Video: Game testing is a thankless, crappy job
November 8th, 2011
To the uninformed, "game tester" sounds like a fun job. Until you discover it involves no playing; just sitting in an isolated part of a game trying to click on stuff to see if it'll break. Then repeat thousands of times.
It's a thankless, tireless, and monotonous job, as the above video suggests. Still, it makes our games less sucky upon release.
Granted, testing games is better than digging ditches. Or no job at all. But it's anything but rewarding, if not downright monotonous. Like that insufferable warehouse I worked at for six months in 2001.
See also: HDD prices to skyrocket in 6 months | More uplifting PC gaming news
Comments
Ah, somewhat disillusioning to me. It takes a lot of commitment to pull this off and I can't but hope to wonder if in the future, gaming companies can find a new and efficient way in testing their games.
http://bit.ly/JbtyDz
Level 7
4489 ARP
But what about Game Programming? I've been told it kills your love for video games. Or at least, C++ does.
Level 1
51 ARP
Nightrunex, you bring up a really good point. I'm starting to feel bad for everyone in the creation of a game except the actual gamers who play it.
http://bit.ly/JbtyDz
Level 7
4489 ARP
I've tested Lego Indiana Jones when I was a bit younger for TT Games as part of my working experience and I was sat on level 1 and played that over about 40 times writing down everything I was doing and any bugs/faults I could find.
About another 50 people were doing it the exact same time as me.
Go on my profile if you want to know why I'm hardly here now.
Level 7
2419 ARP
Well, at least you got a first hand experience of it. Even though it's boring, I think some people would love to play an important role in the game.
http://bit.ly/JbtyDz
Level 7
4489 ARP
Yup, I would never want to be a game tester. Just playing them is enough for me.
Level 7
1508 ARP
So interesting:)
invite me to friends!
Level 6
1265 ARP
I've been a contracted video game tester for 2 years now and most of this is true and I hate those test take hours doing nothing and doing the report sucks ass like no other.
and its even worse when you get hired through some koreans to test a game coming to the U.S there so strict that it's not even funny
Only time will tell...
Level 7
2427 ARP
interesting that the title of the video is saying that video game testing is a thankless and crappy job when there is no indication of that in the video
Level 2
111 ARP
The funny part is that as soon as you buy one of the new games it takes no more than 5 minutes to find a glitch or an error.
It seems that nowadays game dev companies are using the people who bought their games to do the actual testing.
Cum somnus finit - Razgriz surget iterum
Level 7
2308 ARP
Yet another job I wouldn't want. It sucks to have to play a game knowing you won't enjoy it later because it's too overplayed.
http://bit.ly/Mz38hb VOTE
Level 7
4436 ARP
ill do it
Level 5
756 ARP
well you have to take into fact the copies we used are developer copies and the computer we test on or our own computers have almost every ddl file, program and anything possible to run it smoothly. Then when you get it bugs come up from common issues that we testers don't have. Plus when a disc is made and the game is copied onto it that will also cause issues too
Only time will tell...
Level 7
2427 ARP
Oh no you play video games, get hooked up with video games and make money playing video games but you repeatably "HAVE" to test them to make a living...
Only in America can someone bitch about that! Seriously
I'm not creative, so this is what I came up with...
Level 6
1236 ARP
Wow a little uncalled for...
Only time will tell...
Level 7
2427 ARP
I completely agree. I don't think I'd enjoy playing a game after spending hours upon hours finding out the tiny glitches and errors. It would frustrate me - just like when I get stuck on a level and have to repeat the first half only to die just before the checkpoint every time! lol
Level 2
180 ARP
QA is a very hard job. You need to keep your concentration up.
Level 6
1157 ARP
haha i think i would still do it as a job!
B-RAD-G
Level 6
1139 ARP
Oh wow this totally changes perceptions.
Level 6
1195 ARP
And will pay for that!!!
Claudio Olivaes - killerPOA Brazilian FPS Player - Old School MSN olivaes@hotmail.com
Level 1
89 ARP
Wow thanks for the video.
Great look into the world of game production.
"He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.
Level 5
817 ARP
lol has anyone else had a disney commercial pop out before the beginning of the video? xD I'd rather make the game than test it. I would earn more money too :D
It takes 47 muscles to frown,and 17 to smile.. It only takes 3 to end a life.. One shot, one kill.
Level 7
3060 ARP
i would like to try this job
Level 3
428 ARP
The first thing that came to my mind when I read this was RAGE, how could they have launched that game without even knowing it wasn't going to work with ATI cards?
I know theres always a compatibility team involved too, but I supposed they failed big time with this one.-
Cum somnus finit - Razgriz surget iterum
Level 7
2308 ARP
Cool
Level 2
115 ARP
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