Not sure

[Xxjohnson94xX]

OK so this is my first post as iv'e only just joined this website so let me introduce my self......
My name is Tom, I am 17years old and from England. Iv'e been playing games since the play-station 1 first came out and iv'e always dreamed about making video games or playing them as a career.
I'm not sure about what path to take and what i need to take these paths.
I am hoping some one could help me with this even if i couldn't get into making video games I would love to test video games out as a career

Thanks to anyone who could leave me some feedback or links

[tsloper]

Hi Tom, I thought there was information about your questions here on GameCareerGuide. But here are some links to places where you can find answers to your questions:

http://www.skillset.org/games/careers/profiles/
http://archives.igda.org/breakingin/career_paths.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson7.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson34.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/m70.htm
http://gamecareerguide.com/getting_started/ (aha, see, there is something here on this site)

[Xxjohnson94xX]

Originally Posted by tsloper

Hi Tom, I thought there was information about your questions here on GameCareerGuide. But here are some links to places where you can find answers to your questions:

http://www.skillset.org//careers/profiles/
http://archives.igda.org/breakingin/career_paths.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson7.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson34.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/m70.htm
http://gamecareerguide.com/getting_started/ (aha, see, there is something here on this site)

Thanks the reason i posted this is because ive been looking at peoples threads and ive found most of them are for people over in like usa Ect so i was woundering if there was anything for people in the uk or wether i would have to go to like a different site but thank you very much

[iSmartMan]

When you say that most of the threads here are for people in the USA, what do you mean? The basic principles of how to get started in the games industry are pretty universal, so I'm not quite sure what you're asking us. Are you looking for suggestions for higher education, potential employers, etc. in Europe?

[Xxjohnson94xX]

sorry if i miss lead you what i mean was that i looked at 4different threads and they was all from people in Europe and i am asking advice because ive left school and done 1year in collage completing a business and administration course and now im trying to get a job in gaming but i also know that i will need to also do more training before i can reach the goal of working in gaming

[iSmartMan]

Well, you still need to give us something in order for us to help you. Saying "I want a job working on video games" is like saying "I want a job working on movies". Gaming isn't just one field, so you need to provide details on HOW you want to work on games. Still, given that you have had some education on administration, my initial and highly uninformed suggestion would be Game Producer. He's the guy whose job it is to keep everything running smoothly, to act as the facilitator between the various groups in different fields working on a game, and to make sure the game is the best it can be in time for the release date. For more details on what this career is, look here: http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode...-be-a-producer

Remember: we need more details on what field of gaming you want to be a part of in order to help you.

[Xxjohnson94xX]

ok thanks and yes sorry i was looking more on the lines of a QA tester ive been reading http://www.skillset.org/games/career...cle_4729_1.asp and they are really helpful but i will also have a look at your website you sent me and im going through the bit at the bottom because im trying to find one that i can register for but i haven't found one yet

[iSmartMan]

A QA tester?

Look, I'll be honest with you. Being a game tester may be a good way to enter the industry, but it is not as fun as it sounds. Think about it like this: All the games that you've played and enjoyed were in a "finalized" state. They were fun because of all the time that was spent removing bugs, creating models, and designing levels. Therefore, any game that is given to a game tester is going to be much less fun than the final product, because it hasn't had all that work done on it yet. From what I hear, being a game tester is either extremely frustrating (because of all the bugs and game crashes) or extremely tedious (because your job is to FIND bugs, not to play the game). QA tester is a good way to get started in the games industry, especially since many companies use it to see if a potential employee can spend all day every day playing games without getting bored, but it's not something you should plan on as a long-term career.

[Xxjohnson94xX]

thank you for that feedback and i am thinking of it as a starter job (something to get me into the industry) then i will look for promotions or higher up jobs i thought it was some were to start. Every one always says to me you have to start at the bottom and ive been reading up for a few days now and in my opinion being a game tester is a bottom job and then you move up the (rank) to becoming erm something like a game maker if you understand were im coming from but please tell me if you don't understand what i mean

[iSmartMan]

I understand what you mean, but I think you don't understand what you're talking about. Remember what I said earlier about how saying "I want a job working on games" was like saying "I want a job working on movies"? There are all sorts of people who work on movies: actors, directors, writers, special effects artists, conceptual artists, and so on. In that same way, there are all sorts of people who work on video games: writers, animators, artists, programmers, designers, and so on. There is no "game maker" position, because everyone working on a video game has some kind of specialization. If you want to work in the games industry, you need to decide on what your specialization is going to be.