I was wondering if anyone knows how i could get into video game testing?
I know i am only 14, but i don't know where to start, do i have to be 18? or do you need to pay?
I am wanting to get paid for it when i become 18(because i know now i won't get paid) I just don't know where to start.
Please help.

what do you mean by testing? alpha testing?

3 questions:

1. Why do you want to be a game tester?
   
2. What do you think qualifies you as a game tester?
   
3. Have you done any testing previously (e.g. beta testing for an established company)?

Quote from JJ72 :

what do you mean by testing? alpha testing?

Alpha, beta ect...
Hopefully for xbox 360 cause my pc is not up to the standards of the newer games.

alpha testing is done in house, so that's out of the window.

Beta testing is public but usually game companies will go for people who are specilized in a certain type of game, however it's a freelance kind of relationship and you will have to demonstrate your ability to find out faults and it's not a consistent income.

I don't see why you want to become a tester though, because most of the time you are grinding the game to the ground, deliberately finding bugs and glitches instead of playing the game itself.

Most game testing opportunity is on the PC, since they have to test the game on a variety of systems, they will need more testers, so if you limit yourself to an XBOX there's not much to do.

if you are really interested you can go to this site: http://jobs.industrygamers.com/

Everyone wants to work in the games industry, and every 14 year old wants to be a games tester. My advice would be to contract some developers and try to find out what the job actually involves and how you can get into it.

Quote from amp88 :

3 questions:

1. Why do you want to be a game tester? Because video games are just awesome, and i love playing them.
   
   
2. What do you think qualifies you as a game tester? I am pretty smart for being home schooled, and i am pretty good at almost every game i play, GTA IV, COD4, Counter strike, i think i would be a great help for a company.
   
3. Have you done any testing previously (e.g. beta testing for an established company)? Nope.
   

Answered.

Quote from mutt107 :

Answered.

Yeah, you answered as I expected. You really should research game testing before deciding to try and move into it. Games testing isn't about getting to play a game 6 months before anyone else does and trying to get high scores or complete it on difficult. It's about testing to see if you can break any aspects of the game (e.g. level design, menu choices), checking that you can actually complete the game if you take different paths and options through it and it has to be done methodically. If you really want to get into game testing good luck with it, but honestly I don't think you have a clue what it really takes. You'd be disappointed if you got dropped straight into a testing job right now.

My brother would actually be suited for this kind of job... He's autistic and struggles to do what games tell him to do (unless he feels like it). As a result he'll go around trying to jump into everything, trying to make AI characters glitch, trying to make stupid things happen etc. Because of the autism, he'll do it in an obsessive way without getting bored, which makes him very effective.

The best thing he ever discovered was in DRIV3R: He found that if you jumped up stairs at 45degrees, you would be hit by an invisible car. It's extremely frustrating to watch him but he would very much get the job done.

/thread hijack

Just search life of a games tester on Google and it'll put you right off

Having tested several games in my time, from open betas of major releases to alpha testing for community mods, let me give you an advice:

IT ISN'T FUN

Okay, open testing is, because it's pretty much just playing the game for free for a few weeks before the launch. But it's nothing you'd get paid for.

But any more in depth of game testing is very tedious. All you do is basically look for bugs and exploits and try to reproduce them. That means doing the same things ad nauseam, and protocoll them as detailed as possible. And for every single bug, you have to do it everytime a fix tried to deal with it.
And afterwards, you can't really enjoy the final product, as firstly, it got ruined because of the repetition (much like a word loses it's meaning if you repeat it numerous times), and because you know of every bug that still remained in it, and no matter how well polished, they will still be everywhere, and to you, be very obvious.

So honestly, if you love games, DON'T become a tester, rather become a reviewer. But that's also a hard enough feat, as there are millions of people wanting to be one, so it's nigh impossible to get a job, even if you have a profound journalistic background.

Those of us lucky enough to pursue our passions as a career are very lucky to have a job we enjoy for the first few months of doing it. After that, the passion is replaced by daily grind.

If you are passionate about games, games testing isn't the job for you. If you are really keen on the path though then I recommend getting a BASIC 3D programming language, a simple one like Blitz3D is more than adequate.

A few months spent exploring the fundamentals of how to write a 3D game and the problems that programmers face will help you more than 8 years of university study with the best tutors in the world.

In short, if you are really passionate about games and getting into the games industry, then try writing some games. You dont need to create the latest AA game to garner a useful understanding of programming concepts that will then serve you well throughout your life no matter what industry you finaly end up in... (Once I did some temp work in an office doing spreadsheet work, I wrote a program to help me in my lunch break and knocked 3 days off my working week etc etc).

If you are really set on getting into the games industry, then the best way to understand games is to create them.

For paid testing, you could either be hired by the game developers directly (I suspect not a lot of positions for this, in a company of over 100 staff we have just 2 staff purely for QA, although other people such as desginers and producers do help out with this a bit), or to a company that provides testing services, such as (the only two I know off the top of my head) GameShastra or testology.

Testing, as other people have mentioned, is not the same as playing games, so don't assume you will find it as interesting as actually playing a game, although many people find it a grind, there are no doubt people who enjoy it. During a recent push, we had programmers working until the early hours of the morning, 7 nights a week, in order to get work done in time. They're glad now it's over, but they did it because the love the work, no other reason (we don't get paid overtime). They enjoyed the adrenaline kick and knowing everyone else there during those extra hours is also there for the same reason. Now I'm not saying testing has quite the same buzz to it, but the point I'm trying to make is that there are no doubt many people who would never do that.

I am looking to become a Jeremy Clarkson, now that's my kind of testing

Quote from Mp3 Astra :

My brother would actually be suited for this kind of job... He's autistic and struggles to do what games tell him to do (unless he feels like it). As a result he'll go around trying to jump into everything, trying to make AI characters glitch, trying to make stupid things happen etc. Because of the autism, he'll do it in an obsessive way without getting bored, which makes him very effective.

The best thing he ever discovered was in DRIV3R: He found that if you jumped up stairs at 45degrees, you would be hit by an invisible car. It's extremely frustrating to watch him but he would very much get the job done.

/thread hijack

epic lol!!!!

Only people who hate playing videogames can become gametesters. It's not fun and has nothing to do with playing games.

Quote from Jertje :

Only people who hate playing videogames can become gametesters. It's not fun and has nothing to do with playing games.

yeah, its only about getting them free for your son