Video game tester?

Question

Well, I'm from SLC,UT and I'm trying to figure out how to get into the profession of video game testing. I plan to become a game designer, and this would help alot. But I don't know how to reach companies, who to talk to, ect.

Could someone please help me?

Answer 1

Video game testing -- known within the game industry as Quality Assurance -- is a great way to break into game design. There are also those who spend their entire careers managing and planning the QA process, but many go on to work on the development of the game itself.

The first thing to know is that most game companies will not pay for relocation for a first time QA tester, so you will need to apply to game studios in your immediate area, or move to an area with a lot of studios and then start applying. There are a handful of game studios in Salt Lake City (check out the map here: http://gamedevmap.com/index.php?tool=location&query=Salt%20Lake%20City ), so I would say start with those. If you can't find work in SLC, start looking at moving to a city like Los Angeles, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, etc -- cities that have a high concentration of game studios.

Wherever you decide to look for work, you should start out by looking at the webpages of the companies in that area (there are links to each of the studios in SLC on that map, and links to every other city with game studios in the world). Most companies have a Jobs/Careers/Employment section of their page, and will post any QA openings there. You should also check the job postings at Gamasutra.com (it requires registration, but you should register if you want to be in the game industry, anyway). Pay attention to the posted requirements, and only apply if you meet at least 90% of the requirements -- for instance, don't apply to that Blizzard position unless you speak a foreign language fluently (and live in the area!).

You typically do not need a college degree or any experience to get hired as a QA tester, but getting into design is a much different story. You will need to have a college degree to get into the highly competitive area of design, and your QA experience will help you get that first design position. For college, you can go to any good four year school (do NOT bother with any school that offers a "Game Design" major, they are all absolute crap from the game industry's point of view -- I've been in the game industry for almost a decade, and I've yet to meet or hear of *anyone* with a degree in Game Design who has gone on to work as a game designer) and major in whatever you want.

Along with the courses for your major take math up through Calculus 1, and at least two courses in Statistics, two courses in writing, one Computer Science course, and one art course. Math and writing are the main tools of a designer, and the CS and art courses will help you work with your programmer and artist colleagues later on. Fill up the rest of your course requirement with a wide liberal arts education -- history, literature, mythology, sociology, psychology, etc, are all useful in game design.

I've known QA testers who have gone to college part time while working full time (there is no part time QA work anywhere in the US), and others who have gotten their college degrees with an eye to getting into design, and then worked for a couple of years in QA. However you decide to go about it, assume that you'll need to have graduated before you can start applying for design positions. But if you start working in QA before you finish your degree, definitely take the opportunities to learn as much about design as possible, and to schmooze with the design team and mention your design ideas to them from time to time.

Good luck!

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

In a large game publishing company such as Activision, the QA phase comes towards the end of the project. And the testers are usually not involved in the project until after most of the work on the game has already been performed. This can have some unfortunate consequences, since testers brought in at the end were not involved in design decisions and don't necessarily know the rationale behind them. In a smaller company, team members who helped create the game may put on their tester hats towards the end thus they are already aware of the circumstances that led to project decisions made along the way.
http://videogametester.tallurl.com

The fact that most testers come in at the end of the project, powerless to have a major impact on the design of the game, is perhaps what leads to some of the negativity about the job. A military analogy can be drawn, putting the testers in the role of foot soldiers and the design/production team as the officers in a battle. This analogy has a limited usefulness, so I think it's worth mentioning, but this analogy falls apart if you try to apply it across the board to the process of making a game.

Answer 4

its possible to earn money by playing games, u can play new games before its is even out to market which i think many gamer would be love this feature but u cannot make a very HUGE money just to play games, its make sense right, what you can earn depends on how many hours per week you played and how many survey you do

check this link to know more, its a video game testing side, they hire video game tester now
you need to pay few dollar to be a member
because i think they need to prevent scammer or game tester to just simply sign up but end up doing nothing , but never mind you can earn the money back in just 1-2 days

http://bit.ly/1kdcXjD

Answer 5

Most companies do internal testing under Quality Assurance Teams. The best way is to check the company websites and see what's needed.

http://www.blizzard.com/jobopp/qa-flgametester.shtml

It's a foreign language tester, but it'll give you an idea of what is needed

Answer 6

You can find a few ways to get paid to play the latest video games. Some market research companies will mail you in development games, game consoles and products for you to test and return. Then you record your thoughts and they will send you payment. The difficult part is getting a list of these companies.

Answer 7

if you go to nintendo.com and find the careers/jobs section, then you will know exactly what type of degree is required to be a designer. you may want to also look at digipen.edu which is a school in Redmond, wa that has people that are hired upon graduation to places like Nintendo. There is also Full Sail in Fl. but that might be too far for you. idk. Hope this helps!

Answer 8

You consider this "a profession"???

Maybe designing and manufacturing...but not playing. We aren't talking test pilot status here.

Answer 9

I found this website: http://beagametesternow.weebly.com
I have had 3 jobs in the last month with them :)
Hope i could help!

Cheers