Earn money testing video games: is it for you?
“Earn money by testing video games!” Admit it, you’ve seen this ad before and you thought it had to be too good to be true. Well, it is and it isn’t. Let me explain:
First of all, understand that you will not become a millionaire by playing video games. However, you can live on it. So if you visit one of these sites thinking you’ll get rich quick, think again. However, if you want to delve into the video game industry, this might be a place to start.
Second, you have to realize that it is not extremely glamorous. You can spend hours and hours replaying the same game, the same area, or even the same part of an area trying to get all the bugs and little nuances out. Sure, you can brag about how you make a living playing video games, just know that it’s not all fun and games…sort of.
Now, if you’re still interested, there’s the schedule. Depending on who you work for, this can vary a lot. Some companies will want you to be in a certain area where they can monitor your activity. However, there are now companies that have testers who work from home in their own free time. Here, people are more likely to play the game as they normally would, so it has its benefits. It is true that it is a nice benefit for the tester.
Finally, you should know that breaking into the field is not easy. There are plenty of people who would be willing to earn $10-$20 an hour starting salary to play video games. Not only that, but many people are trying to advance in the industry for designing, songwriting, and other positions. It can be competitive.
There are ways in, if you have the right tools. There are some products available that can teach you exactly where to go, who to talk to, and pretty much everything you need to do to succeed as a game tester.
Hopefully this article helped explain the basics of a tester’s life, but there’s obviously much, much more to it. I barely mentioned the benefits of the job, like being able to play games months, even years before release. But surely you already knew this, or you wouldn’t be interested at all.
So there it is. If you still want to get into a career testing video games, good luck and have fun!
