Topic: The Omen sells out

[The Omen]

I am now an employee with the evil empire, EA.  I am a gametester.

Best. Job. Ever.

[KnowsNothing]

Ban him.

[Ms.Pikmin]

That's great, Omen!  Congratulations.  

[Hostile Creation]

No, no this is good.  You can bring them down from the inside

That is pretty cool (except for it being EA).  Test playing video games would be awesome.

[09n]

Not only would it be awsome but you would make a decent buck on the side leaking what you've seen to the press. Oh and don't forget to keep us in the loop.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

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Originally posted by: The Omen
I am now an employee with the evil empire, EA.  I am a gametester.

Best. Job. Ever.

Careful there.  My friend was a EA tester for a few years between the N64-GCN transition years (haven't heard from him in recent years, tho),  and he was the testing team leader for The World is Not Enough (N64).  Be prepared to sleep there on mandatory overtime and all that other jazz.

[The Omen]

Yeah, I've been forewarned that 'crunch time', as they call it, means 90+ hour weeks

[The Omen]

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Not only would it be awsome but you would make a decent buck on the side leaking what you've seen to the press. Oh and don't forget to keep us in the loop.

I believe if caught, I would be stoned to death...at least that's what the papers I signed said.  

[S-U-P-E-R]

Wow let us know if you ever escape from your chains at the sweatshop

[Ian Sane]

"Not only would it be awsome but you would make a decent buck on the side leaking what you've seen to the press."

Psst.  They're going to release another Madden game.  Don't tell anyone or I'll get fired.

[KDR_11k]

Hahaha, good luck. At least you don't work for Midway or THQ, those would feed you even worse games. Always remember this.

Man, why is everyone working for EA or Ubi these days? The world will become really boring once EA completely assimilates Ubi...

[The Omen]

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Psst. They're going to release another Madden game. Don't tell anyone or I'll get fired.

Psst.  We're all aware of your football and EA hatred.

Actually, they are not resting on their laurels, which they could easily do.  I am somewhat shocked, truthfully.

[vudu]

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Psst. We're all aware of your football and EA hatred.

By all, do you mean everyone at the PGC forums, or everyone at EA?  Because I think it would be really funny if EA had a file on Ian.

BTW, if you haven't already, you should check out this thread.  Another poster here is a tester for EA.  Maybe you two can swap stories.

[KDR_11k]

Or he could go to a site that's actually used by game developers like, say, Gamasutra?

[09n]

I thinkit would be great to be a games tester. In fact I would apply right away if I it wasn't for the fact I am crap. Even my 12 year old sister beats me at Soul Calibre 2. Oh well practise makes perfect. =D

[KDR_11k]

You don't need to be the best player, you need to be able to find bugs. In fact, if you're close to the casual gamer audience they'll want your feedback to make the game appeal to the casuals more.

However, game testing is by far not the dream job some gamers might think it is. There's a difference between playing a game for fun and playing a game in order to find flaws. And there's a difference between playing for two hours in the evening and being in crunch mode for months (or years if you get into a company as awful as 3do), barely sleep or eat and basically lose all social life. Crunch time is soul devouring and some even die as a result of the stress.

[vudu]

^ ... But how's the pay?  

[nickmitch]

Omen: if the building that you're now woking at "accidently" caught fire then I thick that we'd all understand.

[Mario]

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Actually, they are not resting on their laurels, which they could easily do. I am somewhat shocked, truthfully.

EA cooking up something innovative? John Madden in NBA Street 4?

[KDR_11k]

kingvudu: Bad, with all the overtime (of course unpaid, noone, not EA, not Ubi, not Nintendo pays for overtime) you effectively end up with less than minimum wage. Entry dev positions are 30-40k in most places, up to 50-60k in the most expensive areas (SoCal is often mentioned here). Lead positions with lots of skill, experience and ability to negotiate might be 100k and slightly above but that's the absolute maximum and requires you to be a top worker that's been in the industry for 3-4 years minimum (at that point you're already famous among devs of your field worldwide). Well, okay, those are dev wages, I'm not sure if testers get as much.

