Would you believe me if I said you could enjoy a long and lucrative career playing video games? Although this blog is usually geared towards non-traditional ways to earn a living, the gaming industry is young and vibrant and there are all sorts of possibilities for personal autonomy if you have a passion for gaming.
Now a multi-billion-dollar global industry – people around the globe have spent over $180 billion on games in the past twelve months – gaming offers a wealth of different career options, in the practical, creative and technical sides of the field. If you love playing video games and are keen to find out more, take a look at the following potential job roles.
Pro Gamer
If you’re aspiring to become a professional gamer there are several options that are available to you. The most obvious is, of course, getting involved with eSports, or competitive video gaming, but other markets, such as iGaming with its array of digital variants on casino classics like blackjack, offer opportunities too.
The eSports industry is on the rise all over the world, even amongst developing countries. While becoming a pro gamer isn’t easy, it is possible for the most dedicated and proficient video gaming fans.
Pro gamers typically start their careers by participating in local or regional gaming tournaments and can also join grassroots gaming leagues. Income is generated from a combination of tournament prizes and personal sponsorships.
Game Play Tester
How would you like the chance to get your hands on fresh games that haven’t even been released to the public yet? Well, if you choose to become a Game Tester, that will be one of your core duties.
It’s not all about playing games, however, and for the most part, you’ll only be able to play certain elements or sections of a game. For anyone interested in how games are put together and the stages a game needs to go through before it’s given widespread release, though, becoming a game play tester is a great way to peek behind the curtain.
One of the more entry-level roles that’s available in the gaming industry, game testing involves working your way around a game to ensure that everything functions correctly and to look for any bugs or glitches in things like gameplay, audio, or graphics. Testers also need to write detailed reports about each bug they discover as well as re-test the game several times.
Games Designer
As a passionate gamer, it’s likely that at some point you’ve had your own ideas for video games. If playing games sets off that spark of innovation, becoming a games designer could well be the route for you to take.
Games designers have a broad range of responsibilities, including coming up with game concepts, developing storylines and characters, as well as designing gameplay mechanics – how fast characters can run, how high they can jump, what happens as a result of points-scoring etc.
While it’s not as technically a demanding role as a programmer or game developer, some familiarity with programming languages and software packages like C++ and Python, etc., are a requirement of most games designer job opportunities. As well as creativity and imagination, a good grasp of STEM subjects and analytical understanding is also needed to thrive in this type of role.
Software Developer and Games Programmer
Much like website developers, software developers and games programmers work on the more technical aspects of game production. This includes everything from writing the code that powers games to creating and setting up the software needed for network connections.
There’s plenty of scope for specialisation within this particular job category. Gameplay programmers, for example, work on coding aspects of video games like game mechanics. Designers may decide on how a game should look, sound and play, but it’s the programmers who make it happen. Network programmers, meanwhile, make multiplayer and MMORPG gaming a possibility by developing the sophisticated code in games that’s needed to transmit events from one machine to another.
As more complex job roles in gaming, becoming both a software developer or programmer requires in-depth understanding and extensive practical experience of coding. Some development roles also need knowledge of network protocols and client/server-side engineering.
