Ask the question: “if you could do anything as a job, what would it be?” and the response for most gamers will be the same – a video games tester. Little wonder. Play video games all day everyday, and then get paid for the “effort”? That has to be one of the sweetest rackets going on.
The common (mis)conception of game testing is that people are paid ridiculous amounts of money for playing video games all day. In truth, the pay is not quite as generous as you might think, and the process is far from fun especially if you do it on a continual basis, yet it’s still an appealing career choice for many.
Testing a game is often a tedious, dull, time consuming affair because the tester will be playing through the same segment of the game over and over in an attempt to remove any bugs, glitches and technical issues that may decide to rear their ugly heads. The process is an intricate and pain-staking one, and doing the same thing over and over can really take its toll.
However, the process did not end there and it is important to note that your findings must be legible, comprehensive and easy to understand for the people to whom you will be reporting it to. Your input will directly affect the speed and ease at which the technicians can remedy the fault(s) and so if your communication skills whether verbal or written are not on par then there will be trouble.
Now that we have for all intents and purposes stripped the process bare, the next question we must consider is: just how much money does the average game tester earn for their labor?
First and foremost, it is important to appreciate that there are a number of different factors that come into play when it comes to this issue, although by far, the two most important and obvious of these are time involved and the level of experience of the tester. When you compare the typical salary of a video games tester to those of other personnel involved in the game production process, it deosn’t look great in comparison, but then it’s one of the few positions in the industry available to someone without a college degree. Another key variable is the quality of work of the tester, i.e. how accurate they are with their reports, how well they spot bugs, how effectively they communicate their findings. Roughly speaking, the typical average rate clocks in at the 20-30 dollars per hour mark, and it provides the tester with something much more valuable than just money – experience, and a “foot in the door” of the games industry.
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