Test or Die: The #Truth about #GameTesting part 4

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Seven16

Before I begin my final act, I need to get a few things out of the way ...
 
First and foremost, this was MY personal experience with game testing that I am talking about. I know a few people that still work in testing, and I am in no way docking their job, or what they do. As I’ve said before, without them, there would be no good videogames, and most of them wouldn’t be as fun either. That being said, just because I had a bad experience does not mean it could be different at another company, but from what I have heard, the situation is similar at most other places.
 
Second, I still love videogames, I always will, and even this mostly negative experience taught me a lot of things, especially about how they work, and I also learned how to be a better gamer because of this. When you test a music game on a guitar controller 8 hours a day, you’re bound to pick up a few things that some may consider to be awesome. (This is a quote from a video on my blog)
 
Finally, I would like to say that if not for this experience, I would not be here talking to you today. The reason I wrote this in the first place was to teach people about how the games industry works, and ask for a call to action on the treatment of the testing community in general. I will go into more detail about this later on, but educating people, gamers or non-gamers alike was my goal, and I feel that I have succeeded for the most part.
 
So without further ado…
 
As I sit here in front of my laptop with a broken screen, contemplating where I am now as opposed to where I was a year ago, I have to say that the change is significant to say the least. I have grown as a person, and for this, I am most grateful. But growing my soul does not help the world I live in. I share an apartment in an area of LA that I HATE, with a guy I don’t really have anything in common with, barely living on money from unemployment checks, and I’m frustrated with all of the terrible decisions I’ve made this year. I wanted to do something with myself this year, and all of my plans have fallen to shit so far. I’ve put in a lot of hard work, I’ve done all that I can, and I haven’t had a chance for a real break in years. My life is a series of unfortunate events, but unlike the book series, this has been happening to my life as long as I can remember.
 
I’m broken.
 
The following is an exerpt taken from a journal dated in August of 2009:
 
It’s my day off. It’s strange that it’s a Tuesday, but I’m fine with it at this point. We all filled out a sheet so that only about 3 people get a day off per week. Some people have Saturdays, other people have Monday, and I have Tuesday. And so it goes.
 
I woke up about 11:30, still exhausted from the last week. The project is coming to a close, we all know it, but we haven’t found out an exact date of when we are going to get let go. Games are treated like movies in the sense that when a project is over, everyone loses their job. Unfortunately, work is inconsistent, so sometimes we have to keep calling in to find out if new projects are starting. It’s shitty, and we all hate it, but this last project, a friend of mine put in the good word for me, and I managed to get this gig 2 weeks after finishing my last project. I wasn’t that great on the first one, even though I did my absolute best, but I garnered some respect because of my charismatic attitude, and my respect for my fellow co-workers. I was a leader, and because of this, some of my bosses didn’t like my attitude. It’s strange to think that being too friendly is a problem at work because I made people feel more relaxed around me, and they got more work done because of that attitude. I didn’t like the job, but as I mentioned in Part 3, camaraderie makes things go smoother.
 
My abilities had increased, and I was now the lead progression guitarist on the project, surpassing a fellow co-worker, who was not mad, but rather impressed by this achievement. I took pride in my natural ability to pick up and play the controller like it was a real guitar, and others I knew were also very gifted at playing the other instruments. In my short time doing this, I had did have a lot of fun. As I said before, the project was coming up on submission, and most of the work we were doing was bullshit busy work anyway.
 
Monday afternoon, I was called to try and make sure that an achievement unlocked in the correct way for the big boss. I was very nervous, as this man was an enemy of mine on my last project, not by choice mind you, but like I said before, because I made my co-workers happy, he did not like this. He was a shrewd business man, as well as a gamer, but he was more the former than latter, and was more concerned about meeting deadlines than fixing all of the more important issues with the games. It was mostly this behavior that caused us to run into problems, and constantly being pushed only stressed us out more. He had threatened our jobs indirectly in the past, manipulating the leads on the project to meet his needs, and the needs of the investors. He was the A-typical douchebag business type that most people both loathe, and aspire to be.
 
I ended up unlocking the achievement on the first try, and gave my lead the thumbs up as if to say “it works”. The big boss was standing next to him, and he gave me a sneer when I did this, trying not to directly comment on the work that I and my fellow testers had worked hard to accomplish on time. I was covered in sweat. I was happy that I had done it the first time because I was scared about losing my job if I failed. This man really did not like me, and I could see it in his eyes.
 
