Thank you so much for your thoughts! They are quite appreciated as is the support you have given us all this time.
I think more than anything, we wanted to have a presence and be recalled as an rpi under development. Naturally, when we were in Evennia, we thought we were close to our goal. It definitely shouldnt have been talked of as if we were releasing soon.
I do not think we will stay closed for too long. The codebase we have is sturdy and this initial round of testing would tell us what we need to fix next.
Personally, I prefer to keep the game open, even if the features might only allow it to be a MUSH with ambitions to become a MUD, but I think this first initial batch of testing will also teach us what we need moderation wise.
So I do think the plan is what you outlined, unless the experience is so jarring that it requires overwhelming revamps. But i think whats most likely is well get spammed with feedback and take a short time to address it before opening it for play.
That said, the first approach will likely be more akin to what LabMUD was.