Would Being A Video Game Tester Be Worth It?

[dannyboy]

I am an avid gamer like most of the people on this forum and I have always thought about a full-time career in the gaming industry. Video game tester is a job that I have considered, but I have heard mixed reviews about it. On one hand, I have heard that being a game tester is a great experience, because you basically get paid to play games and review all the different aspects and technical elements of the game. On the other hand, I have heard that game testing can be tiring and that the pay itself is not very good. I have heard stories of people getting angry and stressed out due to the nature of the job. I have also heard that it can be hard to find a job as a game tester in some cases.

So with that being said, what do you guys think? Is game testing a career you would pursue? It is a career that you have already pursued? Would you enjoy this job and would you be happy with the income that this job provided? Hope to hear your thoughts?

 

[andyred]

It would be a great experience to be a game tester, the only bad thing would be is how thorough you would need to be. For example you may have to redo a certain level/quest/area of the game many times using different characters/items/skills to ensure each and every aspect of the game works as intended, which I'm guessing would get really boring after a while.

The free games, ability to play them first and being able to work in that kind of environment would be awesome - but it's a lot more hard work than most people make it out to be.

 

[ozadin]

I believe it depends on what kind of genre the video game is. Some people might be interested in one genre, while they find others to be boring. For me, I would want to be a video game tester. I highly doubt that a majority of people don't like their jobs right now, and only doing it because of the pay.

 

[branwen]

I think it would be pretty awesome to beta games for free. The only worrying thing about that is writing the reviews, bugs and everything else about the game. it can take a lot of your time and a game tester should be able to write well. But really, that would be really cool.

 

[maurovis]

This for me would probably be a dream job. That and being a beer taster, chicken wing taster or pizza taster.

 

[Haze]

It sounds ideal, but I reckon the fun would be taking out of playing games after a while when all you're doing is looking for bugs and glitches. You would probably get so used to doing that as a job that you would come home and play a different game and still be looking for bugs due to force of habit.

 

[carclain]

I think it would be worth it, being paid to do what you already do, and it being a lot more fun than bashing your head on your office desk waiting till that clocks hits 4:30. IMO.

 

[Lokitns]

I did QA testing for a few years, it's worth it if:

A: You have the time to invest, overtime honestly makes it worth it. This is the most important really.
B: You're social/outgoing, I worked with teams a lot and it was a great way to make new friends.
C: You are actually interested in fully TESTING games. They're going to be buggy/broken, that's your job to tell them what is wrong and how you feel it should be done.

I use to fill out reports on levels, a LOT of sports games. Just things that you think should be second nature to a dev. How games and level design made you feel, etc. They would give us a sheet with certain questions and about the design of the game, play of the game, etc. You could tell what department they were targeting for each test and how they wanted you to think. That being said, I had a blast. If you've seen Grandmas boy, it's not like that, but at the same time it is. The offices reminded me a lot of it, but the work didn't (obviously). But yeah, overtime is pretty much essential to making this job worth as much as you think it should be. Time and a half makes all the difference in the world, if you're good at essays and paying attention to detail, and most importantly have the time... it's great.

It sounds ideal, but I reckon the fun would be taking out of playing games after a while when all you're doing is looking for bugs and glitches. You would probably get so used to doing that as a job that you would come home and play a different game and still be looking for bugs due to force of habit.

EDIT: This is actually very true, it's very hard for me to overlook design flaws now. Something as simple as texture bugs/glitches bug the crap out of me now. The main thing that really gets to me though, is input controls being glitchy. Movement being "slidy" kind of like how Half Life was but with way more input lag, THOSE bugs are by far the worst. And something that a QA team should NEVER let slide. That's how you know a game has been tested or not, bugs like that. And yeah, forever will you notice them and most other little things.

 

[Ebib]

Just like Lokitns I've done game testing too. It's honestly a great experience and if your really into your games it is worth it.
Without trying to copy what Lokitns said it is lots of fun. I luckily got to play some really fun games so it didn't feel like work to me.
If your good at playing games to find bugs and glitches then you'll be fine. You also have to make sure you document everything
correctly and also simply so the programmers and designers can find the bugs you have found. It can get receptive but if you also
have a fun team to work with it's great. One of my best work experience.