At 5:30, it was time to clock out, and I was happy to have my day off the next day. I commented to one of my co-workers that I was glad I finally had some time to relax and enjoy myself, if only for a day. As I was walking to my car, he told me, “You know, you could come to work tomorrow. The project is pretty much done, why not make some more money?” to which I replied, “I’m not concerned about that, I just need some rest, that’s all. I promised my sister I would hang out with her tomorrow too.” I waved goodbye, and hopped in my car. I had no idea what was coming.
 
After sleeping in on Tuesday and having a little time to myself, I got a call from my sister around 1’o clock. She asked if I wanted to go see District 9 at Century City, and as I had promised her I would hang out, as well as wanting to see the film, I said yes, and we drove over to the Westside. We decided to roam around the mall a bit since we were a bit early, so we got some coffee. We talked about her going to college, about what I was doing at work, and about life in general. We went into the theatre at about 2, and watched the film, which I absolutely LOVED (if you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out). I’m a big Sci-Fi person, so I felt that I got more than my money’s worth. The intensity was a lot to handle all at once, but I was happy.
 
I said goodbye to my sister, and went over to visit my friend for a few minutes. I couldn’t stay for long, but we had a nice conversation for 20 minutes, and I drove back to my apartment. I got back, set down my stuff, and looked at my phone. I had 3 new messages. This first one was from my sister, who was reminding me that we needed to hang out. Delete. The second message was from my friend whom I had just seen. Delete. The final message was from a number I did not recognize, so I listened.
 
It was from one of the managers at my work. She had called during the middle of the film, and I was unable to pick up. She explained that all of my fellow workers had been let go, and that the project had ended. She told me not to come into work the next day because there WASN’T any. She had only been informed by my lead that it was my day off earlier in the afternoon. Everyone had been sent home already. I was told to call back to figure out how to turn in my badge. And just like that, I was unemployed.
 
I was devastated. As I said earlier, I knew that the end of the project was near, but I got laid off in a VOICEMAIL message. I felt betrayed, stabbed in the back. They couldn’t even just have left me a voicemail telling me to call back and then let me go, they had to leave me one telling me that I was fired. Losing my job was one thing, but losing it over a message is another thing entirely. It was by far the most unprofessional thing that I had ever experienced, and I was distraught. It made me realize that my working at the company didn’t mean anything to them, and I felt like I was less than a pile of dog shit sitting in the sun, getting drier and drier as it sat on the grass.
 
I moped around my apartment, wallowing in self-pity, feeling like I wanted to kill myself, like I wasn’t worth the effort. There had been only two or three times that I had felt like this before, and I actually DID try to kill myself all of those times. Despite all of the complaints I had made working there, it kept me busy, and now that I had nothing left to do, I was lost, back to square one.
 
After this, I vowed never to return to Testing for the company. I could not bare the stress it gave me, and the way I was treated was not worth the effort. Ironically enough, I was called in December by the same woman that had fired me, asking if I wanted to test a new game. I never called her back. I’m still mad and upset to this day. I put so much effort into my work, and I didn’t get anything for it. I was paid like shit, I was treated like shit, I worked hard, and I had nothing to show for it. A credit in a game is not worth the effort if people are treated like this.
 
So what did I learn? I learned that since the games industry has gone uphill the last 10 years, but the business has become so cutthroat and corporate, it’s like the Wild West. People aren’t paid enough, and I’m not just talking about the tester community, but the artists, programmers, designers, and developers. Their creativity is sacrificed for corporate greed and foolish choices. I compare it to how the film industry was in the 1920’s, just coming into the public eye, people being back stabbed, moguls trying to gain more power by focusing strictly on what worked in the past, and not allowing it to move forward so that people can be allowed to express themselves. Videogames have come into view, but the practices have not.
 
So here I am, more than a year later, barely struggling to keep myself afloat, not knowing what my future holds, or where I am headed. I have tried my best to do something else, but no one is hiring. The recession hit the games industry hard, and most of my colleagues were let go not one month after I was let go myself. They closed one of the development studios I worked with, and lots of good, hard working people lost their jobs due to decisions the higher-ups made. I have a hard time figuring out why the hell it’s like this, and as I said before, I still have no real answer, even after thinking about all this for a long time. I just wish that more people knew, hence why I wrote these in the first place.
 
I’m only the messenger, it’s up to the people in the industry to change it, and so far, I haven’t seen much change.
 
I dedicate these articles to my friends in the Testing community, and all of the wonderful, hardworking people that lost their jobs. They deserve better.
 
