When I played the Battlefield 3 open beta on the PS3 (I didn't want to install Origin on my PC), I fell into the world less than 5 minutes after joining a match.
The beta is, well, a beta, not a demo. I know publishers position betas as demos, to attract interest and drive sales, but I have to believe that irritates developers.
"Betas as demos" is an issue across all genres, especially in MMOs. I'm not immune to its effects. I got a free copy of Star Trek Online and a 14-day pass when I bought my Logitech F710 controller, but I've yet to even download the game because my experience in the STO beta was meh. Not good, not bad, just meh.
Put in a more positive light: The crash issues you're experiencing will (I hope) be fixed at release or perhaps even later in the beta. So hang in there! If a beta version of a game you're interested in doesn't work, then I recommend setting it aside and playing a different game, reading a book, or spending your free time doing something else you enjoy until the issues are fixed.
(I was thinking of Natural Selection 2 the whole time I wrote this post. It's one of my most anticipated games and it's in beta. I have the beta client installed, but I don't play it since the game is, well, not in a playable state yet.)
EDIT: And it did make me chuckle when I fell through the world in the BF3 PS3 beta. One other player fell in the same "hole" and I could tell he was probably thinking, "What in the world?"
