Posts Tagged ‘Video’

Video Games Tester – Do You Have What It Takes?

March 26th, 2021

There are some fundamental characteristics that are exhibited my most successful testers that help them do well in this job market. If you are looking for video game tester jobs it certainly helps to enjoy playing these kinds of games, and in most cases the time spent in gaming activities has improved your eye-hand coordination to the point that you have good gaming skills and an understanding of game play beyond the average person.

Unfortunately most “want to-be” game testers fool themselves into believing that a love of video gaming and some talent is all that is required to be successful at game tester jobs and get paid to play games all day long. Should you be fortunate enough to be hired under this false sense of understanding, you will be in for a rude awakening, and in many cases not last long in any game testers jobs.

It is vital that we make an important distinction between being paid to test video games and video game beta testing. Game beta testing is done by volunteers, who usually test the full version of the game just before the release date looking for any last minute problems to report. No payment is generally involved for game beta testing other than getting to play a new game before the general public sees it. This article focuses on the actual job where people get paid to play video type games in the role of testers.

Welcome to the “real world” of being a paid video games tester. Your job is very important despite the fact that you are often making only minimum wages as an entry level games tester. The fate of the gaming development company is on your shoulders since you are the ones who must find any problems or “bugs” within the game so they can be fixed or eliminated before the game can be sold to the buying public. No game development company can afford to have a “lemon” or seriously flawed game released to the public. It could cost them millions of dollars in research and development and destroy their reputation in the competitive game marketplace for a long time.

Game testers jobs may require you to work on many repetitive tasks such as playing the same level of the game numerous times, switching the gaming device on and off over and over, checking and rechecking in-game messaging capabilities, and the list goes on. Close to the release date of the game, you may be requested to work extended hours to ensure any and all potential problems with the video game have been identified by your team of video game testers and still be fixed in time.

So what kind of job qualities do you need to be a successful paid video games tester? Given the kinds of work that you will be required to do, especially as an entry level tester, the following qualities will serve you well.

Are you…

willing to do the same task over and over again looking for potential problems?
a patient person who understands that some testing tasks may take a great deal of time and cannot be rushed through to get done as quickly as possible?
very deliberate and meticulous in your approach to finding problems and solving problems?
not easily bored as you may required to do video game testing tasks that are very dull and repetitive?
a team player, as most often you will be part of a group of video game testers working on different parts of the same game, so you need to relate and get along well with others.
capable of following explicit directions about a task and not prone to trying to “do your own thing”?
tenacious in your approach to successful accomplishing your game testing tasks and not one who gives up easily if things are not going well?
able to effectively communicate both verbally and in writing very detailed information concerning any “bugs” in the video game you discover so that they can be fixed?
flexible with respect to being “on call” for possible shift work or having to put in extra hours if required by your development team leader?
able to deal with job pressure and stress effectively, especially when given job deadlines to meet?
capable of “keeping job secrets”, since as a paid video game tester you will be required to never discuss your testing work outside the testing site or face instant job termination and possible criminal charges if you do.
These job qualities are certainly not “written in stone” as the only ones that matter to be a successful games tester, however they do provide a good starting point for your own self-analysis as to whether or not you could be successful in game tester jobs. Do you have what it takes to be a video games tester?

Benefits of Gaming – PC and Video Games

January 26th, 2021

New PC and video games are not only capable of providing fun and excitement for everyone, but they can also give certain benefits and advantages.

With the help of advanced technology and popularity, the gaming industry has advanced and expanded rapidly over the years.

If we are looking for categorization of videos games, they are broadly divided into eight major categories:

Action

These are fast paced and may contain a large amount of violence due to this. Action games are usually inappropriate for children. Such games fall under the category “M” (mature-rated). Examples are Halo, Star Wars, Jedi Knight and Enter the Matrix.

Adventure and Role Playing

These are normally not as graphic as action games and can take the player into surrealism and fantasy. Though adventure and role-playing games often contain violence, it is not found to be as intense as the violence in action games. Examples of this category are Borderlands 2, Final Fantasy, Legend of Mana and Billy Hatcher.

First Person Shooters

As the name implies, it is a game in which the player sees the action through the eyes of the character he is representing and involves the use of pistols or rifles to kill the enemy. Due to the violence involved in this genre of games, they are not suitable for young children. Examples of these games are “Half-Life, “Half-Life 2″, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” and so on.

