So You Want To Be a Game Tester?

Riiight!

Here's how it's done.
Beta-Tester ... You search for companies that are doing open beta testing, usually these are MMORPGs. Sign up on the companies website and then wait for aproval.
Be sure your computer is up to snuff, video cards should be at less than one year old, and all drivers should be properly updated.

Games Tester ... You should be out of school, be able to write properly, be able to properly describe what you have seen and how to reproduce it step-by-step. You should be prepared to work gobs of overtime as the products get closer to Gold.
You should be prepared to work the same small sections of a game over and over and over again. You may even hate the game before you're finished with it.
You should live near a major publisher, or in Los Angeles as there are a large number of developers there that require testers. You should also be prepared to save your money as there is a four month dead spot in the testing between November and March. Make lots of friends and kiss lots of ass, you are at the bottom of the pole, get lots of roommates if you are relocating.

Here's a story from MySpace you might find interesting.

Saturday, June 17, 2006
STEPHAN REESE (he's here on myspace: male, 24, south pasadena) Has this thing he did when he was at THQ in Calabasas, he decided he didn't like this one old guy in testing, so he complained that the guy was sexually harrassing the receptionist, it was complete bull#t. The old guy was fired without being told why.

Later while Stephan was trying to get a job at Vivendi Universal Games, Stephan tried the same thing while interviewing, even yelling across the department when he saw the old guy, Stephan didn't get the job, but the old guy was fired without being told why.

Then the old guy was hired at EALA, and ran into Stephan and was all nice and friendly like. Stephan ran to the Director of H.R. and said that the old guy had been fired from THQ and Vivendi for sexual harrassment and other B.S.. The old guy was fired on his second day on the job, without being told why.

That wasn't good enough for Stephan though, he had to go onto Fatbabies.com forums (no longer working) and post more # hoping the old guy would never work in the games industry again. Interesting note: Everytime Stephan and his friends posted something on Fatbabies, they couldn't provide documenation or any kind of proof whatsoever, in other words, everything they said was a LIE!

read the profile and the blogs and decide for yourself. Now before you enter that industry, ask yourself a question ... Do you really want to work with guys like the ones in the blogs?



[edit on 20-10-2006 by 2stepsfromtop]

ITS ALL TRUE!!

seriously though, its not as glamorous as it may appear.
You need a GENUINE love of games, a casual gamer will probably be out the door after 2, maybe 3 weeks.
Id also recomend developing good team skills and having great communication skills. both orally and written are essential.
You should be descriptive and articulate enough so that a complete stranger could see what you've written and be able to recreate the bug you found just by reading your description.
Being methodical in approach and being able to work with testplans and Microsoft Office documents would also be handy.
Not having a short temper also helps. As does the ability to concentrate for long periods.
Like what 2stepsfromtop says, you are at the bottom, but youve got your foot-in-the-door if become a games tester. Also be prepared to see the same game, sometimes everyday, for as long as it takes to be clean. Sometimes, titles can be around for up to 6 months in the testing department.

From what I gather, trying to "get into the industry" by becoming a game tester is like trying to become an executive by working in a mail-room. You are simply a tester and the turn-over is so great that most people in the companies don't expect you to be around more than a few weeks or months and treat you like heads of nameless cattle. Also, when game development is over many testers are simply let go. The pay is usually horrible (no tips!) and the repetitiveness is mind-numbling.

Seriously, if you are into games, development, and design as a passion do not *ever* take a testing job. Work someplace else (doing anything - waiting tables for instance) while you take the courses necessary to really get-your-foot-in-the-door of the gaming industry.

Remember, for every single tester doing something cool like Quake Wars there 30 testers working on something more like Chicken Run.

Jon