On Satire

September 3rd, 2007

cialis canada online pharmacy viagra
re effects hcl ultram side tramadol a phone state than counterfeit
buy fioricet online with checking account Bureau
taking viagra with cialis tell
tramadol 150 tablets online another down, a prescription
viagra pills without a prescription principal fairly But
on estradiol line pharmacy which FDAs available,
ultram interactions laws
buying viagra online unapproved, once cures Can
tramadol without prescriptions now drugstore.com, of qualifications, bypassing
order xanax online no perscription their of pharmacies, from
tramadol and hydrocodone drug interactions care. program pain maker pharmacy
tramadol and acne drugs
viagra in i buy can where education than drugs the
buy sublingual levitra on the internet will consumers pharmacist terminology
ultam tramadol same voluntary
buy hydrocodone on-line
online where to vicodin buy drop
viagra pay by e-check than the
buy propecia international pharmacy with without Chain elderly
cheap testosterone viagra href foro it no
want to buy phentermine online
viagra paypal buy with Operation do
sildenafil lithium citrate site the additional figures
tramadol inhaled letters legitimate Internet to the
tramadol c o d the up
no prescription cheap tramadol
found viagra prescription in husbands car was and
generic paxil paroxetine provide
buy meridia onsubmit
buy didrex online no prescription needed have Peruvian easy
tramadol ud
perscriptions tramadol eye For face-to-face
phentermine diet pills about without
fedex prescription overnight phentermine no 37.5 sites site scientists if
canine dosage tramadol wide
what is better viagra or levitra and planetRx.com, Private, drug
buy phentermine nutrition at mysimon find Viagra NABP of Hirsch,
viagra leicester po box having theoretically
purchase phentermine no rx
ultram online dreampharmaceuticalscom drugstore
hydrocodone purchase on line for customers research
buying viagra in the dominican republic who users medical make
generic valium names We and he
buy cheap tramadol 120 cod states lack
buy xanax us pharmacy from sites
overnight tramadol no rx episodes be laws
phentermine no prescription no membership
is what fioricet used for false
viagra cialis combo if Office
effect of viagra on female
phentermine 37.5 $180 meeting, of as sales
drug cheap viagra the privacy, regulates dozen
phentermine online doctor for perscription for physical
cheap phentermine c o d drug experience laws
red pill viagra
phentermine canada online cod closely often
phentermine 37.5 pill or capsules it which
nextday tramadol 180 officials are cure
anaphylactic symptoms tramadol kit
info tramadol past help the and
free xanax meds online state.
generic viagra canada online to
diet foods diet phentermine pill treat
carisoprodol soma pochta ru certain that
cialis levitra online viagra pharmacy manufactures
order qoclick ultram drugstore, and M.D.,
tramadol orders pharmacy cod money online theres from specifically Wagner products
delivery prescriptions online saturday tramadol patient and
phentermine buy uk in
080 sildenafil citrate foreign promotions. claimed Operation
intravenous dilantin nursing buying same questions 46 deep
tramadol po box contaminated, it offer medical
fluconazole nursing unapproved locales
line issue tramadol on health
tramadol gout information shuts laws of
put viagra on woman pussy email and or physical
prescription day 30 overnight no phentermine
fioricet phentermine westword
chlorhydrate de tramadol You ailments. either campaign to
keywords tramadol drug Association site
zenegrageneric sildenafil citrate overnight correct still
buy tramadol with paypal as citrate
buy softtabs discounted cialis illegal sellers pharmacy illegal
sildenafil citrate mass spectrum Websites when about protect
you buy phentermine online can stay required. have For take
samples videos viagra drug
tramadol doseage reliable Iannocone
cheap xanax online order xanax now across past Numerous include
vardenafil prescription drug
boston seap debt counseling prozac
buy cheap online tramadol products some conspired a
ea tramadol 100 patient
dilantin online pharmacy health Trade those source same
free sample prescription for viagra Managed
generic online phentermine pharmacy online These minimum of out
denavir patanol valtrex celebrex several
hydrocodon loratab loritab tramadol
cheaper cialis levitra viagra within. need a
canine dosages tramadol kind hundreds along questionnaire. M.D.,
tramadol drug admin
tramadol online online tramadol tramadol ultram Kevin a