 

[NickJ]

Sure. If the money is good and you can get in with the right company. The only problem or bump I may see down the road for you, or any game tester is....how do you balance honest advice or feedback, with not pissing off the wrong people and losing your job. Some people can't take criticism well. Even if it's structured. And being a tester, you have a right to tell them their game stinks, if it truly and honestly does.

 

[RaggaJungle]

I think it would be a really cool job to have actually. Anything where you are being paid for someone you enjoy doing is a win in my books. I suppose it could get a bit boring for some people though as they just want to play the game without reviewing it.

 

[NickJ]

It can get boring if the games you have to test are games you don't like as well. God forbid one of the new games you have to test revolves around Golf or Hockey.

 

[Joker99352]

Of course it depends on the games that you're testing. I think we'd all like to believe that the games being tested are games like Grand Theft Auto IV or Skyrim, but for every good game there must be dozens of bad ones. I think that it would be a rewarding experience anyway, especially if you're a fan of the process in general. I just wonder if anyone ever tested Superman 64...

 

[Haze]

I just wonder if anyone ever tested Superman 64...

*shudders*

 

[CaptainWoodzy]

As much as we like to think it would be a dream job, I personally know a few game testers and it is NOT worth it. You're forced to play very small portions of a game over and over again to test for bugs, so it's not like you get to play the whole game all day or anything, and the pay isn't as good as you'd think.

Basically, imagine playing the crappiest most broken part of a game. Now imagine playing it for 10 hours a day. That's being a game tester.

 

[Mesmond]

At first it sounds as "the dream job" for gamers, but amogst the many people I asked tell me that it's not that great. It's gets boring fast, because, as already stated in this thread, you have to play a small portion of a game over and over and over and that gets boring really fast. I liken it to grinding in World of Warcraft.

 

[Xpress]

It would be almost impossible for many players to play through an entire game, every level and use every character in order to present any bugs or issues found.
It would seem that being given a portion of a game would be the ideal way to test it.. that way, 20 people get 20 different portions which adds up to the entire game, for example, and you, the game owner, get your results in far faster than giving 20 people the entire game..

You've also got to think of the health issues... eye strain from staring at a screen all day long...back ache from sitting in achair.. wrist ache from mouse movents.. muscle loss due to inactivity..
Sitting down all day every day playing games is great.. but it has its drawbacks too.

I used to play Silkroad online a lot.. and even managed to become one servers top thief.. but it got so boring that I took a break.. that break lasted for so long that by the time I got back to try playing again, the owners of the game had changed everything..
so never whent back..wasn't the same..

Beta testing is great fun.. I did that with the lord of the rings online.. what an experience that was to get into that before many of others...for free..
Alpha testing is where you want to try to get yourself though.. it might not be paying you a wage, but you might be able to build up a reputation with a company over time who will offer you the chance to test in the alpha more often and may lead to a paid position at some point..

there are some heavy duty hardcore players out there..

 

[Torisaur]

I wouldn't mind doing it as a fun part-time thing from time to time. I could see it being a difficult thing to have as your only source of income, though. but besides that, I think it would all be a lot of fun, even if some of the games have a chance of not really being up to par. But that's the risk that comes along with the idea I'd think, right?

 

[hotshot]

If you have no interested in a decent paycheck and like repeating the same game over and over, the game tester job is for you! The pay is bad and repeating the game over and over is something I really don't enjoy. Much rather have a decent payed job that has nothing to do with gaming and just play games in my own pace at home. If you really want to work in this field, become a game designer or something like that, not a tester.

 

[branwen]

I think it would be a real good job for game critiques, since they so love to expose the bad aspects of the game. They would be able to experience the game first before actually ranting about the game. Most game criticisms actually come from people who don't have a very thorough understanding of the game so they should play a game first before writing bad things about it.