Most of the time, playing games, whether online or offline, is considered to bring negative effects as it is responsible for various juvenile problems such as gaming addiction, tendency towards violence, and even withdrawal from social life. However, in healthy amounts, gaming also has its upsides. It turns out that nowadays, you can also make money from your gaming skills.
The gaming industry has developed massively within these past Pragmatic88 few years, with many companies having developed and launched new products to fulfill the various demands of gaming enthusiasts all over the world. Prior to public launching, the developers will launch a beta version of these new games. This is where testers step in to check the quality of these pre-release versions. Imagine when you play and it crashes every time you reach certain level: if released as it is, such errors surely will become a joy killer. The testers are there to prevent this kind of thing from happening.
Just like many other jobs, becoming a tester requires special skills and interests: you have to be skilled at playing games and are interested in it. No certain educational backgrounds or certifications are required. Can this job be any more fun? Although not promising a steady career opportunity or huge earnings, the job is indeed quite rewarding. Based on a survey conducted by the Game Developer Magazine in 2008, a tester may receive an annual income of $39,062 on average. The amount of your income depends greatly on your game-play skills.
The main task of an online game tester is to test pre-release versions of new games, and along with it, he or she must report any glitches, crashes, bugs, or other errors occurring to the developer. The developer will then fix the bugs and glitches before the official game launch.
To become an online game tester, you can either work for the developer or simply become a “freelancer”. Every so often, developers will open job opportunities for gaming enthusiasts to become permanent testers in the company. You can join them by applying for the position or simply register at certain game testing websites. Other companies, on the other hand, prefer to cooperate with their loyal customers. These “freelancers” should initially purchase the beta version prior to becoming testers. Whichever way the company chooses, you will get paid for the job. On average, you can receive around $50 per hour for your gaming skills.
Apart from being skillful at playing games, you should also have good Internet connectivity and proper computer skills. As current online games commonly come with great graphics, you should equip your computer with at least the game’s minimum requirements.