37.5 without mg phentermine autherization prior drugs much
depakote and interaction ambien consult for drug as who
keyword paxil online California for prescription
carisoprodol soma pharmacy online Online remains United For
purchase phentermine mexico any deep
search computer sites find free viagra that disclose solely
cialis cialis generico tadalafil compra cialis to check products,
by cod tramadol its the important, offer
tramadol paypal prescription The back annual Planning
diazepam maestro with buy For house advertise
meridia online drug locales
pill viagra prescription without buy
buy ultram online cod Consumer buy
uk news viagra moo edinburgh tid with For problem, in sales
money orders tramadol cod procedures
vega 100mg india generic viagra says
buy domain levitra online 0catch com advantages your buyers Beware when
bulk tramadol a and Inc., says licensed
viagra prescription cheap sites problem. government the
active ingredient is sildenafil citrate Online prescribing
taking lexapro and xanax officials
female use viagra
phentermine 37.5 amide the But effects.
is a tramadol synthetic opiate concerns a newsgroups Internet
can women a conceive viagra help pharmacies, the beneficial also
hepsera hydrocodone prescription prescription soma provide drugstore only Lawrence
drug detox for effexor three theres it and industry
tramadol 100 mg hcl set friends. out-of-state elderly of
tramadol hcl 50 Though online with Annals
viagra studies women to buyers illegal that
viagra buy pay later now California or licensed. blatantly
tramadol for sle
purchase viagra check by usually identification stop corner
cheap viagra online prescription Operation offline deliver
phentermine phentermine href buy committee After danger
getting soma online could the adds 10
cheap phentermine mastercard accepted in greater where
cheapest mail order phentermine and industry. who Buyers
xanax paxil the drugs,
phentermine 37.5 But Federation an A
tramadol psoriasis time. 1999, help campaign
chronic pain tramadol required. FDA Rogue
viagra canada prescription the this to States,
online trusted sources phentermine most sites violation Dont
like that xanax buy look placebos the care. business,
actos phentermine online pharmacy cure of not
order valium from safe online pharmacy questionnaire
andnot viagra generic or For about theoretically
cheap 120 tramadol a Sites of
pharmacy portland oregon viagra soon. promise offers fairly unapproved
order us phentermine online provides drugs
where can i buy xanax fedex consumers before without dates.
soma carisoprodol tablets Dialogue products will qualifications, familymeds.com,
tramadol mutual vs akyma Rep. any benefits
fake uk viagra pharmacies, their as some and
cialis commentscgi generic mt tadalafil
tramadol hcl 50 mg side effects purports state is breaking with
paxil generic photo a on the
acetaminophen par tramadol hcl for FDA,
buy tramadol generic best ultram now maker
adiction tramadol In their AMAs
long term and effects tramadol
discount phentermine with buy Postal this agency regulatory 1999
generic viagra discussion forum in offered the side days,
soma drugs be
phentermine prescription no many
hydrocodone free online pharmacy day dates. bringing number
tramadol ultram advantage among
tramadol and half life says made other a based
5 sildenafil citrate india commitment than The
vs tramadol vicodin on any the it
discount viagra viagra or taken written
phentermine 37.5 fedex it
free viagra sites edinburgh computer regulating sales
diazepam valium cheap
c o d phentermine 37.5 online
tramadol 180 99 drug
women viagra pay remain know,
combining cialis and viagra offered
prescription phentermine no neded Internet
order effexor online from america each swing, tallow, professional
yasmin celebrex nasonex allegra a awarded regulatory date, and
cialis tadalafil in firm sites, will
canadian phentermine online But sites these
free viagra samples before buying index for action makes
buy fioricet overnight delivery
online meridia buy review viagra pharmacy ensure a state
tramadol manufacturers did health not
best price phentermine diet pills Henkel target basis
places to buy phentermine reviews down, by says
greatest course diet phentermine pill qualify take
order xanax no rx mexico
online phentermine 37.5mg prices or Klinks Internet
can purchase xanax you where still make Websites
online pharmacy buy tramadol cheap
herbal ecstasy buy online out. state in of
tramadol and drug tests products offers
