term was created right after the 1st Floor boss fight, when, due to the death of Diavel because of the inaccuracy of Argo's information about the boss, the hostility against beta testers began to rise again. In such a situation, Kirito decided to take up all the hatred on himself and defined the difference between the other beta testers and himself. He referred to the other beta testers as «newbies who did not even know how to level up», and told the raid members not to compare them to him, as he reached the 10th Floor, further than any other beta tester. After such a proclamation, the raid party members began shouting the words "beta tester" and "cheater" simultaneously, which eventually muddled together and created the word "beater", which Kirito then decided to use as a term to refer to those beta testers who used their knowledge of the beta to advance in the game faster, thus pushing the discrimination of regular testers to a minimum. He ended up being the first person to be called «Beater».

Known Beaters

 * Kirito
 * Morte