Henry Abrams aka @Seven16 on twitter.
 
Follow me on my blog: http://manvsblog.tumblr.com

Click here to read part 1

Click here to read part 2

Click here to read part 3

Test or Die: The #Truth about #Gametesting Part 2

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Seven16

The following post is an excerpt from a journal entry on April of 2009.

It’s 9 am. I don’t remember driving into work this morning. Another sleepless night seeing endless streams of game characters roaming around my head. I can’t tell what’s a dream, and what’s reality anymore. The day blurs into night, and then back to day again. One straight month, another two to go.

What most people don’t realize about testing is that it’s not like Grandma’s Boy, it’s more like you’re working in an Auto Assembly plant, but instead of cars, you’re testing videogames. You’re finding everything wrong with them day in, day out. My hatred of this project has not hit its peak, but I’m getting there.

We all sit in a line with a bunch of consoles, computers, and other stuff in front of us. There are no cubicles, no place to set your stuff down, it’s just get in and go. I’ve been staring into this small broken television screen for a while, and my eyes are starting to hurt. I can’t just readily get up because my boss is sitting right next to me, and I only get 3 breaks, one at 10am for 15 minutes, an hour at noon for lunch, and one at 3pm for another 15 minutes.

It was fun at first, and I immediately connected with the source material, but the problem was not with the content, it was with having to see it every waking moment. When you go in for 8 hours a day to an un-air conditioned floor with a bunch of sweaty nerds and soda cans, the outcome is never pretty.

It’s finally lunch, and I bolt for the door. If I don’t get my lunch in the next 15 minutes, I’m not going to have enough time to eat it. Everything is close, but it takes 15 minutes just to walk to most of the places because the building is on a main street. The light takes forever to change. I’m exhausted. I haven’t slept right in days.

I head over to TOGO’s and grab a sandwich, then head back to the break room on the 4^th floor. There’s no place to sit, and it’s too crowded. Most of the testers can’t get a seat because there’s just not enough space. Half of the people head back to their desk and eat there. I decide to grab another free soda (the only REAL perk), and head back to my desk.

I’m chewing on my sandwich while people play World of Warcraft near me, some play Street Fighter, others are on the internet watching Hulu. Before I know it, it’s time to go back to work, and even though I’m already at my desk, I still loathe that my short break is over.

This is where the day starts to get hard.

I have only found 5 bugs today, and the database is full of bugs that are getting fixed. We don’t know when the next build is coming in, so all we are really doing is endless checklists to make sure everything in the game works aka “Busy work.”

The lead is a complete fool. It’s his first real project he’s handled, and he’s going about trying to encourage us in the wrong way. It’s not that he’s heavy handed about it, it’s that there’s no real incentive to go along with him asking us to do more when all we are doing is what we can.

The environment around the office is tense. Everyone is getting prepared for crunch time and lots and lots of OT. Games are usually finished about 3 months before they actually hit the shelves, aka “Going gold”, so the real work goes into the 3 months BEFORE they submit the game to the ESRB. Apparently, every time they submit, it costs $10 to $20 thousand dollars, so they put massive pressure on us to make sure they can cut costs as much as possible.

The sad part is, we don’t have all the equipment we need, and we’re treated like crap. We might be the most important piece of the puzzle when it comes to game development because we make sure the product is up to snuff, and yet they treat us like we don’t know everything. We do know everything, from the game mechanics, to the levels, to the bosses, how to make certain bugs pop up, it’s all there. Explaining it is another matter entirely.

It’s almost 5. The atmosphere is getting even more intense. Everyone wants to leave, and we are all antsy to get home. One of my coworkers starts to slack off. No one cares, myself included. We are all tired, stressed, and worked to the bone. We might work through a temp agency, but we answer to the game company.

One of my bosses sees him and tells him to get back to work, which he does begrudgingly. As the sun starts to go down, the light hits my eyes so I’m blinded by both the terrible television I’m working on and the sun at the same time. I wish someone would shut the blinds, but there are none to be shut.

It’s finally 5, and everyone starts to put everything away. I file out with all of the other testers to the elevators and wait for 10 minutes to just head downstairs back to my car. I’m pooped, I’m hungry, but most of all, I just want to go home.

I sit in an hour of traffic on the 110, and I finally make it back home, where I immediately spread out on my couch. I just have to remember, tomorrow is just another day, and the routine is just getting started.

Stay tuned for Part 3!

