Dream Job - Video Game Tester

Playing video games all day, everyday and writing reviews or reporting glitches and bugs in games and getting paid for it would be my dream job.

Playing video games and getting paid for it - Hell yeah, where can I find a dream job like that??

Sign me up, I'm in

It sucks, you don't want to do that.

It sounds good, but it is awful. They give you a small part of a level to just run around in to see if you can find any glitches, bugs, or other irregularities. You don't get to just "play the game" per se.

I could not do it.

Testing games means you have to play thru them on every difficulty level.

Most gamers could not do that. Most gamers, like me, are sunday gamers, and cannot beat games on hard or nightmare.

But a game tester must be able to do it; complete games on hardest difficulties. Otherwise the devs could not find out if the game has glitches that only appear on nightmare difficulty, for example.

So yeah. Testing games is not easy. Especially since the devs already have regular gamers testing the games on easy and normal level. So the really only need to hire skilled pro gamers to play them on hard and nightmare.

Are you skilled enough to complete every game on nightmare difficulty? I'm not.

@henrythefifth: I only play every game on the nightmare difficulty, have been doing it for 20 years so hell yeah I can do it. And I wouldn't care if I had to replay the same level over and over to test for bugs. It sure beats the crappy job of looking at excel worksheets all day long.

Sign me up game developers, I love gaming and I will look for bugs, I find them anyways when playing because I explore every corner of every game, how do you think I finish every game on the nightmare difficulty, it's not like I have the dexterity to pull of 20 button combos in the middle of a firefight or brawl while hopping around dangerous platforms, every game has a weakness and I exploit it, tech glitch or bug, I use it to my advantage to beat the game. So sign me up I will test games!!!

Developers tend to release the game broken, then let players report glitches and fix them in patches.

The job role is becoming obsolete because gamers do it for free.

Gamers even pay for privilege to do, when you buy an early access game you know the game is incomplete and will contain bugs, however people will pay for it just to play the game.

It's a horrible job. However you imagine it, it is NOT that. You won't be causually play those games.

@thehig1: You are right sir. So true, that job is becoming obsolete.

This is exactly the reason I don't buy brand new games, I don't want to be their bug tester for new games for FREE. Forget it, I will wait until a year later when all the patches are installed and than buy the game, and for half the cost.

@fanboymctroll: get thinking of another dream job

These guys above me are right it is not something you would want to do for the rest of your life. I've done it for a few years here and there it's okay. I would rather be coding or designing instead. It's more useful and it makes me happy and after just head out to a restaurant and order some grill eel. Don't want to leave order a pizza instead you can't go wrong with either.

Horrible job, sounds better than it seems.

@mufc2311: Guys how can it be so horrible?? you are PLAYING video games and getting paid for it. What is so horrible about it, I don't get why everyone is so down on it. Would you rather be flipping burgers or sweeping floors or sitting in front of a computer screen in a cubicle working on some spreadsheets or reports (yawn)

Being a game tester would be my dream job, because I love video games. I would rather do that than be a dentist and look in peoples dirty smelly mouths as a dentist or handling dirty cheesy crusty old men in an ER department as a doctor or doing journal entries as an accountant (boring)

I want to be a video game tester damn it!!! LOL

I think game testing is a little comparable to any other job. "I can get paid for explaining why I love games and selling them to people? Hell yeah I'll do that!" oh wait working at GameStop sucks. But if you think you can handle that? Then all the power to you. If that sounds like human suffering then avoid it like the plague.

@phoneuser: I totally get your point, but how can just playing video games be bad? Ok so you might have to play one level over and over, but still doesn't that beat flipping burgers, cleaning, working on a spreadsheet or doing boring data entry??

I have dream about that job when I was like 20 or something but now with my great job I have no interest at all. And it would be boring to play video games too much.

I actually heard from people who had that job, that it sucks.

@darktechstudios: People!!! all I keep hearing is negative things about being a game tester, yet I see no examples of why it would suck doing it.

Can someone please provide some info why it would suck, (long hours) (lots of repetition) (bad pay) What makes it suck???

I need to hear from some former game testers first hand of their experiences, because right now this is looking like my dream job!!

Surprised no one has read this guys name yet.

Hahahahahaha

I would rather do that than be a dentist and look in peoples dirty smelly mouths as a dentist or handling dirty cheesy crusty old men in an ER department as a doctor or doing journal entries as an accountant (boring)

I want to be a video game tester damn it!!! LOL

My best friend had a job as a pro games tester.

Things started off good then after a year or so he had a nervous break down. Now he can't/won't leave his house and his nerves are shot to hell.

He can't tell me any more because of the non disclosure agreement he signed.

I still enjoy gaming despite my best friend having suffered so much I'm just wary of certain aspects of it.

The job it's not what it seems...

better to be an dentist

@kenttana: Ugh rather you than me poking about in other people’s mouths. I had to have all my teeth taken out as my epilepsy knocked nearly all of them out.

I now have 2 implants on lower jaw and normal denture on upper. Life is hell.....

Sounds good bro, email Bethesda.

When gaming becomes your job you can forget enjoying it like on your free time. You wouldn't just play the game through and see if you caught any bugs or glitches through gameplay.

You would have to grind some parts of the game tirelessly, during development process or pre-alpha stages. Imagine playing one level for 8 hours a day for a week trying to test all the different item effects, variables that could happen in a game.

Well it's a harsh part of a core game tester, sure there are groups of general playthrough testers, those don't get paid as much and do not add up much expertise on technical solutions through the gameplay. But nowadays we pay money to test the game, not the other way (early access games) lol.