The Skills You Need As A Game Tester
I used to think that playing video games is something that lazy people do. You know, people who are lazy and have nothing to do; but boy was I wrong? Playing computer games is not only fun but it’s also a way for you to get to know who you really are on the inside – if you pay attention to your reactions as you play the game.
I know this idea might not sound realistic to you but that is the truth. By playing a video game, you can understand yourself better from the way you react to winning or losing, your ability to stay calm under tension, your endurance and so on. Anyway, that’s a whole different topic on its own.
But that is not what I want to talk to you about today; I want to talk about doing what you love and making a living from it. Playing video games to your heart’s content and making a living doing it. And to do that, you need to acquire some skills.
Many people really don’t know that this is actually possible. There are millions of people out there who have very horned talents from years of playing video games since they were kids. People who just do nothing else but sit at home in their bedrooms playing games all day and all night.
The Skill Set
What I would like you to consider is the possibility of doing this and making a living from it. And it’s absolutely 100% possible. Being a video game tester is something like a dream for most people but for others, it’s as easy as taking a walk in the park. Yes it’s easy but you also need to have the basic skill set that is required. Here are the basic skill sets that you need before you are considered in any game establishment:
1- Attention to detail- Yes, you read that right, attention to details. Contrary to what you might think, video game testing is not just about you sitting down and playing game. You need to have the ability to pay attention to details and be at alert so you will be able to sport the glitches or bugs that are in the game.
That’s why you were employed in the 1st place. If you’re not paying attention but just sitting there playing the games and enjoying yourself, then it will be really difficult for to be an exceptional video game tester. Don’t get me wrong, you can certainly enjoy yourself while doing the job but don’t get carried away and forget to do your job.
To be able to do that, you need to have an iron glad will to maintain your focus while at the same time enjoying yourself.
2- Critical thinking- You need to have the ability for critical thinking and an analytical mind set. In game testing most burgs can be detected easily and can be seen at just a glance – like if the game crashes when you want to change levels. But there are some that are not that obvious, that’s when you attention to detail and your ability to analyse what just happened will come into play. This will enable you to make a good judgement and report the bug
3- Verbal and written communication skills- In line with having an analytical mind set is your ability to effectively and clearly communicate what you just saw. Most times you will be required to write a report and you won’t be present when the programmers or whoever that needs to correct those glitches is going to through your report.
So your ability to communicate what you see is very essential so that the programing department don’t need to come looking for you to clarify what they don’t understand in your report. That translates to wasted time and time is very important to game developers, it equals revenue.
4- Passion for the game- Above all, you need to have a burning passion for the game. This is the most important of all the skills that you need, but thank goodness, you are more than likely born with this. The reason being that if you are not passionate about video games, chances are, developing all other skills will be an uphill task. Not that it can’t be done, it can definitely be done even if you are just out for the money but it will take an extra once of will for you to do.
There you are. Those are the skills that you will need to do well as a game tester. If you eventually master all those skills above then you would be contributing to better, richer and more beautiful games being offered to the general public – and at the same time you will be earning a nice tidy income yourself. This is an all-round win-win situation for everybody. The developers are happy, the customers are happy and you the tester is happy as well.