A good read on Game Testers

[DigitalSpace]

Came across this article today and thought some of you might enjoy it:

Testing Video Games Can't Possibly Be Harder Than an Afternoon With Xbox, Right?

[CosmicMonkey]

I've read horror stories about game testing before, it's certainly not a job I'd do.

Imaging sitting there for hours playing the same level of your most personally hated game over and over, just to try and pinpoint how someone walked through a wall and crashed the game. And even if it was your most favorite game ever, you'd end up hating it by the end.

Game bug testers are hardcore. Or mental.

[Damaramu]

Yeah, I recently (about 2 months ago) applied for a game tester position here in Houston with a local developer, along with a slew of other jobs.

I finally get a call back from them but by this time, I'm already 2 months in on a new job in my field of study (web design). I talked to a friend who is in the gaming industry as an environmental artist and he informed me that taking the game tester job would probably be a step backwards, career wise.

True, it's a good way to get your foot in the door if you lack programming or modeling skills....but the position is quite expendable. At least with my current job, it pays well and there's steady work!

[Drexel923]

I won't even bother reading the article, as I was a game tester in NYC for about 3 months, so I know how it goes.

Basically its slave driving to its core, with no appreciation even if your the best worker in the whole damn company. Definitely a shitty job and should only be done by those looking to break into the industry WITH REAL SKILLS (programming or artist). If you think that you will succeed just by being a tester and moving up the ranks, you will most likely fail...or want to kill yourself in the process.

[scooby105]

Cool article. It's about what I figured it would be. I'm pretty sure a job like this would make me not want to play videogames anymore.

[Damaniel]

Sounds like a job that would suck all the enjoyment out of gaming for me. I'm not sure I could go home, sit down and play a game after 8-12 hours of tracking down bugs in the latest Barbie Horse Adventure game...

I'm not surprised by the 'slave driver' mentality of the game companies hiring these testers. In most software development houses (gaming or otherwise), QA and bug finding is nothing but an afterthought, and the testers themselves are frequently considered second-class citizens in the development team hierarchy -- as the article says, when times are tight, the QA guys are always the first to go. Combine that with a large pool of nerdy guys hoping to break into the gaming business through the back door of testing (which almost never happens), willing to do anything (long hours, tedious work) to get there, and that results in low wages and poor morale.

I don't work in the gaming industry, but I do work in software. Fortunately, I work for a company that takes testing seriously, hiring QA staff as full time employees, paying them in the same pay ranges as the software developers, and keeping them on staff even when times are tight. If the game industry did the same thing, I guarantee quality would go way up.

[Gentlegamer]

It's probably only a matter of time until such things are moved to India.

[MarioMania]

I was playing SFA2 on the Saturn like I think 7 years ago or less.I was playing Sakura..I could have swore I was doing something & she was standing in the air

[ProgrammingAce]

I don't work in the gaming industry, but I do work in software. Fortunately, I work for a company that takes testing seriously, hiring QA staff as full time employees, paying them in the same pay ranges as the software developers, and keeping them on staff even when times are tight. If the game industry did the same thing, I guarantee quality would go way up.

You're assuming they don't have such a position. This article is referring to tier 1 QA, it's a job any monkey could do. As such, it's a pretty awful gig. Tier 2 would be the people designing the tests, taking developer's input and actively trying to devise methods to break the game. Tier 3 are generally programmers who go through the code to look for places to break things. Tier 3 is the equivalent of what you're talking about, i would assume.

The job your talking about does exist and it's very important, but you won't get it walking in off the street. Anyone higher up in QA in my company has at least a masters degree in quality assurance and must be a member of the American Society for Quality.

Don't assume that because they hire temps off the streets, that QA isn't serious business.

[rbudrick]

It's probably only a matter of time until such things are moved to India.

Oh, snap, lol, you're probably dead on, man!

-Rob