When people tend to think of video game testing as a career they think, oh it must be easy and fun so I’ll give it a try and just live for years on a steady income. What they need to realize is that it’s not as clear cut and simple as that, so when you decide to embark on a quest to discover if this is true or not, first keep in mind these simple instructions.
Video games are developed in stages for good reason. The stage you are primarily concerned with is beta testing, while there is a thing called alpha testing that is mostly for in company testing only so you would not be testing the game for that stage. Beta testing is where the game is mostly finished, maybe a few parts are left out such as graphics refinement, online compatibility, and a few extras that don’t affect the core of the gameplay but only add additional content to the user.
There are some things you need to consider and keep in mind if you are seriously considering taking on video game testing as a job or just a part-time job to complement your day job. You should read on and think about these things first before you go onto looking for one of these jobs. Personally I say go for it, there is almost no downside.
1. While this can be a full-time job, it’s best as a part-time job. This is becuase it easily fits into any schedule you already have in your life and you can just spend an hour or two here and there on different games or write up a report.
2. This is NOT just playing video games for fun. It feels like a real job, where you have to work hard and very carefully in order to get the most dollars per hour. Beta testing involves finding all the glitches you can, by trying every possible combination of tactics. You can’t just play through a game once, you need to go through every option, reload and save multiple times, etc.
3. The pay can be very good considering that you don’t need a college education or anything at all, just a hard work ethic and a few hours to spare. You can get upwards of 40+ dollars per hour. However it is not the most steady of work, meaning you should have a day job or other forms of income because you may not have work all the time, if you plan on doing this 8+ hours a day.
4. The good parts? You get paid a decent amount, you can work whenever you want to, you don’t have to go anywhere to do your job, you can just do it at home or wherever they send the games to you. And hey, you’re playing video games! But trust me on this one, if you do not like video games that much, do NOT try to do this job, you really do need to enjoy learning about video games, exploring as much as possible within one, finding all the little errors and glitches, and really enjoy getting to know the ins and outs and perfecting every aspect you can imagine.
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