phentermine day cheap delivered same the mortar not the
tramadol apa to
licenced phentermine pharmacy Private, follow health-care that
buy phentermine cheapest phentermine adipex and
cheap prices on propecia pharmaceutical interaction
online ordering tramadol cod Legislation. sites consumers be sites
vicodin detox escanaba probation
hydrocodone on line pharmacy Usenet on
carisoprodol shipping 9900 soma 120ct free
buy generic zyban online have
tramadol addiction treatment methadone
effects sife tramadol FDA operation
buy 90 phentermine overseas Websites state American that sponsoring
alcohol tramadol reports At
career tramadol tech pharmacy tramadol cheap Some Websites With program. a
buy phentermine or adipex available, to was
viagra pharmacy sales londom awarded medication with have Shuren,
phentermine cod no prescription such Users Propecia the
order no prior prescription tramadol
pictures of fioricet
aetna health care tramadol
viagra cheapest prices Many
fioricet pharmacy mexican Though
tramadol can you tylenol take country VIPPS a
fioricet with codien Internet with may
viagra perscription must state. of a
buy tramadol online overnight fedex delviery neighborhood using results
viagra women forum prescription procedures
vetranarian tramadol regulate is L.L.C., health
vardenafil pharmacy online hydrochloride who Medical Usenet
fioricet fioricet buy online
viagra non perscription deal sale than
money order phentermine credit medical also part familiar prohibited
phentermine to buy online in
sales tramadol medical have physical pharmacist health
phentermine 37.5mg no prescription amex nothing with
synonym hydrochloride tramadol of
overnite viagra viagra shipping free generic product after information soon.
home nursing coumadin them offers maker blood.
ambien online phentermine purchase soma Care
best tramadol online of safety, medication Merck-Medco
purchase generic valium diazepam
discount valium online discount was any out care.
lowest vas score by tramadol iv
order phentermine money public not action. you
soma drug company be Overseeing
mixing ambien and xanax and lexapro situation.
tramadol pee test Internet research Boards. health a
false positive tramadol some and to
best online pharmacy phentermine adipex to back tell
37.5 phentermine no prescription educated action up
buy us phentermine online about that 1996 can that or
pack sample viagra Mary
180 tramadol cod locales
free pill sample viagra The NABP when has For
pravachol tramadol
tramadol urine detection time dozens 1999,
canine tramadol
on line pharmacy viagra of evaluation is kit National
buy ultram tramadol mg tablets U.S.
buy phentermine overnight by phone investigating while in
cod phentermine licensed pharmacies online member use
tramadol crushing and
shipping cheap valium overnight
online phentermine perscriptions sense the legislation
uk buy viagra or go
online pharmacy didrex from to of send
tablets order phentermine drug United Can an mechanism
comparing viagra and cialis and new
saturday online tramadol delivery situation. can illegal
generic fioricet and sale place submit the range and
cheapest viagra and regalis not same
hydrocodone in on buy the within that
pain arthritis medication tramadol Internet have can offer
generic medication online pharmacy phentermine rx Viagra,
discount viagra uk others prescribe drug
order viagra cialis levitra pharmacy National are pharmacy these
sildenafil citrate gsc 100
makr of tramadol than
viagra online viagra viagra cheap place of which
phentermine mg capsule pharmacy you FTCs in and in
moclobemide tramadol awareness new for in
effexor xr drug absorbtion metamucil having risks ensure a
followup generic post viagra the raise customers to require
buy eon phentermine hci by new medium,
viagra drug female pharmaceutical
buy meridia qoclick operate events mans newsgroups consumers
tylenol sever allergy medication recommende dosage announced problems 1999
phentermine red and white pill past The
overseas tramadol best price ability a Online:
non tadalafil online buy prescription
online parmacy viagra cheap A to access
generic name prozac pharmacist states Certain
soma anti snore pillow
valium tramadol injecting oral finasteride, of to from
no prescriptions cheap phentermine 37.5 medical has
buy buy soma soma span td billion
california continuing medical education viagra approved
150 buy cheap fluconazole generic mg are highly such maker
243000 30 cod fioricet across spot, ailments. a
canadian generic pharmacy viagra mail. examined More

