There is so much wrong with the idea of holding a reality show to become a game tester that it's difficult to figure out where to begin.
What kills me is that if you look at the official website, some of these folks already have nice jobs. One of them is a firefighter! Why would you ever give up a well-paying, respected job like that to be locked up in a room with a bunch of teenagers, play the same game for hundreds of hours for minimum wage and essentially live in your own farts?
That's game testing in a nutshell. You get paid nothing, earn no respect and huff farts all day. Unless that's the joke ... sort of like "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?" Only at the end they find out that game testing is the worst job in the business?
I just love that anyone would consider game testing as a "dream job." Like I tried to say on the Kotaku comments (not sure if it ever showed up, though), tester is the lowest part of the totem pole, and an overall crummy job. It probably wouldn't be *so* bad if you were getting paid enough for it, but you aren't, and you're also one of the first people they seem to lay off when things aren't going so hot.
" There is so much wrong with the idea of holding a reality show to become a game tester that it's difficult to figure out where to begin. What kills me is that if you look at the official website, some of these folks already have nice jobs. One of them is a firefighter! Why would you ever give up a well-paying, respected job like that to be locked up in a room with a bunch of teenagers, play the same game for hundreds of hours for minimum wage and essentially live in your own farts? That's game testing in a nutshell. You get paid nothing, earn no respect and huff farts all day. Unless that's the joke ... sort of like "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?" Only at the end they find out that game testing is the worst job in the business? "
There's also a paramedic. But I guess to them the idea is more of doing something akin to what you love. I love games, and when I get time, I mod some levels. They love games( I think), sent in a resume and met David Jaffe. Who wins?
It's all about doing what you love but I do admit it boggles the mind a bit for the established professionals to be pursuing TESTING of all things as their entry-point into the games industry.
A firefighter or paramedic surely has enough savings tucked away to put themselves through formal game-development school or even a Comp Sc. degree. Even taking a leave from work to create their own game would make more sense.
I can see how game testing is a dream job if you're 14-to-20 years old since your skill set is limited and you have more time to work your way up from the very bottom. It seems like the show participants are as in love with the idea of being a self-obsessed talking head on TV as they are in love with games.
Anyone who knows anything about testing is that's the shittiest job in that entire industry, hands down. I would never want to fight for that job. Especially since all it takes is a little resume. IT's so bottom tier, how can sony assume we think this is real, or realistic at all? All reality shows should at least have some plausibility.... what a failure.
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