[The Omen]

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However, game testing is by far not the dream job some gamers might think it is. There's a difference between playing a game for fun and playing a game in order to find flaws. And there's a difference between playing for two hours in the evening and being in crunch mode for months (or years if you get into a company as awful as 3do), barely sleep or eat and basically lose all social life. Crunch time is soul devouring and some even die as a result of the stress.

It is not a dream job, but I'll tell you that we do in fact play games a lot of the time.  I'll put it like this:  There are areas of expertise.  I was put into Multiplayer gameplay for Madden.  My job is to test the online modes for PS2 and the offline multiplayer.  How do you think we test?  By playing the actual games.  Granted, if I see a bug, I have to concentrate on reproducing it which can get repetitive.   But it's kind of like being a detective-it actually fun to find the many intricate steps that caused a crash.   All in all it's really a loose, fun atmosphere.  And we were all warned about the crunch time in the interview, so you are either down with it from the jump, or you just don't take the job.

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kingvudu: Bad, with all the overtime (of course unpaid, noone, not EA, not Ubi, not Nintendo pays for overtime) you effectively end up with less than minimum wage. Entry dev positions are 30-40k in most places, up to 50-60k in the most expensive areas (SoCal is often mentioned here).

KingVudu: We get overtime    But the hourly wage sucks.  You take this job with the goal of moving up..which from what I see can be expediant.

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You don't need to be the best player, you need to be able to find bugs. In fact, if you're close to the casual gamer audience they'll want your feedback to make the game appeal to the casuals more.

So true.  There are people from my training class that know nothing about the game they're testing, let alone being good at it.  They (EA) kind of want that viewpoint as well.

If anyone considers themselves completist's, I would definately say you're right for the job.  If you must have every star , every coin, get every Madden card or beat every challenge in Timesplitters 2, go for it.

[vudu]

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You take this job with the goal of moving up.

Are you interested in moving up?  What can you move up to?  I mean, is it possible to work your way up to a programmer, writer, directer, producer, etc?

What was your major in school, if you don't mind me asking?  I thought I remember you telling me you were writing a script for a movie once (it was during an argument; about what, I can't remember).

[KDR_11k]

Tester -> Level (gameplay) Designer -> Game Designer. Without technical skills you're not getting an artist or coder position. Also note that these positions are exempt from EA's new overtime rule.

[The Omen]

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You take this job with the goal of moving up.
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Are you interested in moving up? What can you move up to? I mean, is it possible to work your way up to a programmer, writer, directer, producer, etc?

What was your major in school, if you don't mind me asking? I thought I remember you telling me you were writing a script for a movie once (it was during an argument; about what, I can't remember).

What I meant was , you don't take this job to pay bills and live on.  It's just not enough money, unless you have another profession that pays.  You take it for love of games and while your at it, maybe moving up...which is absolutely possible.  So I figure, while I'm here, might as well make the most of it.  I write for a living, true, but the money is inconsistent to say the least... I am at the point, however , where I can take a low paying job I want that I think is enjoyable , rather than taking a higher paying job that makes me want to commit mass murder each and everyday. Hopefully this script I have bouncing around La La land right now will allow me to live care free, as is the plan.  (Though one wonders if I could be any more carefree than I am

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Tester -> Level (gameplay) Designer -> Game Designer. Without technical skills you're not getting an artist or coder position. Also note that these positions are exempt from EA's new overtime rule.

Who would want a coder position anyway?  I'd assume someone with an interest in that area would only come to this position(gametester) if they have a background , i.e. degree, already. On another note, there are plenty of testers with computer animation skills that will have no problem gaining meaningful positions over time.


I took film in school, by the way.  Film is my first passion...games second...so I'm doing a bit of one and a ton of the other.  There has to be a payoff somewhere......??