WEBVTT - What do video game testers do? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:09.000 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technologies? With 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:17.759 tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hi there, everyone, 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.560 Welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poelette and 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:22.439 I am an editor here at how stuff works dot 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:25.119 com and sitting next to me as always a senior writer, 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:29.319 Jonathan Strickland, you're dead to me. Yeah. Yeah, so Chris 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:33.560 is reading his notes off of his brand new iPad. Yeah, 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:39.160 and your point being it's pretty Yeah, it's also heavy, 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:40.879 So I'm going to hear to get a stand for 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.280 this thing. Okay, good. I'm glad that you were able 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:45.880 to throw in some sort of downside to it, because 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:49.519 otherwise I might end up everything has an upside in 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.080 a downcer. So you know what also takes has an 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:56.120 upside and downside? What's that, Jonathan? Testing video games? Oh? 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:58.800 You mean like the best job in the world. That's 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:01.560 what some people think. But we're here to talk about 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.520 what really goes on with video game testers. And you know, 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.600 you see a lot of stuff online about it. There 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:11.640 are lots of sites that, uh purport to help you 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.840 become a video game tester. We'll probably talk a little 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:19.000 bit about that and uh and in a few minutes. Um. 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.880 But uh, you know, there's a lot of different arguments 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.280 on either side. Like there's some people who will say, hey, 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:26.920 I can't believe it. I get to make money playing 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:29.039 video games. It's awesome. You should do it too. And 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:31.080 then there are those who are saying, no, it's really 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.360 the worst job in the world. And really, again, the 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:39.039 truth lies between the extremes. Well, I think that the 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:41.080 basic if you get right down to the the the 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.680 core truth of it is, it's a job. It's not 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:49.200 something where you go and play, you know, to play. Right. 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:52.240 So let's let's talk about what video game testers actually do. Now, 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:56.560 it's their job to take a video game for you know, 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:00.000 a video game per assignment, let's say, and to test 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.559 out a certain set of uh maybe perhaps certain set 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:07.880 of levels. Or they're told that the video game developers 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:12.120 have just uh instituted a particular new feature and it's 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.079 their job to test the feature, make sure that everything 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:16.919 happens the way it's supposed to. Well, it's like any 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.119 kind of software testing really, I mean, there when when 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:24.959 software developer is putting together a program of some kind, uh, 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.560 generally the developer is going to give it to a 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.679 group of testers to see if they can break it. Essentially, 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.440 that's where the the vernacular. But yeah, I mean the 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:37.040 idea is to well do everything you can to it 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.679 and see if there are any bugs in it, or 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:41.320 if there are any bugs. We need to work these 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:43.280 out before we release this to the general public. And 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.919 the developer has invested interest in doing this because if 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:50.640 they release a a program of of any kind to 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.000 the public that has a lot of problems with it, 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:57.360 it's difficult to use. Um, people are going to complain 0:02:57.400 --> 0:02:59.880 about it. And you know, in these days when when 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.799 the Internet is plenty of places for us to complain 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.960 about it. Um, it's not like it's gonna go unnoticed 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:07.840 if you if you throw a lamon out there. So 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.080 the game testers, you know, the video game industry has 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.799 as a multibillion dollar industry, they it's in their best 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:16.640 interest to give it to a bunch of people to 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.720 try anything and everything they can to see if they 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:24.639 can make it break right, right, Yeah, because it can 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:27.519 affect the sales of the video game, which that's the 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.720 bottom line. You know, these video game companies are making 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:34.720 video games, not necessarily because they really want to entertain you, 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:36.720 but because it's a great way to make money. It's 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:38.360 not to say that everyone who works in the video 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:42.440 game industry is just interested in making cash, but at 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:44.840 the end of the day, it's a business, so you 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:48.760 do want to have that quality assurance team uh to 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.400 check your your product before it ships, because you would 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:55.960 rather know about a problem before it hits store shelves 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.320 so that you can fix it rather than release something. 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:00.240 I mean, we've seen it happened time and time again 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.520 where a game has come out and the producers will 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:07.800 actually say, yeah, um, you're gonna notice when you play 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.440 this that this one thing doesn't really work well, but 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:12.280 don't worry. We've got a patch coming in a month. 