Construction and Management Simulation (CMS)

As the name suggests, in the games belonging to this genre, the players are expected to build, expand and manage imaginary projects and communities with very little resources. Examples of this genre include, “SimCity” and “Harvest Moon”.

Strategy

Here the accent is on strategy rather than on violence and these games are slower which gives the player time for strategic thinking, resource management and planning to achieve victory. Most are warfare based and so violence is not completely absent. These games are not suitable for children. Some examples are Advanced Wars I & II, Civilization V and Crusader Kings II.

Simulation

These are video or computer games that simulate real world situations under game settings. In this category, the three well-known games are Racing Simulators, Flight Simulators and Sims. There are lots of games in this class to entertain children. Some examples of simulation games are: Football Manager, Farming Simulator 2013, The Sims and Evil Genius.

Platformer

The Platform Game or Platformer is consists of jumping between suspended platforms of varying heights or obstacles and sometimes both to move forward in the game. Some examples of Platformer are 40 Winks, Abuse, Action 52 and Adventure Island.

PUZZLES

Puzzle video games are a class of games that require puzzle solving. The kinds of puzzles that need to be solved can involve many problem solving skills such as using logic, word completion sequence solving, strategy and pattern recognition. Some examples of Puzzle Video Games are Mario, Bejeweled 3, Cradle of Rome 2 and Hidden Objects.

While on the subject, let’s not forget Sports games such as NHL 13, and FIFA Soccer 13 and Arcade games such Chicken Shoot 1, Toy Story Mania and Angry Birds to name a few.

Nowadays, video games are enjoyed by a wide cross-section of our society, from toddlers to grandparents and these have been accepted by everyone as a good manner of entertainment and seen to be better than watching TV as it requires the viewer’s participation and interaction.

The general feeling is that video games do not provide any benefits to the player and especially so in the case of children.

Contrary to this belief, there are many benefits in allowing children to play certain types of games. Most important of these benefits is the development of:

· Cognitive thinking skills

· Fine motor skills

· Real-time decision-making abilities

· Hand-eye coordination

· Cooperative playing skills

Keeping video games out of the reach of children can only deprive them of these benefits.

A child’s imagination can be stimulated through role-playing and adventure games. Even if some of these games can seem tasteless due to its graphic nature and violence, they can play a positive and important role in a child’s development by promoting teamwork, building confidence and improving motor skills. Playing such video games will only provide a child with a healthy means of expression.

Certain video games are believed to teach children high level thinking skills which they would benefit from in the future.

Now that we have looked at the benefits for children, let’s look at what benefits video games hold for the rest of us.

Research into the pros and cons of video games are being conducted by various bodies including universities in some parts of the world and the result is that the pros outweigh the cons in respect of benefits.

When playing video games, you would need to react quickly and take split second decisions in order to succeed in the given task. It is believed that this kind of practice would provide benefits in real life where you would be able react with speed and take quick decisions.

Brain scientists have discovered that a certain driving video game, created by a research and development team at the University of California in San Francisco could improve the short-term memory and long-term focus of older adults.

It was found that immersion in a game distracts the mind from pain and discomfort. Due to this reason, some hospitals have started to suggest that children and others undergoing painful treatments play games to reduce their distress and anxiety.

Some video games have provided improvement in “Cognitive Flexibility”, which is the ability to switch quickly from one task to another.

Researchers from North Carolina State University found a link between playing video games and mental well-being among the elderly. They found that those citizens who played video games, even occasionally, experienced a state of well- being and happiness.

Gaming can also improve family relationships, as some of these games can and should be played together.

According to some studies conducted at the University of Rochester, people playing certain titles of video games have shown improvements in tests in the following areas:

• Multitasking

• Attention

• Accuracy

• Vision

The only thing a video game player or his or her family needs to ensure is that it does not become addictive in any way. A video game player shouldn’t end up spending hours on end playing games and losing track of time and place and while neglecting duties, personal chores and responsibilities.

Another thing that the parents of minors need to ensure is that their kids get access only to educational or similar games which are suitable for their age group and the good news is that there’s a huge selection of games available that are appropriate for all ages.

A video game content rating is a system is available in many countries and they are used to classify video games into suitability-related age groups with respect to its contents which, if followed, will help to limit the negative aspects of some of the games.

Finally, if video game players are able to play in moderation, and stick only to the categories of games suitable for their respective ages, they can derive a number of benefits as cited above.