We all know times are tough and I was thinking about becoming a video game tester. I've seen some websites but it looks like you have to pay. Are these legit? Is there anyone on this board that does this or know about getting into the business? I wanted to do it part time and plus to be able to play some kewl games. I remember seeing on our local news about some kids making some bank on just playing games and testing them out but I didn't get the website.

Anyone knows about this?

Mark

 

one of the friends of Penny-arcade is/was a tester and actually had a big article about it that he wrote for PA. It's a huge workload, and very boring, for the most part. You dont get "to just play cool games"

His website was www.porkfry.com, but I dont know if he has the article there or not.

Some bits I remember (paraphrased):

"I have to try and play this game using only a knife to make sure it "works". This doesnt have anything to do with the way the designers want you to play the game. They have to test it because people actually TRY to do this, so I have to try to do it and make sure it doesnt break anything"

"Sitting and punching every single wall panel in the entire base to make sure it doesnt glitch sucks"

"Running through a test scenerio 50 times to see if the AI functions properly each time is really tedious"

etc etc.

It's work, not game time.

 

but they look like they're having fun in Grandma's Boy

plus, you'd have a hot boss

 

Looking back, the lion was a bad idea. That's why Dr. Shockalu is gonna hook us up with a monkey. I'm gonna teach it tae kwon do.

 

There are no free rides. Especially in this economy.

 

A really good friend of mine did this for Electronic Arts a few years ago. While he's a big gamer, the job really soured it for him. First of all, you work for 6 months or one project, whichever comes first. Mostly because they burn you out, having people stare at a computer screen testing for bugs over and over and over again gets old, plus once the game gets close to being done you literally sleep at work. That's when it gets put to an outside testing company, when they find an issue its up to the internal team to recreate it and fix it, and they don't want to wait for you to come in, so literally, you're on cots.

On the plus side, you get to be very good at whatever game you're testing. My buddy tested Command and Conquer Zero Hour, after launch he'd go online every now and then and he literally could take out ANYBODY in less than a minute or two. He had his start up down to a T, and if he missed a single click or something he knew that'd be the difference in a game.

Lastly, it was in LA, which he hates with a passion, so he found himself sleeping at the office long before he was required to, because when you're at work you're at work, but when you step outside it's LA, and he couldn't stand LA. Eventually he ended up moving back to Phoenix and got on with a smaller local company, first doing customer support and eventually he moved up to be the lead developer of a game. THAT part of the job was a blast he said, but the actual testing is crap, but if you wanna move up oftentimes that's the best way to get your foot in the door.

 

If you're reading up on sites that YOU PAY to participate it is more likely you're in a release beta program / early release program to the public. Yes, you pay to play the game before the general population and in return, you tell them whats not working. My friend does this for just about any game he plays regularly when they come out with a new, significant version.

This is after all of the basic testing done by the testing and QA people (either internally or contracted) as described by the other answers.

 

What's that ringing? Do I have a tumor?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ-QS...eature=related


You have to wear a pink shirt.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwlE1aASc4g

Maybe try this out. FTL!!!!

 

OMG I used to test games for Atari/Tengen. I tested games for the NES and Genesis and man o man I've fallen asleep several times while testing.

What's even worse is if u test a game that u absolutely hate. I got sick of testing Klax and Skull & Crossbones.