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:16.200 And you're thinking, wow, that that's Unfortunately they found that 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.080 bug so late in the development cycle. It's also why 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:21.640 I don't I always think it's a better idea to 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.279 tell people the game will be done when it's done, 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.200 rather than to announce a release date, especially if you're like, 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:30.159 by the end of the year, this game is coming out, 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:32.520 because I guarantee you there's gonna be something that comes 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.720 up and either they're gonna have to drop a feature 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:38.880 from the game, or it'll go out a little buggy, 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.240 or that it ends up missing its release date. Can 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.640 you think of a game that misses its release date? Oh, 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:46.840 because they would get most of the way through it, 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:49.279 find a better gaming engine and decided to scrap the 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.599 entire development of the game and started from scratch. I 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:54.520 have a feeling you're talking about Duke Nukem Forever. That's 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:58.440 a good example. So video game testers what they do 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:00.720 is they test the hell out of the video game 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:04.280 to make sure that there aren't any game breaking bugs 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:07.880 out there. And that that's everything from running through a 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.360 level the way you're supposed to to doing everything you're 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:11.960 not supposed to do in the video game to make 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:14.160 sure it doesn't break the game. Because I guarantee you, 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:16.720 if you release a game, some player out there is 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.920 going to try something that you know it never occurred 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:23.040 to you when you were building the game, because you're thinking, oh, 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:24.960 player has to get from point A to point B, 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:28.240 and here's the pathway that the player needs to go through. Well, 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.560 when you give that to real people, they're like, oh, well, 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:32.440 I'm at point A, I need to get the point B. 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:34.960 I'm gonna take this totally different route than no one 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.479 ever even imagined when they were developing the game, and 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:39.920 see if that works, what happens if I jump off 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:42.800 this wall here right? So you you could be if 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.000 you were a video game software tester, you might be 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:49.000 asked to shoot anything and everything in the room to 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:53.000 see what what happens, right, And if anything unusual happened, 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.000 you would have to document it and you would have 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:58.760 to be able to explain in very clear terms exactly 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.440 what happened and why it was a problem. And here's 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.080 another element about video game testers. Some people think the 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.880 video game testers would would play a game and then say, oh, 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.479 you know this, this level would be great if only 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.520 you had a bad guy behind this one door instead 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.120 of behind that counter, because when you put them behind 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:19.240 the counter, it's a it's too hard to see and 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:21.560 uh and it makes it makes this level way too hard. 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:24.680 They don't care. That's not what you're there for. If 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:26.560 you're a video game tester, you're not there to tell 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:28.719 them that their game is great or their game stinks. 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.000 You're there to tell them, hey, your game works or 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.920 it doesn't work right right, And you may you may 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:38.279 be asked to play let's say Level three over and 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.640 over and over again to make sure that it's playable 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.120 and then everything works correctly. Or you may just be 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:48.520 told to load level three over and over, not even playing, 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:51.200 just loading it over and over to make sure that 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:55.560 the game doesn't crash if you load and then restore 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.680 a saved gametimes in a row. Or you could be 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.760 asked to turn it on and off to see how 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:05.040 long the loading process actually takes for the game itself right. 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.040 You could also be told, hey, U turn on level three, 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.760 and you know we've got those in. If you've played 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.040 video games, you know a lot of video games have 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:16.840 invisible walls, which drive me nuts. I hate invisible walls. 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:18.840 But when you come up to the edge of a 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.080 level and it doesn't let you go any further, even 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.920 though you can see as a character that there's more there, 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:25.880 but there are people down there, I want to go 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:28.600 talk to them. They might want you to check every 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:31.880 single little space around the entire perimeter of the level 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:34.600 to make sure you don't pass through something and and 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:37.200 go somewhere you're not supposed to. This. This also applies 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.160 to levels where there are solid walls. They may say, oh, 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:42.160 you know what I need you to walk along the 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.680 perimeter of every single solid wall to make sure it 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.160 is solid and that you don't accidentally pass through and 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:49.000 go into a part of the level that you're not 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:52.760 supposed to. And of course, uh, this is where earlier 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:57.360 Easter Egg podcast comes into because sometimes there are you know, 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.920 deliberately holes and there was invisible walls, but they're there 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:03.120 for your reason. They don't want to make sure that 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.400 there aren't any that aren't supposed I don't want to 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.360 see like you somehow accidentally turned clipping off and then 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:11.760 you're able to just walk through everything. Um. Also another 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.000 thing to keep in mind when you're a video game tester, 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:17.120 like we've already pretty much I think we've runned into 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:18.880 the ground that you're not playing the game in order 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.760 to win it. Um also play straight through. Yeah, you're 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:25.920 also not necessarily playing the anything close to a final build. 