Paid Video Game Testers- What Role Will You Play? by Sean T. Saunders

Many people hear that they can get paid playing video games, but they aren't sure exactly what a paid game tester actually does. That's what this article is for -- to give you an idea of what it's like being a professional video game tester.

Your primary role as a game tester is to analyze the beta version of a video game, and then document bugs, glitches, and other problems with the quality of the game. Typically, testers work long hours and need to have a lot of focus.

From the time a game is conceived, developed, and finally released to the marketplace, it can take anywhere from one to three years. It takes a lot to develop a video game into it's final form. In the later stages of a game's development, the game is passed on to the video game testers. Usually, testing starts about 75-80% of the way through the development process.

Once you receive a testing version of the game, you'll begin to play it. What you're looking for is any errors or visual issues that occur during gameplay. When you discover an error, you must make note of it and detail it as best you can. This sounds easy, but can be quite complex sometimes. In order to document a glitch properly, it may require several paragraphs to a full-page worth of notes and documentation.

And of course, you have to make sure you're not documenting an error that already exists. In order to avoid that, you're also sent a list of known bugs and glitches; so when you find a glitch or bug, you can check to see if it is on the list or not.

When a game is tweaked, changes are made based on the glitches paid game testers find. Different stages of testing require more copies to be sent out to video game testers. The closer it gets to the developer's deadline, the longer you will be working on the game. But, in retrospect, more work means more money & experience; so be happy about that.

As you can clearly see, video game testing is a dream job for those who are passionate about video games. Admittedly, it's not all happy moments and there is a bit of stress and some work involved; but then again, it's better than 95% of all the jobs out there, especially for hardcore gamers.



Sean Saunders Spends Most of His Time Playing Video Games And He Now Has A Very Successful Career With Professional Video Game Testing. If You Would Like To Learn More About Paid Game Testing, Visit http://www.squidoo.com/BeaVideoGameTester, The Number One Resource For Game Testing Information.

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