June 12, 2007
The Ugly Side Of A Video Game Tester Job
Just imagine you could play games as 'part of your job' and not snatching some moments off from your work. And that you would get all the top game titles for keeps even before the games were released in the market? Not just that, but you could also comment on the general playability of the games while they were being developed and in a small way contribute to how the end product would shape up to be? Does this all sound too fascinating? Well then, this is actually what a person in a Video Game Tester Job does!
Most people think that a Video Game Tester Job requires one to do nothing more than play a couple of unreleased games on their PCs or consoles and that’s all there is to it. But is that really the case? Can anything sounding so good be real? Or is there some hidden loophole in this profession? Frankly speaking from my experience, a Video Game Tester Job does have its shortcomings. It's just not fun, fun all the way. There are some things that people in the job do not think of before, and they hit them in the face later.
First and foremost, your PC or console must be well-equipped to play the games on offer. Newer and newer games are being released every day, and their specifications are just mounting up. There is increasing demand on RAM and ROM, graphics requirements, game acceleration, etc. That means, a video game tester needs to keep the specifications upgraded all the time. Such upgrades can be very expensive, especially the graphics cards. Sometimes, a person in a Video Game Tester Job will need to buy a new video graphics card as soon as it hits the market to keep up with the game requirements.
An eye for detail is a very important requirement for a Video Game Tester Job. You cannot afford to play it like a person on a mission, but you will need to stop at every stage and literally smell the roses. You will have to check out the graphics backgrounds, the maps of the levels, the playability of each point, and whether there are any jarring or unreal elements in the scene. If there is any mistake, you will have to make a record of it in your assignment report. This is a tedious task to do, because your explanation will need to detail exactly where the fault is. It is difficult to describe a visual into words.
The playability of the game needs to be checked also. You will have to see if all the game levels are interconnected in the right fashion, and if the game has teleporters, the job becomes much more complicated. You will need to check that each teleporter takes you to the intended place, and that would mean loading and reloading a saved game repeatedly.
And you must remember that since you will not have a walkthrough or strategy guide in most cases, you will have to use your own brains to complete the games. Now, this could really be the most frustrating thing to do, especially if the game does not hold your interest.
Well, these are a few of the limitations of a Video Game Tester Job. If you feel you can easily handle them, then this is certainly the job for you. Go ahead and watch your bank balance grow as you play.
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