
 Originally Posted by 
Abriael
					 
				 
				Again, stores have nothing to do with it. You're grasping at straws in order to prove a false but convenient point. 
The "distribution" term is applied both to the PC client and the PS3 beta, which clearly means it's not referring to stores. You don't send betas to stores.
As further evidence, there's the Japanese original document, that uses the verb 配布 (Haifu), while distribution of goods to shops has a specific verb in Japanese, which is 配達 (Haitatsu).
 
The people who quit have been told over and over by those that didn't that they'd get a free period, on forums, on websites and such. Every time someone came up with a skeptical remark, not knowing if he'd try the game or not, you'd see someone commenting "don't worry, you'll get X free months to try it out".
Whether you interpret it as one free month or multiple it doesn't really matter. What matters is that a lot of people are expecting at the very least one free month, and the word, due to SE's own words (and it isn't just limited to that one document, it was said quite a lot) went around a lot.
In this case we can't really say that. With 1.0's experience we can't really blame people for being skeptical and for wanting to try the game extensively before putting money into it. Lost trust must be regained.
 
SE defense force in action.