Jobs that involve playing video games?

[Dankk]

What are some examples of jobs that revolve around playing video games?

I don't quite mean "making" video games; I'm extremely weak at math, am struggling to pass intermediate algebra this semester, and I don't think I could ever become a competent programmer.

I suppose I could maybe help design a a game, but my creative ability is nearly non-existent.

So what jobs involve playing lots of video games? And don't require math?

You know, uhh, just in case I was considering working with games.

 

[nickbits]

Tester/QA

 

[kia75]

What Nick said. Only don't do that, the job sucks. The pay is low because there are tons of young kids who'd jump to be playing video games, not realizing that you're not actually playing video games. Your job is to break them, do the same thing over and over and over until it no longer works.

That game that would be fun if you spent 10 hours beating it? Now you're spending those 10 hours on the first level, playing the first level until you're sick of it!

 

[Dankk]

I knew as much. I'd also argue that some testing jobs are better than others; some are monotonous, soul-crushing boredom fests, and others can be fairly nice if you're working for the right studio (source: friend who's worked as a tester). But you're right. There's probably a massive influx of kids who think "Ooh, getting payed to play video game?" only to realize they're required to walk into walls for 8 hours to test for holes in the geometry.

I really need to find something else to be good at.

 

[TheKub]

Only other thing I can think of is a blogger\journalist covering\reviewing video games.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Game testing sounds like hell to me:

Be assigned to play games that you don't like, while the game is still broken, then have to play the same broken area over and over and over.

Then over and over some more once the new build is ready.

Then over and over still more once the new new build is ready.

I'd rather be a greeter at Wal-Mart.

 

[Dankk]

Game testing sounds like hell to me:

Be assigned to play games that you don't like, while the game is still broken, then have to play the same broken area over and over and over.

Then over and over some more once the new build is ready.

Then over and over still more once the new new build is ready.

I'd rather be a greeter at Wal-Mart.

You live in Bellevue. You should do QA for valve.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Only other thing I can think of is a blogger\journalist covering\reviewing video games.

That's about it. Free games, ad-supported web site.

You just have to be sexy enough to do effective video reviews.

 

[Barfo]

You live in Bellevue. You should do QA for valve.

I wouldn't recommend doing QA for anything software related.

 

[DaveSimmons]

You live in Bellevue. You should do QA for valve.

I'd much rather play just the games I want to, once, after they actually work

That, and being a software developer outside of gaming pays much better.

 

[greenhawk]

Only other thing I can think of is a blogger\journalist covering\reviewing video games.

Blogger does not pay in most cases for the same reason as software tester, too many people want to do it.

Game reviewers are a dime a dozen and most are not worth listening to (just have to look at youtube).

Journalist can work, but it will only be a part of the job as the actual job is Journalist, so covering what ever you get told to work on. Might get lucky and have 1% of your work being game related. unless working for a gaming magazine, but those things are die left and right as most of their information is gotten sooner from the web. And even the web ones have lots of people giving their time for free to "get a foot in the door".

In short, it can be done, but it is probably harder than most other jobs and for worse pay.

 

[greenhawk]

I'd much rather play just the games I want to, once, after they actually work

+1

Number of games I have gotten which were leaked alphas / betas just kills any desire to play the actual game.

In some ways it is like watching a leaked movie before the special effects are in, then watching the actual movie. It so kills any enjoyment from the second watch/play.

 

[thespyder]

As other have said, I think that Testing/QA of games would not be fun. In the first place, the job is about breaking it. But it is also about balancing it, continuity issues and quite probably troubleshooting some of it.

but the worst bit would be that you don't get to pick and choose what games you stress test. You are given a list and have to do them all. The good, the bad and DA2. And just because it happens to be total crap, doesn't mean you can not play test it. And also consider that you would end up working for one company and have to play test every generation of the game. Oh, look Madden 6000!

Plus, by the time you are done your work day, you probably don't want to see any more games. So you don't get to get into the ones you actually want to play.

And the pay sucks.

If you are really into playing games for money, you might considering game reviewer for some blog or news paper or mag. You'd still have to play a lot of games that you didn't want, but at least you wouldn't be stuck with the same games from just one publisher.

