Being A Gaming Tester

[dannyboy]

Have you ever thought about being a game tester and if you have what about the career do you think would be beneficial to you?

 

[unwittyoneliner]

I was a game tester a couple years back. I tested games on Android and Apple platforms. If you're looking to get into the gaming industry, having a job in the gaming industry (even if it's as low as QA Tester) is beneficial. It'll look good on your CV, and the more experience you have, the better it is.

 

[BlackSolaris]

I had the opportunity to work as one for 3 months and let me tell you, not as great. Only worked in a few minor titles and one major triple A title and the difference is clear as water. And the difficulty of work is also too much. I think even after one week i was all like "yep, if i continue to do this, i will stop enjoying games for the rest of my life".

 

[dannyboy]

Yeah it seems like being a game tester would take the fun out of gaming, which would be a terrible thing. I think it's a career that might have more negatives than positives.

 

[corporatenoun]

A teacher I had in high school detailed his brief experience as a video game tester. He said that it wasn't very enjoyable. The object was to find every possible glitchy situation in every corner of every room of the game. Hours and hours of just walking his character into walls. Didn't sound like very much fun, but if you're trying to get into the industry it's a great entry level position.

 

[Joker99352]

I imagine being a tester is a lot of work. It's like when you play a game as a completionist and try to find everything without a walkthrough. Sometimes it's downright impossible, but you figure you're really close so you keep going anyway. Plus I bet they test far more bad games than good ones, and even good games had to go through a lot of testing.

 

[mauricioq]

That would be great, playing games and getting paid, sounds like a dream!
But the payment can't be that high, and you won't be able to afford to have just that one job, since you'll probably end up by having money problems...

 

[Dame6089]

I have heard that it isn't all it's cracked up to be. You work long hours and often play terrible games. You aren't just playing through a game, you are playing the same section of a game over and over again, looking for problems.

 

[GetSome]

I have heard that it isn't all it's cracked up to be. You work long hours and often play terrible games. You aren't just playing through a game, you are playing the same section of a game over and over again, looking for problems.

Then writing reports and submitting issues!

That's the in-glamorous part about game testing folks don't seem to talk about. People who are lazy and just want to play games think game testing would be the ultimate job. But bad news buddy, it's still work.

 

[unwittyoneliner]

It wasn't all that fun, but it wasn't as bad some people in this thread are making it out to be. BlackSolaris's experience doesn't seem too good, but mine was alright. I played alpha and beta builds on a bunch of games, mostly notable ones. I didn't mind submitting bugs into the system, that was one of the more enjoyable aspects for me. Made me feel like I accomplished something. And finding really messed up bugs was fun. The worst part was writing the report at the end of the shift, but it only took 15-20 minutes, so eh.

 

[DrRipley]

I think it would be nice, and I could probably provide a more casual perspective, but having read some of the comments here, I think it's not as easy or fun as we think it would be. I don't think it would be so much fun when all you get to test would be unfinished or games that look like they won't turn out as good.

 

[aperture7]

Do you know how many people would jump at this chance? I have no idea how to go about doing it, but it's something I think a lot of us would want to do. The only downside I see is playing through games you hate, First world problems, I know.

 

[adbarnes]

Yes I actually thought about it once. But that was when I was like 18. The only reason why I wanted to do it because I would be able to still be A kid in my mind at least. But I quickly stirred away from that short lived dream and went off to college to create date. Huh now that I think about it I might have could of saved myself some debt.

 

[Dame6089]

It wasn't all that fun, but it wasn't as bad some people in this thread are making it out to be. BlackSolaris's experience doesn't seem too good, but mine was alright. I played alpha and beta builds on a bunch of games, mostly notable ones. I didn't mind submitting bugs into the system, that was one of the more enjoyable aspects for me. Made me feel like I accomplished something. And finding really messed up bugs was fun. The worst part was writing the report at the end of the shift, but it only took 15-20 minutes, so eh.

Did you get dropped afte rthe projects were done or did they transition you to a new projects. I have heard that job security is a huge issue in the game tester profession.

 

[unwittyoneliner]

Did you get dropped afte rthe projects were done or did they transition you to a new projects. I have heard that job security is a huge issue in the game tester profession.

It was a one year contract. I don't think you can just get fired after a project is done, regardless of whether it's a contract job or not; unless you're a bad employee (which is granted), or if there are company layoffs.