Wouldn't it be nice: Being paid for playing video games? Well, there are many people doing exactly that for a living. The amount of video games hitting the market is rising each year, and the complexity of the games are increasing.

I used to work in the video games industry for 4 years and I can tell you: It is a tough industry. The people who devlop games and test them are not only doing it for the money. They do it because they love video games.

I was a game developer - to be exact a programmer - and I can tell you: Nothing beats that feeling when you are in a store and watch other people buy a game you have developed!

But I didn't want to talk about developing games today - I wanted to talk about testing video games. To be honest: As the developer I always hated the testers. Because they always came up with these strange bug reports that were so hard to reproduce.

I got too know quite a few video game testers. And unlike what people think they are not always those hard core gamers. Some of them are just normal people. Why? Becasue it is normal people who buy video games and game development companies need to get feedback from exatly those kind of people.

Not only if the game crashes. This is the easiest type of bug to find. But thather if the game is fun and motivating throughout all the stages.

It is getting too hard at a certain point? Or maybe too easy? Neither option would be good for the motivation of the player.

A video game tester needs to be persistent and needs to be able to play the same part over and over again - a point where a normal gamer would have given up long ago.

Video game testers also need to be able to vary their game - somthing 95% of video gamers are not. Varying their game means they need to approach the same situation different each time. Most gamers have a typical game pattern they follow: They always choose the character that resembles them. If there is a turn, they always turn right. If they need to shoot, they either shoot instantly or too late. But they always react the same way. This is bad. Becasue games need to be tested in all variations and from all angles.

Only game testers who are able to simulate different types of players will be able to spot all the problem zones a video game has to offer.

Finally, each player - even most game testers will overlook certain things if they have seen them for the 137th time. Again a bad thing, becasue the games being tested are still under development and the game today isn't the same it was 2 weeks ago.

If you are interested in being a video game tester and I wasn't successful in talking you out if it...well then that's probabaly what you should be doing.

Click here to know if you have got what it takes.

I tried hard but if you are still reading you should go here for more information.