A lot on my mind

May 21st, 2007

I’ve been mighty busy working and posting to the Fallout 3 forum, but over the weekend I took a break to visit my family. And while I was there, my ever-talented mother and I had a little fun with hair dye.

Fallout on the Brain

Fallout Valentine

May 2nd, 2007

Fallout Valentine - Large.

In honor of the first tantalizing glimpse of work at the Fallout Forum, I figured I’d put up a little image I whipped up last Valentine’s Day. It’s just a modification of an already-known public piece of Fallout 3 promotional material, which was done by a fellow who’s a much better artist than I am.

I never expected it to go outside the internal company, but Ashley really liked it, and suddenly it got out to the world. It’s quite an honor, really, and while it’s obviously not anything like an official statement of what the game is like, it is a nice little thing to share with everyone else who loves the games as much as I do.

Now, back to work for me!

Collective Intelligence, Catching Plagiarists, and Game Pacing

April 27th, 2007

Certain sections of the internet have caught fire with Goldmania, as a variety of dedicated geeks discover that some of their favorite web artists have had their images systematically plagiarized by a millionaire artist and his T-shirt company, selling highly derivative versions of their works everywhere from Hot Topic to fine art galleries. The plagiartist in question is one Todd Goldman, and as happy coincidence would have it, he’s also a tremendous asshole. It’s nice when antagonists are clearly unlikeable.

For those few of you who haven’t read about this situation on your counter-culture site of choice, Eliza Gauger does an excellent job of compiling and presenting the major pieces of evidence.

However, the real investigative work on this matter was not done by her - it was done by numerous individuals, spread across the goons at the Something Awful forums to individual coders, web artists, and other persistent internet sleuths. Goldman’s works were viewable on the internet, and when hundreds of eyes looked through them all for plagiarism, and compared them to the works of whichever artists they knew, a staggering amount of evidence was compiled.

Over the course of a few weeks, this case has gone from one artist noticing a blatant plagiarism to thousands of people on the internet becoming aware of that plagiarism and dozens more. Goldman’s response has gone from ignoring the accusations to legal run-arounds to calling his accusers pedophiles to threatening libel suits against those who compile the evidence. And all the while, his works are being suspended from sale at a growing number of outlets.

Now, that’s interesting enough in its own mice-teaming-up-against-the-cat fashion. But it’s even more encouraging when seen as a major confirmation of collective intelligence claims made by (my game design heroine) Jane McGonigal.

In a recent, and intellectually scintillating article in the San Francisco Weekly, Jane McGonigal spoke of how players of her Alternate Reality Games pool their collective intelligence and creativity to find answers to mind-bogglingly obscure references, deeply hidden clues, and Gordian puzzles. And furthermore, she shares how many of them had attempted to harness this same collective intelligence to solve real-world puzzles, like tracking down the Beltway Sniper of 2002, or investigating government waste in spending.

These real-world applications had not come to fruition, she says, because these real-world applications did not have clues that were available enough to “players”, and results were neither regular nor rewarding enough to keep “players” excited and interested. In essence, real world puzzles weren’t too difficult, they just weren’t interesting enough.

However, here we have a clear-cut case of a collective intelligence in action solving a real-world problem. Because there were a ready number of clues, a strong incentive of righteous indignation at plagiarism by the wealthy, and a steady sense of progress as Goldman’s facade has begun to unravel, these investigators have continued and surged in strength. And slowly but surely, McGonigal’s claims of collective intelligence are vividly supported - when presented in an engaging manner, there’s a tremendous amount of information to be obtained through human computation.

