That's right les. Spacetime used the best and simplest option to limit the people playing beta so they could make the game smooth for the whole crew in a few weeks. The Devs get swarmed with repeat bug reports, angry players, and questions. They needed a way to test the product without letting us all in at once. It wasn't favoritism.
As for wom, the beta now is a prebeta rarely done. They game is barely playable at this point. This is the first of three beta sessions.