Beta Tester Applications on Discord: Run a Closed Beta

Once a game or app has a Discord community, "how do I get into the beta?" starts long before the build is ready. Answering in DMs does not scale, and giving access to whoever asks first fills the beta with superfans on the same high-end PC. An application puts everyone in one place, shows you who they are before you decide, and makes access one role you can give and take.

Why run a closed beta on Discord?

Because your testers are already there, and Discord has the parts a beta needs: private channels, roles to open them, and a way to reach every tester when a new build lands.

The trade-off: every applicant needs a Discord account and must be in your server.

Which questions should a beta tester application ask?

Eight questions, each one something you would otherwise ask in DMs later.

In Mico, an identifier question is kept and shown to reviewers, but not scored: a phone model has no right or wrong answer. Use the placeholder to steer the format, such as "Pixel 7, Android 14" or "Yes or no".

Every question can also carry an expected answer, a private note that tells the AI your bar. Applicants never see it. Two are worth writing carefully:

When an answer clearly misses a hard requirement written there, the score is capped at 50, however polished the rest is. So a "no" to the NDA question caps the score, whatever the bug report says. How the score is built, and how far to trust it, is in AI application review on Discord.

How do you pick beta testers?

Not by score alone. The AI score shows who wrote a careful bug report. It cannot know you already have forty PC testers and two on Android, so a person picks the mix.

Mico gives you two ways to see that spread. Give each platform its own panel (PC, console, mobile) with its own reviewers and roles, then filter the dashboard's Applications list by panel. Or keep one panel, export the list as CSV with the answers, and sort by device in a spreadsheet.

How do you run the beta in waves?

Your waitlist is already there: applications nobody has decided yet. In Mico they sit in the dashboard's Waiting view until a reviewer accepts or denies them. A person can only have one application waiting on a panel at a time, so the list has no repeats.

When a wave opens, tick the people you want, up to 25 on a page, and accept them together. Each one gets a DM with the decision and the roles you set on the panel. Everyone else stays on the waitlist for the next wave.

Between waves, keep the panel open so the waitlist grows, or pause it on any plan, which turns the Apply button off. On Premium and Pro you can also set opening hours, or a cap on how many applications the panel accepts: once it is reached, the panel shows as full.

Say on the panel that testers are picked in waves, so nobody reads a long wait as a no. On Premium and Pro you can also write the message applicants get after sending ("You are on the list. We pick testers in waves") and your own accepted message, the place for first steps: where the build is and where to report bugs.

When the beta ends, deny whoever is still waiting, so they get a DM instead of silence, or leave them on the list for your next test.

How does a Beta role open hidden channels?

Discord does the hiding and Mico gives the role. Set up the channels once:

Now accepting a tester opens the whole category for them. You can also remove a role on accept, such as an "Applicant" role you use elsewhere.

Removing it after. Mico changes roles at the moment of a decision, not when your test ends. Remove Beta by hand, or delete the role, which takes it from everyone at once.

Which channels does a closed beta need?

Pin a short bug report template in #bug-reports: what you did, what happened, what you expected, device and build. It matches the sample testers already wrote in the application, so good reporters keep reporting the same way.

What should a beta NDA cover?

A yes or no question records that the tester agreed. It is not a signed contract, and for most community betas the real enforcement is that whoever leaks loses the Beta role. Keep the terms short:

• What is covered: builds, screenshots, video, streams, features and anything in the beta channels
• Until when: a date, or "until we announce the open beta"
• What testers may say: many studios let testers say they are in the beta, but nothing about what is in it
• What happens if it breaks: removal from the beta, and from future ones

Put that summary in the panel's description, so people read it before they apply.

How do you keep the beta waitlist outside Discord?

Two ways, depending on your plan:

• Export from the dashboard. Any view, filtered by panel, as CSV, JSON or Markdown. Switch on the answers to get every response, for up to 500 applications at a time.
• The panel webhook. On paid plans, Mico can send each application, and each accept or deny, to a web address you choose. There is no built-in Google Sheets connection: you need a small relay in between, covered in sending applications to Google Sheets.

Already collecting sign-ups on your website? Mico does not import an email list. To connect that waitlist to Discord, point your site's beta button at the panel's apply page, or embed its widget, both in the panel's website settings on the dashboard. People sign in with Discord and must be in your server, so tell them to join first.

How do you set up a beta panel in Mico?

On a new server, /setup makes the channels, a reviewer role and a starter panel you can turn into the beta panel. Otherwise, run /panel and press Create. Add the questions above, mark the identifiers, set a reviewer role for your beta team, and add Beta to the roles on accept. The basics are in how to use Mico.

Two settings matter for a beta:

• Minimum days in the server, on any plan. A week keeps out people who join only to grab access. Leave it off if new players from your trailer should apply the day they join. Mico counts days in your server, not account age.
• Automatic accept off. A well-written application from the wrong platform is still the wrong pick for this wave.

A creator program next to the beta needs different questions.