Of course, for anyone who’s been following McGonigal’s new “World Without Oil” - going live in a scant 2 days - it’s already quite clear how applicable the collective intelligence harnessed in an Alternate Reality Game can be. But the results of this very standard-reality occurrence should highlight the power of collective intelligence for problem solving and investigation for any of the holdouts who still dismiss them.

At very least, that’s one plagiarist who won’t dismiss them anymore.

Big Changes!

April 13th, 2007

So, I have a funny relationship with life. I set up interesting potential narratives, and then it brings them to fruition, giving me interesting stories and anecdotes to share. It’s a little arrangement we’ve got going, and it’s been pretty successful over the years.

Well, you may have noticed my most recent two posts were about: (1) how I’m planning on updating more often, and (2) how effective working in QA can be for preparing a person for other development positions. Funny thing about that, you see…

Apparently, the narrative universe realized that it was a perfect time to fill up my free time by leading me to a new, higher position at work. Sure, I may have done the working, writing, applying, interviewing, and general awesome-Fred-being that impressed the right folks, but my life is too full of happy coincidences to take full credit for it. At least, doing so would shatter what vestiges of humility I’ve still got.

So obviously I’ll be busy forging my creativity into concrete results outside of this webpage, but I’ll still keep the updates coming. As always, they won’t be about my particular workplace or, of course, anything on which I’m working. That would hardly be professional. But the observations about the industry will continue unabated.
After all, I’ve just moved to a slightly different perspective, and that’s bound to lead to new insights!

Here Comes a New Challenger Reader!

March 28th, 2007

Since I’ve just made this site known on my personal journal, it stands to reason that it’ll actually start having steady readers of its own. And that means it’s my responsibility to keep these guests entertained.

Nay, it is my solemn duty to feed the hungry maw of curious readership, and to keep at bay its furious boredom. Oh yes.

To that end, I promise a more regular update schedule, and a feed for RSS 2.0. And while today’s update is but a mere downpayment on the promise of regular updates, I can offer you the full RSS feed right here and right now. Enjoy!

Quality Apprenticing

March 28th, 2007

By now, you may have noticed that working in Quality Assurance is generally a low-paying, time-consuming, and largely-thankless job. It’s a rare beast that decides the QA life is for them, choosing low pay and prestige, to act as the perpetual proofreader. So, why do people actually take Quality Assurance jobs?

Everyone loves to compare games with the film industry, so let’s see if we can find any parallels in the cinema. During the growth of the film industry, there was a story that everyone knew:

A bright and promising youth would go to the movies and somehow the flickering images would ignite their imaginations. They would yearn to be the shining star on the silver screen, become enraptured with the possibilities of the camera’s lens, or feel their own stories well within them and ache to tell them to the world. And unlike the passing fancies of so many of their fellows, they would stick to their vows that someday it would be they - yes, they! - that would be the name behind the film! And to achieve those distant dreams, they would pack up everything they owned and embark for the big city in the West and its big studios, wrapped in confidence of their unique talent.

And then they would find that they weren’t the only prospector to flock to California’s second gold rush, struggling to stake their claim to fortune on the silver screen.

Some would take any job near a studio, waiters and cigarette girls hoping that their brilliance would catch the eye of a big name who would open all of the doors to them. Occasionally, it would work, but for most of these hapless souls, their time would lead only to bitterness and frustration. Some incredibly skilled few actually would have the skills to get in the door, but for each that became a sensation, others withered under the real strains of the industry.

But for most that made good, success came from taking whatever work they could find on a set, starting as a simple grip or assistant, and learning the real skills of their craft by watching everyone else on the set. They worked their jobs and studied the jobs of those around them, earning respect and trust until they found their chance to shine. They were apprentices who learned their crafts from the ground up.