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.320 What you might be playing might miss tons of of 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.000 functions and features, meaning that what you're what you are 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:37.040 currently running through will have no resemblance to the final 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.600 product once it's released. But um, I'm sorry, go ahead, no, no, 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:44.480 I'm sorry, Um to that point into your earlier point, Uh, 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.600 if from what I've read game testers basically get their 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:51.480 hands on the earliest playable version of the game, because um, 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.960 as soon as you know, they can get testing in there. 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.160 You know, if they keep building and building and building 0:08:57.160 --> 0:08:59.800 and wait until the final version is done and say, okay, 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:01.559 well we're pretty sure this is a playable build of 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:05.200 the game, go on ahead. Well, there might be layers 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.200 and layers and layers of code that depend on that 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:11.040 buggy chunk that causes problems that they'll have to completely recode. 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.480 So they need to get people uh testing those games 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:18.439 as soon as possible to prevent you know, additional mistakes 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.520 added on layer by a layer onto the uh unto 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.680 the original bug. So, um, you know this isn't something 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:28.080 that they wait until the final is done. Yeah. And 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:32.840 not only that, but uh, the once they fix a bug, 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:34.680 then you may have to go back and do the 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.120 exact same thing you just finished doing for the last 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.440 four hours, because they want to make sure that the 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:41.719 fix they put in actually fix the problem, and they 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:43.280 have to make sure that the fix they put in 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:48.120 doesn't break something else which does happen. Um, here's another 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.760 thing to throw out there. Besides the fact that yes, 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:54.040 the games you're gonna play, aren't gonna necessarily resemble the 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:57.800 final product, and yes, uh it's gonna You know, you're 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.920 not really playing to win, you're playing to make short works. 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.080 You don't have any real say in what kind of 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:06.600 games you're gonna be testing. Nope, but it might be 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:09.800 a long time between games. Um. We we actually have 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:11.559 an article on the side about this and what I 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.680 thought it was in uh uh an interesting analogy to 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.600 compare them to day laborers, because it's sort of like that. 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:19.760 I mean, you you could test a game and then 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.640 if the developer you work with doesn't have anything else 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.760 for you right now, you're you're gonna have to find 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:27.880 another job for a while until there's something else where, 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.320 you know, find another developer to work with. Yeah, And 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.480 it maybe that you're thinking, oh, awesome, I'm gonna be 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:37.199 working on the next super advanced first person shooter. I 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:39.800 can't wait. And then you find out your first assignment 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:43.400 is to test out my little kitten, and you have 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.000 to make sure that the kitten and my little kitten 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:48.920 behaves the right way and there's no problems, and and 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.400 that's your job for testing this game day and day 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.000 out for the next like three days. Um, you know, 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:57.040 I'm I'm a little upset because the AI and my 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:01.400 Little Kitten was awesome. Yeah. Uh, well I could never 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.280 get past the part where it just started to chunk 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:11.480 mice's mices mices at you. So for extemporaneous attempts again, 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.000 we'll just count that as a fail. So we'll call 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:20.280 that a Josh and Chuck moment. Uh. The So, yeah, 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:22.400 so you don't have any necessarily an you say, in 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.959 what kind of games you're gonna be playing? Uh? Now 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.880 that all all that being said, testing video games is 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:31.920 a very important part of the process, and it can 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.800 be a way to get into the video game industry, 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:37.960 although in order to do that, you you kind of 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:40.959 also need to have some background at least in your 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.040 school work to um, to suggest that you know, you 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:47.360 could move on to to perhaps become a developer or 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.160 an artist or you know, uh, you know, sound design 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:52.960 or something. Um. It's it's a lot harder to move 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:55.079 into those fields if you don't have the education to 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:57.760 back it up. But video game testing can be a 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:00.800 way to get into that, yes, um, and it helps 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.320 to be as professional as possible, you know, tell if 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:07.120 you're really seriously interested in this don't act, you know, 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:10.360 like you're just happy to play the game. Say, look, 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:14.400 I'm really interested in the development and learning more about 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:18.760 the processes of coding and developing this game. Further, I'm 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:21.559 really interested in user experience and making sure that the 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:25.560 players enjoy this game. Um, and the mechanics behind it. 