Being paid to play

Anyone here ever applied or worked as a game tester? I feel that this would be dream job lol, but I guess there are little opportunities for so many people wanting to do it...

 

I can't imagine the pay being very good for this type of job either, but I couldn't say for sure.

 

I might enjoy this job, but probably only for about an hour or so a day.

 

I would enjoy being paid to play games. Most people dislike or will get bored of doing such a thing, but in no offense, he or she lacks imagination and care for aesthetics of a game. In other words, you have to put yourself in the mindset or perception of a game creator, such as judging why paint that tree in a dark-tan color instead of a green-brown color, or how the appearance of a character doesn't match their names. Playing games for pay, isn't about liking, disliking, or enjoying a game, it's about criticizing the game's virtues and flaws in all it's dynamics, into a summarization.

 

If it weren't a full-time gig (just 2-3 hours/day), I would love to do something like this. I wouldn't even know where to even start looking for gigs like that though.

 

It is worth mentioning that there are a lot of very different opinions on what defines a well paying job and that money is not always worth as much as worker satisfaction and sense of contribution. A quick google search will show that there are some tester jobs that pay well, but most don't... not far above min wage really. Also usually do not include benefits such as medical, 401k and the like. It appears that they can often be a great 'foot in the door' job at larger companies to work up the ranks to more desirable positions though. I am in total agreement on wanting to play for fun and not be stuck playing the same thing, probably same levels/areas/parts of a game for hours and days at a time. I would consider it if I were still in school or looking for part time work, but never full time.

 

Being paid to test games ain't what people dream it is. You play a very unfinished product for months and try to do shit to find out all the bugs and glitches. By the time the finished playable product is out, you're sick of the game.

The only time I've actually earned money by playing games is from Green Man Gaming's Playfire Rewards system. It's only GMG credit though and the program sucks ass right now. There's not many rewards now. I got around $10 just from playing Dark Souls 2 and getting all its achievements back then, but it isn't that good now...

 

Yeah, game testers actually have to require a lot more than just how to play and criticize games. They need to find game breaking bugs, and some bugs can take hours and hours to reproduce. It's more than just saying "I like this aspect," or "I'd be cool if this was added in." It'll probably get really old really fast, especially when you're testing the same exact game over and over again. You're looking at the game from a developer's perspective rather than a consumer, creator, or design perspective. Story means nothing if you've got game breaking bugs at every turn. I've read comments of people who found bugs that took over 4 hours to reproduce, and for the development team to actually spend time on it, it'd have to be reproduced 10 times. Sometimes game testers will have to actually look at the command console for the game and see where it goes wrong, and that requires a lot more than just putting yourself from a game creator's perspective.

 

I can see where you'd get tired of testing a game after a while but I'd still love to try it. Getting paid to play video games is basically the dream Beats sitting a desk all day, that's for sure...

 

I would never take such a job. Apart from the fact that it doesn't pay well, I am certain that you would have to play the same game for longer than you would like, sapping away the enjoyment you might have received from it. At the same time, you would have to deliberately 'break' the game in order to discover glitches and bugs, and that takes time. Having to stare at a monitor for more than 4 hours simply does not appeal to me.

 

Testing games ain't the wonderful "paid to play games". You're paid to play the same game for hours a day, constantly repeat buggy/glitchy sections of the game trying to find new bugs/glitches and such. You will the same unfinished awful game a million times over. By the time the proper finished game comes out, you're already sick of the game.

One way I did like to get paid to play games was Playfire rewards, though that was only Green Man Gaming credit for getting in-game achievements. It used to be good, like I got around $7 for getting all achievements in Dark Souls 2 (and I bought Starbound just using GMG credit) but now it sucks and the rewards are few and low.

 

I have never done it, although I would like to try it out. Not only are you one of the first people to play the game, you'd also see how it will progress until the time it's gonna be launched. I know it's not only just going to be playing though, you'd actually have to find bugs and try to look for improvements. You can still have fun though. It's just like participating in a Closed Beta, only you're more obliged to look for errors now.

 

I would love to do this job. Although there would be lots of bugs in the game you play, but what is better than getting paid for playing a game. When you start enjoying the work you do, it longer remains as a game. It is very important to understand the functionality of different games to actually to give reviews of the games. I would love to have this job on any given day.

 

I would love being paid to play games. I would one day want to test games such as Just Dance or Dance Dance Revolution. Those games is what helped me stay fit when I am stuck in the house.

 

My dream job when I was a grade schooler, LOL but today, I won't take a bite on it, this can be tedious, repetitive and boring. I would always prefer a job that would involve critical thinking.

 

Has always sounded like a dream job but I think I would like to play the finished product more than I would want to play the unfinished game. I also dont think I would be very good at finding bugs. I just want the action and the storyline haha.

 

Touche. I too wouldn't mind being paid to play. I could do it for as long as possible. It would make for a good part-time job - unless the pay is great then I'd have to do it on a full-time basis. I heard of children and teenagers in this business and they actually make a lot of money from playing alone.

 

In my opinion, a game testing job is something that a gamer wouldn't want. You are supposed to 'play' the game and find bugs in every possible way you can. You have to play the game again and again, especially if it has multiple endings. You have to write reports on how exactly you found the bugs. It is a busy and frustrating job and you lose all the enjoyment from the game.