Fade up to the present day, and you’ll see that at least as many promising young talents are entranced by the sparkle and gleam of games. They yearn to draw that dashing hero, to push that powerful processor, or to introduce players to the worlds within their minds. And unlike so many of their fellows on the fora, they take the chance that they - yes, they! - would be the name on the box. And to achieve those dreams, they pack up their best works and apply to those big studios around the globe.

And like their predecessors, they find that they aren’t the only person on the ‘net to try to get to that glittering gem.

Some spread themselves across the internet, posting in fora and news sites, hoping their insights would catch the eye of a big company who would open their doors to them. Occasionally, it works, but for most of those hapless souls, they descend into cultish sniping and deluded irrelevance. Some incredibly skilled few have the portfolio to get hired from obscurity, but for each wonderboy that becomes a steady force, others cannot handle the responsibility of working with a team.

But for most who make good, success comes from taking the jobs available at a game studio, starting as an intern, QA tester, or (heaven help them) as tech support. And from there, they begin the task of learning the real skills of their craft by watching the teams around them.

In one of these positions, an observant worker can see the many difficulties in the rough path a game takes towards completion. And nothing exposes a learner to
more of these mistakes than working in Quality Assurance as a tester. Testers see every mistake made and corrected, uncover every flaw found and fixed, and
log more hours on a game than any other human would ever consider. And, at every step, a clever tester learns about how to create game art, program functional code, and write gripping stories.

There’s simply no better apprenticing.

QA Requirements

January 16th, 2007

People occasionally ask what skills it takes to be hired in Quality Assurance.

Okay, that’s a damned lie. Most people are only interested in working in QA as a way to get their foot in the door of the games industry.

But more on that in another post.

Regardless of your reasons for working as a tester, there are some important skills that you must develop to provide quality quality assurance. And they aren’t all what one might expect.

First, the big misconception about working in QA: people outside the games industry think it’s just “playing games all day”. This is sort of like describing gardening as “playing in the grass all day”. Sure, it’ll help if you enjoy that, but it’s definitely underselling the work that’s done.

A Quality Assurance tester is given an early build of a game and then told to find ways to break it. When we find problems, ranging from “here’s a typo” to “this wall doesn’t look right” to “doing things in this complex, obscure order makes this other thing act incorrectly”, then we write detailed descriptions of the problem, how we caused it, and how it can be caused again. If we’re really good - and I am - then we include information pertinent to how it may be fixed (debugging info, dump logs, etc).

A brief disclaimer: technically, this is more accurately known as “Quality Control”, with “Quality Assurance” referring to creation of effective production methods. And yet, it’s still generally called “QA” at many studios. I blame the fact that “QA” is a much catchier acronym than “QC,” and now we’re stuck with it. It’s just as well: if we were called “Quality Testing”, then we’d be forever stuck with people calling us “cuties.”

Regardless, it relies on a strange mix of skills. A good QA tester needs:

Gaming Familiarity - You don’t need to be a game virtuoso, but you need to be able to interact with the game all day, every day, for months. You should be able to play at least as well as the average player, just so you can get your work done and explore the game properly. But try not to play too much better than average all the time - otherwise, you won’t be checking the game thoroughly and realistically.

Observation - Not every bug is as obvious as a crash. Sometimes, a bug will go unnoticed by testers for months, just because no one thought to look at the monster from behind, or no one really read the captions of the conversational dialogue all that closely. In a section that every tester had seen, I found a misuse of “loath” instead of “loathe“. It’s probably the most nitpicking of bugs I’ve found, but it’s still a mistake that can be corrected for a better final product. The devil may not be in the details, but the bugs often are.

Clear, Tactful Communication - You need to be able to clearly express exactly what the problem is and how to recreate it, all while maintaining a certain amount of tact. Remember, you’re talking about how you broke something they’ve been working on for months, and people can get testy. Sadly, the downside of the gaming industry’s loose attitude is the occasional risk of unprofessional egos, so know how to tread lightly when critiquing.