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:28.240 And you know that's gonna that's gonna take you a 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:31.480 lot farther than going who I Got the latest shooter? Yeah. 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.839 And a lot of the the ads online for things 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:37.640 like especially for the web services that say that if 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.920 you sign up with them, you you'll get a leg 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:42.360 up in the industry. Um, A lot of them might 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.360 suggest that you could play even from home. So now 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.320 you're now you've got the ultimate fantasy. Right, You're sitting 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.160 at home. You don't even have to get dressed. You 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.000 just sit there, turn on the TV, start playing those games, 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.520 and and you know you're living the high life. In reality, 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:00.800 most of these video game companies require their game testers 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.480 to come in and test the games, because that way 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.920 they can work side by side with the developers and say, 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:09.160 all right, well, here's the problem. Here's the situation that 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:12.319 it comes up in uh, and uh, you know I 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:15.280 I was able to repeat the problem, so it's clear 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:17.240 that it's not just you know, a weird little glitch 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.400 that happened the one time. Um, and usually you're working, 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:22.560 you know, with a team of people who are working 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:25.280 on that one game. So it's not like you are this, 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:27.880 you know, this gamer sitting at home who just gets 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.640 paid to play games. Yeah. Actually that's a that's a 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.600 good point. We should talk about how much you could 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:36.400 make as a professional game tester, and and there's really 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:39.880 a broad range. Yeah, there is. Uh, in general, most 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:42.880 of them are paid on an hourly basis, and that 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.959 hourly basis when you start off, can be nine to 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.199 twelve dollars an hour, which is not that much, especially 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:51.680 when you keep in mind that you do not necessarily 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:54.720 have steady work. Yeah. Yeah, I mean you can make 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:57.480 as much as I've seen a hundred dollars an hour, 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:01.120 but that's really for advanced to testers. It tends to 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:04.600 be like game game tester leads, the people who who 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.800 are really in charge of coordinating with the developer team 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:09.960 and the testers to make sure that everything is is 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.840 running smoothly. Um. Yeah, so if you're looking at an 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:17.600 annual salary, I've seen ranges from everything around twenty thousand 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:20.560 dollars a year, which is not that great, to uh 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:24.560 around uh you know upboards of the eighty nine thousand 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:26.440 dollars a year, which is that's a lot of money, 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:31.400 especially when you're thinking about testing video games. Well for me, 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.520 that's a lot of money. And and you could be, Um, 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:37.160 when I was poking around two, you could be sort 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.240 of a low level tester in uh. You know, I 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.680 saw that Microsoft actually has people come in and basically 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:45.520 they'll give you a copy of the game if you'll 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:49.000 if you're willing to try it out. I would imagine that, Uh, 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:52.280 in those types of situations, it's like, Hey, we're going 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:54.440 live with this, We're planning and going live with this 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:56.960 in a week. We really want as many people to 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:58.520 come in and play this game as possible. If you 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:01.080 come in, we'll give you a copy of the game. Um, 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.560 that's not what I would consider like professional game testers, 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:06.000 but you know, if you're interested in trying it out, 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.280 it might give you an opportunity to do that. And 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.640 if you've ever seen the chance to sign up for 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:13.880 beta testing, beta testing can open it up to the 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:17.560 public sometimes not just you know, like some some companies 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:19.840 will do all their beta testing. Now, beta is the 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:23.400 build before you go gold, Yeah, which is when gold 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.960 Master is basically, this is a copy of the disc 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:29.160 that we're going to send to be duplicated, right, So yeah, 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.640 that's it's. It's usually sort of the non the the 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:35.880 version that doesn't have a name, than Alpha, than Beta, 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.920 than gold Maker. M it would have to be it's 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:45.200 the last one, so bet, but it should be UM. 