I think it's the PAYING to be a Beta tester that's the real difference. Honestly I still haven't got my head around that one.
Right like I stated, these are the growing pains of trying a new system. For me it's not paying for BETA, it's paying to get into the game earlier than the rest of the public. In some cases if you try to you can have a lot of involvement, even in just theory crafting about a games future. For some that alone is why they get involved into Early access/BETAS what-have-you.
The 'paying for BETA' is just the entrance fee, but I don't think you are actually 'paying for BETA' as much as you are just paying 'early' for a product, the BETA is just now a part of things. The problem here is that you pay full price for an un-finished product...so when expectations are made by the consumer, consumers with low patience, or that have been burnt before will alarm fire-bells over every little thing.