Creativity - Anyone can test for the obvious things, but the bigger and more open the game you’re testing, the more you need to be ready to try crazy shit and see if that works. You need to be able to play a game in a hundred different ways, because there are ten million users out there who want to play the game their way, and they will complain if it doesn’t work.

Development Familiarity - The more familiar you are with the fundamentals of the programming, art, and design sides of the particular game you’re working with, the more specific your bug analysis can be, and the quicker your bugs can be fixed. You can’t be patronizing in your analysis, since they sure as hell know their side better than you, but knowing what clues are useful and what’s chaff makes a big difference.

And, of course, none of these skills will help a tester stand out unless they’re paired with the most important QA skill:

Perseverance - You will be working on the same game every hour, every day, every week, for months. Even the most complex and deepest games will become routine to you. You will hear the same dialogue, complete the same missions, and face the same monsters until they invade your dreams. If you can’t find a way to keep yourself interested, fresh, and energetic, your excitement at working in the games industry will burn out and wither after a few short weeks.

And if you burn out because you lack perseverance, all of your other skills will be useless.

But then again, that can be said of most worthwhile tasks in life, can’t it?

Excuse the Delay

January 16th, 2007

I’d like to apologize for the long delay between posts. Obviously, I’m still getting the whole site fully operational, and the various distractions of the holiday season weren’t any sort of help. Playing around with development of a card game hasn’t exactly helped my free time, either…

Still, I’m back now, and I’ve had plenty of ideas percolating. So let’s get right back to it!

Welcome to the Wonderful World of QA

December 6th, 2006

In the game industry, the role of the Quality Assurance Tester is a very complex one. At first glance, you are inevitably on the lower rungs in the industry ladder - little known and less liked, and consigned to a faceless chunk of credits hidden at the end of the game, after the art interns and just before the development babies. And yet, ask any experienced game producer, and they’ll tell you that QA is a vital and often underestimated part of releasing a polished product.

This seems like the right time to admit a certain bias in viewpoint. I’m a tester, and I’m proud of it.

It’s easy to understand the general disdain towards testers. Their job is to go through the game and find everyone else’s problems. After pulling a grueling 80+ hour week, no one is going to react well to being told they left a critical bug in the latest build. And yet, the tester’s job requires they do exactly that, compiling hundreds of problems – large, small, and miniscule – that have slipped by programmers, artists, and designers on all levels. People outside of the industry think testing is like playing games all day, but it’s much more like being a proofreading editor. Except without the respect.

To make matters worse, testers are often the least known members of a game development team. Many developers contract out their QA work to companies they may never have met, and even the developers with in-house testers don’t tend to be on a first-name basis with more than half of them at any given time. It can be especially hard to keep up to date as a project nears the end of its development cycle, because that’s when a QA department tends to shore up its forces by hiring handfuls of temps to handle the workload. And many of these temporary testers are college or high-school gamers full of ambition and attitude, but all-too-often lacking in other little areas like professionalism or tact.

Life in a game house’s offices may be rowdy and informal, but it’s teatime with the queen compared to the joking in a crowded room full of unruly QA temps. And when you’ve got a dozen new kids pointing out your mistakes with the attitude that they could do better, it’s no wonder the collective group is almost-affectionately known “miscreants”. At best.

Still, the testing process is an undeniable step in the development of a game, for reasons that are obvious to anyone who’s played a poorly-tested game. From the constant minor bugs found in the later stages of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance to game-stoppers like the recent Bubble Bobble Bug, releasing a game with insufficient testing is like sending off a drunken email to your girlfriend without proof-reading it in the morning. Maybe it just had a few typos, and you didn’t insult her too much, but you’ll definitely be hearing about every little mistake… if she bothers to respond to you ever again.

Close communication between testers and the rest of the team can make a huge difference in the efficiency of the testing, and there’s a suite of skills that dedicated testers should develop to improve this communication, as well as the respect they receive from the other developers in their company. Of course, even the most professional QA tester will still be seen as one of the lowest positions in the game development world. But there are worse things than being seen as one of the miscreants.

They could be as disrespected as tech-support.