- Henry Abrams aka @Seven16

Click here to read part 1



Test or Die: The #Truth about #GameTesting part 1

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @seven16

Being a nerd, I have been a gamer for a significant part of my life. The first game I ever played was Chip n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers when I was 2 years old. From that moment, I was hooked. I played Mario, Zelda, etc. You name it, I’ve probably played it at one point or another. The best game I’ve every played is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but I’d like to leave that for another post/debate.

Last year, my family was hit hard by the recession, and I needed to pay my bills, so I decided to look for a job. I put my resume (which was rather small, but very good at the time) on multiple websites trying to figure things out. My community college stuff had fallen through, and I was relatively untrained for anything moving forward.

After having my resume up for a week, and my Dad sending me links for applications, I finally decided to really buck up and start seriously looking. Then, I ran across an ad on one of the sites, which in turn, lead to a link that was looking for Quality Assurance Testers for a rather large videogame company. I was excited because you only needed to have a resume and a High School Diploma to apply.

Unfortunately, like most jobs at that time (even now), it was in high demand, and I was unsure if I would receive any answer back regarding the job.

Later that week, I saw a post on one of my favorite websites about jobs that sounded awesome but really weren’t. I clicked through it, and lo and behold, at #5, it was Video Game Testing. The reasons it stated were long hours, hard work, and you’re not just playing for you’re the game, you’re playing to keep your job. I should have kept that link, because I was unprepared for how accurate all those things really were going forward.

I received word the next Monday asking me to call the number and set up an interview time. So I called in, got a time, and got prepared. I went and bought fancy paper to print my resume on, wore my awesome leather jacket, and the best collared shirt I could find, and sprayed my best cologne.

I walk in to the building, and the elevator took me to the 4^th floor. The floor was a little dirty, but for the most part, it was clean. The walls were all white, and nothing looked like it had really been redone in a while. I checked in at the desk, and there were at least 30 other people, like myself all waiting to get into the interview room. But this was not your typical interview.

We all expected to be taken in separately, asked a few questions, and would receive word back whether we had gotten the gig or not. This was not the case. All 30 of us were lead into a large room with a white board, multiple computer monitors, and desks with consoles. We were told that we would be tested to find out if we were capable of learning/getting the job, and I proceeded to listen in on what needed to be done.

The first test was to describe how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for someone who had never made or heard of one before. Honestly, if you don’t know what a PB&J is, you should probably kill yourself, or you are a demon. So I wrote the best description I could of how to make one. You have to buy the bread, the peanut butter (crunchy or smooth), and jelly, then cut the bread, etcetera etcetera, so on and so forth.

By this time, I was getting a little nervous, and slightly confused. This is a mostly normal reaction for me, as I was an overweight individual with Asperger’s Syndrome and a Panic Disorder who had forgotten to take his meds that morning. Whatever the case may be, I just tried to keep calm, and do the best. “It’s all you can do”, I said to myself.

The next test was set up for us already, a demo of sorts, and we were to write as many things we saw wrong with it down on a piece of paper that was provided to us. We were playing as a famous hero who will not be named, and our objective was to fight our way to the front of a train. However, off the bat, something was off. The major female character did not appear in the cut scene that played before the beginning of the level, and the background was all pixilated. So I jotted it down. The next time I noticed was a lady that was literally being sucked into a wall Akira style.  (Picture Caption: Yikes) It was shocking, but I then realized that I was going to be seeing this more and more if I was going to get this job. I had no idea that this would be the first off MANY times I would see similar things for the next few months.

I continued along the level, writing everything I saw down, and it ended up crashing at the end. I was sure that this would prove important, and proceeded to write it down as well. Little did I know, that this would also become a daily occurrence. Lovely.

After these two tests, we were told to fill out a little info sheet about ourselves, and leave any paperwork on the desk. If we had gotten the job, we would be contacted to begin training as soon as possible. I left my resume on my desk, and walked out. I near fainted on the way back to my car. I can handle a lot of pressure, but it had gotten to me that time. I was in a room with over 2 ½ dozen people, all of them were older than me, and all had college diplomas or associate’s degrees. I was unsure if I would get called back, and considering someone said over 1000 people applied, it seemed unlikely that I would be chosen.

Two days later, I received a call back, saying that I had gotten the job, and asking when I could start. I was ecstatic, I was proud that I had found this job, applied, persevered, and made it happen. I said I could start right away, and they proceeded to have me fill out paperwork, and train for about 3 days. Little did I know that this was the beginning of one of the most tumultuous experiences of my life.

Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon!

- Henry Abrams aka @Seven16