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:47.960 But so a beta test beta build is supposed to 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:50.960 be as close to the final build as possible, although 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:53.240 there could still be problems that the ideas that it's 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:55.880 it is not locked into place, but it should be 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.160 what you would experience when you get hold of the 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:02.120 final copy UM in a perfect world. Anyway, in a 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:04.560 perfect world, you would not have to make any changes 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:06.440 to a beta copy and you would just go gold 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.600 from their companies will open this up to the general public, 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.640 and the reasoning behind it's pretty pretty simple. Yeah. So 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:15.440 the idea here is that you've got a lot of 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.000 players who are eager to play this particular game, and 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.480 you open up the beta testing to them, They're going 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:22.680 to play the heck out of the game in a 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:25.200 short period of time and if they see anything that's wrong, 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:27.240 they'll let you know. Uh, and you don't have to 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.280 pay them, so you no longer have to worry about 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.520 testers at that point. Now, before you get to that point, 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:35.400 you still need testers. It's not like you magically arrive 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.920 at the beta build without having tested your product before 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:42.040 that point. But it does mean that the testing process 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.600 doesn't have to be in house as long. Yeah, and 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.760 it's not as not really as as formal UM. I've 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.800 beta tested a couple UM programs in the past, and 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:54.840 generally they just ask you to send in an email 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.120 whenever you have a problem. You know that you need 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.160 to report. The funny thing is, I mean you know 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:00.960 that it's not like they in on you and go, hey, 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:05.159 so how's that testing going, right? UM? Although uh, you 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.399 know it does sound informal to do this, to have 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:10.480 the beta testers and you know, hey, you can try 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:14.200 out the program a week before UM it goes gold 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:16.160 and you know I'll have it three or four weeks 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:20.120 before it's on the shelves. Well, you know, it could 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.040 give you a leg up again on trying to get 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:23.760 in the door, because some of them, even for the 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.880 beta testing phase, have said, you know, have asked me, 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.480 have you ever beta tested a program before? And UM, 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:32.200 you know, if you could say, hey, I've I've beta 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:34.399 tested five or six programs. Now I'm interested in getting 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:36.879 in the industry that might give you the opportunity to 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:39.560 move up to be a professional level tester. Right. And 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:41.480 the other reason a lot of these companies do beta 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:43.639 beta testing I should have pointed this out to a 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.840 lot of them are for games that have an online component, 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:49.280 and so you have to load test, right. You have 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:51.119 to make sure that your servers are going to be 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.199 able to handle the kind of play that players are 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:56.640 gonna put them through, and so beta test is really 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:59.400 important to make sure that you know the infrastructure you've built. 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:01.840 Can actually so poor at the player base, not really 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:03.879 the end users game so much as it is the 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:09.600 back end of the game exact. So uh So, playtesters 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.560 tend to not make too much money when they start off. 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:14.960 They don't have a lot of saying what they get 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:18.520 to do. Um, they're not necessarily playing games that are 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.719 uh in their interest area, they're not necessarily playing them 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:25.280 the way they would want to. Um. But at the 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:28.680 same time, they are an integral part of video game 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:32.679 development and can go on to to really become a 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:34.879 bigger part of the industry. You know, I thought of 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:39.680 another minor but really big kill joy for those who 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:42.560 want to be professional gamers. You can't talk about it 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:46.159 because you're gonna have to sign a nondisclosure agreement formal 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:48.399 a formal legal agreement saying you know, I'm not going 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.600 to talk about this game. Um, so you can't. It's 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:53.199 not like you can go hang out with your buddies 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.960 and go you should see this thing. You know, there's 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:58.440 this thing on level five. You can't do that. This 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.320 game has got m pchanics that that you know, our 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:04.640 brand new and have never been seen in the video 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:06.600 game industry. You wouldn't be able to talk about that either, 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:08.760 or even you know, this thing is the biggest piece 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:12.640 of junk that will ever grace the shelves, or even 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.200 in some cases this thing exists. In some cases, you 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:18.199 wouldn't even be able to mention the name of it. 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:21.320 So so that makes it a little less fun too. Yeah, 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:23.960 but now that's not to say that video game testers 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:27.000 never have any fun. We're just trying to to dispel 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:30.040 some of the myths about the whole industry. Because you 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:31.960 sit there and you think about, hey, I would love 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:33.840 to be able to PLoP this disk in my Xbox 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:36.320 and play all day and then get paid for it. Um. No, 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:39.560 it's a job. Yeah, it's It's a job like other jobs, 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:41.440 And like other jobs, there are times where you want 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:45.399 to strangle your coworker, like when he's looking at his iPad. 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:50.800 I'm just this is an example. No, but you know, 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:55.840 maybe video game reviewer. Now you're talking. Actually, video game 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:58.000 reviewers do a lot of the same stuff the video 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:00.880 game testers, due to not just I mean they'll play 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:02.480