Another aspect that you may consider is concept design. If you enjoy games and know what you like about things (and what you don't), you are probably well placed to come up with, or at least proof ideas for new games. This wouldn't necessarily involve coding (although it might), but it would allow you to exercise your talent and interests. And if you get in on the ground floor of some really popular ideas, you could be looking at serious cash.

Just a thought.

 

[coloumb]

Professional Gamer - if you can hone your skills and compete / win at tournaments that would be considered a "job".

QA/Testing = closed alpha/beta testing IF you actually look for and report bugs/issues.

 

[ViviTheMage]

want to know what it's like being in QA/Testing?

Look here, some awesome reads

http://trenchescomic.com/tales/post/9810

 

[Dankk]

want to know what it's like being in QA/Testing?

Look here, some awesome reads

http://trenchescomic.com/tales/post/9810

Good god man. Are those real?

I mean, I understand that working in QA can be spectacularly shitty, but some of those are just insane. Working outside in a barn doing nothing but jumping for a week and using an outhouse to take a shit? lolwut?

 

[WiseUp216]

Self-admitted lack of creativity. Poor math skills. Live in Utah.

That is 3 strikes. No gaming career for you.

Best bet is to work hard to get a good job that affords a lot of time off, or an office with a bit of privacy to play games on company time. I am in no way condoning this behavior*.












*Yes, I am.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Depends on what types of games you're hired to QA imo. I did a 1 day 9 hour blast for some final round testing, I enjoy looking for bugs in games though so I found it enjoyable. It's fun knowing your input is shaping a game for hundreds/thousands/millions of players and getting paid to just sit around playing isn't so bad.

Maybe I don't have the issues those other QA testers had since I only did a day but I hope someday to jump back into it, transition from there into a dev position of some sort.

 

[CuriousMike]

Management; specifically producers.
As someone new, an associate producer.

The game industry has a habit of promoting QA personal from their ranks into production, and ultimately full producer.

The problem with this is they're trained by their own ilk; the rarely ( never ) have actual training in project management and repeat the same bad practices that their managers learned.

Look into some sort of project management/leadership classes.

 

[CuriousMike]

It's fun knowing your input is shaping a game for hundreds/thousands/millions of players

Except as QA, you rarely shape the game.

The thing that can (somewhat) shape the game is outside focus groups.
People who have *never* seen the game.

It's fantastic watching people stare at your game, and watch them fail at understanding what you think is so obvious.

The feedback from focus groups go back to design and either cements what they already know is wrong with the game, or gives genuinely new feedback that players aren't understanding key concepts / mechanics for your game.

 

[RedRooster]

Drug dealers don't do much other than getting stoned on their couches and playing video games. Could look into that, on the shadier side.

 

[Dumac]

Not many games involve actually playing video games. Even game development doesn't involve that much playing of video games.

A game tester sure plays a lot of games, but not enjoyably as it has been pointed out.

Two major options are being a video game reviewer. You could start on on blog/youtube channel, play games, review them. It can be difficult to get off the ground, though, as everyone wants to do this.

Another option is pro-gaming. You get to game a lot, but only one game. 12 hours a day...every day. You may get sick of it, or just be bad at it.

You could try opening a game cafe but I don't know how successful it would be.

 

[Dumac]

Management; specifically producers.
As someone new, an associate producer.

The game industry has a habit of promoting QA personal from their ranks into production, and ultimately full producer.

The problem with this is they're trained by their own ilk; the rarely ( never ) have actual training in project management and repeat the same bad practices that their managers learned.

Look into some sort of project management/leadership classes.

Does management get to play games that much? I'd think they'd have other things to do.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Isn't the computer game creation industry a pretty shitty area to work in, in general, anyway? Oppressive time deadlines and then layoffs once a game is finished? It's one of those things that looks glamorous to outsiders but is truly awful once you're in the field, kind of like going to law school and becoming a lawyer. (Oh! I'll be rolling in the bucks and living the life of bottles an models! It's a nobel white collar undertaking. Reality--severe unemployment or underemployment and then a low wage relative to hours worked and effort expended while being surrounded by the biggest assholes you've ever met in a hyper-competitive cutthroat environment.)

Here is a must-watch video, especially for the OP:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGar7KC6Wiw

 

[quikah]

I wouldn't recommend doing QA for anything software related.

Nah, business/enterprise software can be interesting. A lot of the testing is scriptable. if you have some interest in programming, it is a good way to be able to do some light coding without it being the whole job.