How old do you have to be to be a video game tester?

Question

I'm 17 and would like to know. I want to be a game designer someday.

Answer 1

I don't see age....you have to be old enough that the company doesn't have to worry about child labor laws..............

Get a degree in the field you want and work part time in it whie you go to school.

Answer 2

18 is the limit because you got mature rated games but then you dont always get to choose the game you test so you might get an adult rated game so 18 and over

Answer 3

Hi

Despite being different to people's answers I am pretty sure you can start getting video game tester jobs as young as 15!

The reason is I know someone that does it!

If you think you can have a paper round at 15 and earn money as this is much the same, the companies even target younger people because they have more interest as a rule in playing games!

Hope this helps!  

Answer 4

You have to be 18 because of child labor laws. If your are looking for a job testing games then you gotta check out, http://www.squidoo.com/play-games  They will show you how to catch the attention of the developers on your apps.

Answer 5

I believe 18 or older for most places.

Answer 6

Legally you need to be 15 or 16, depending on the child labor laws in your state.  Typically you also need to be a high school graduate, so that pushes the age up to 17 or 18 in most cases.  And you need to be able to work in an office full time, either not going to school or arranging your classes around your work schedule.  Most Quality Assurance testers, as they’re called in the industry, are in their early or mid 20s.

That said, QA is pretty much the *only* job you don’t need a Bachelor’s degree for in the game industry.  If you want to be a game designer, you need to go to a regular four year college and get your degree, and then start looking for work in the game industry.  And since entry-level design jobs are almost always filled internally, you’ll need to get a non-design job initially just to get your foot in the door – and QA is one of the most common points of entry.

I have known a couple of QA testers who were going to school while working, but it’s difficult.  You can’t set your own hours in QA, you’ll have a schedule you’re expected to work.  You can’t work from home (ignore any website that claims they will pay you to test games, they’re all scams), so your choice of schools is somewhat limited to what’s close to the company’s office.  And you’ll be working at least 40 hours per week, probably more during the last months before the game ships, so having time for classes and studying can be difficult.

There are a lot of aspiring game designers who first get their college degree, then take any QA job they can get, and then work their way up to the design team.  And since you’ve said that you want to be a game designer someday, I’ll give you my standard guidelines for college. ;)

For game design, there isn't really a school or major that's better than any other.  A lot of schools will try to tell you they have game design majors, and that's flat out false.  They're either 100% art and no design whatsoever, or they won't prepare you any better than a "normal" college would (the only exceptions to this are the Masters program at Carnegie Mellon, and possibly USC's program).  True game design is accomplished almost entirely with writing and math, and involves no art or programming.



If you're interested in design, go to any good 4 year college and major in whatever you want.  Just pick a major that you enjoy and that will allow you graduate as quickly as possible.  Along with your major take math up through Calculus 1, and at least two courses in Statistics, two courses in writing, one Computer Science course, and one art course.  Math and writing are the main tools of a designer, and the CS and art courses will help you work with your programmer and artist colleagues later on.  Fill up the rest of your course requirement with a wide liberal arts education -- history, literature, mythology, sociology, psychology, etc, are all useful in game design.



If at all possible, go to school near a city with a lot of game studios, like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, etc.  Most game companies will not pay for relocation for an entry level job, and some won't even interview you if you don't live in the area, so it'll be a lot easier to find a job after college if you already live near several studios.  There's a map here: http://gamedevmap.com/ that lists every game studio by city.  Try to find a college in a city with at least 10 game companies.