They say you can make a living playing video games. I say my prayers have finally been answered.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could just sit at home play video games and make thousands of dollars? It sounds completely insane, right? Well, GamingJobsOnline.com swears that it’s possible, but I can already tell you, they’re pulling your leg while reaching for your wallet.
GamingJobsOnline.com Claims…
The biggest claim they make is that you can work from home, at your leisure, and make upwards of $30/hr playing video games. Laughable, right? Well, GamingJobsOnline.com says it is possible, but it will cost you $37 to learn how to do so. (Sidenote: Your membership also includes information on how to make thousands of dollars taking online surveys and how to watch satellite TV for free. Uhh.. what?)
This should leave you with two questions:
- Why does it cost money to find out how to get a job?
- Why would anyone work a real job when they could sit at home, play video games, and make money doing so?
Game Testing From Wikipedia
So, is there a career in game testing? Well, yes, yes there is. Take it away Wikipedia!
Compensation
Despite the job’s difficulty, game testing doesn’t pay a great deal and is usually paid hourly (around USD$10 – $12 an hour). Testing management is usually more lucrative, but this type of job usually requires years of experience and some type of college degree. For this reason, as mentioned earlier, most game testing jobs are taken as “foot in the door” positions, used as a stepping stone for more lucrative lines of work in game development.
As a career
Within the game industry, testing usually falls under a title such as quality assurance (QA). However, game QA is far less technical than general software QA. Many game testers have only a high school diploma and no technical expertise. Game testing is normally a full-time job with expectation of regular overtime, but many employees are usually hired as temps and the length of employment varies. In some cases, if the tester is working for a publisher, the tester may be sent off to work at the developer’s site rather than in his employer’s own offices. The most aggressive recruiting season is late summer/early autumn, as this is the start of the crunch period for games to be finished and shipped in time for the holiday season.
A common misconception is that professional game testing is akin to a public beta test or stress test, where players are expected to enjoy the game and report any bugs they happen to find. In reality, game testing is highly focused on finding bugs, often using tedious methodologies. Even if one could play the game freely, there is no guarantee that the game is stable or fun enough to be enjoyable. A tester may be required to play the same portion of a game repeatedly for hours at a time. Understandably, burn-out is common in this field.
Despite the demanding and risky nature of the job, game testing doesn’t pay a great deal and is usually paid hourly, with wages ranging from USD$8 to $15 per hour in the United States. As temps, testers typically receive no benefits or holidays and simply take unpaid vacation days when desired. Some testers use the job as a stepping stone in the game industry, but the success of this strategy is unproven, and depends on which part of the game industry the tester desires to work in. QA résumés, which display non-technical skill sets, tend towards management, then to marketing or production. Those wishing to land a job in programming, art, or design usually need to demonstrate their skills in these areas, either by taking jobs outside the industry and/or working on mods.
Did that confuse you? It probably should have. The truth is that there are video game testing positions, but they’re not as lucrative as GamingJobsOnline.com makes them out to be. Do they exist? Absolutely, but they’re mainly entry level jobs into video game companies.
GamingJobsOnline Refund and Contact Info
I did a fair amount of digging and couldn’t find anything. The whois information is falsified and I couldn’t find a phone number to call or the name of the owner or anything really. I managed to find out that the site operates out of the Philippines with servers in Quebec, Canada, but that’s as deep as I was able to go. A possible email address is louie.pixelwise@gmail.com but I have no way of confirming this.
Clickbank does handle all of the payment processing for GamingJobsOnline.com. If you’re looking to get a refund visit this page: http://www.clickbank.com/orderDetail.htm?clear=true and fill out the form to process your refund.
The Bottom Line
If you’re absolutely interested in becoming a video game tester, check the job boards of big name video game developers. After searching for just a few minutes, I was able to find 6 different video game testing positions. The pay averaged around $10/hour but every job required you to be on-site. This is far from the $40k/year at-home salary GamingJobsOnline.com promises.
Bottom line: Stay away from GamingJobsOnline.com
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