Geek Culture
Careers in the World of Gaming
Despite the fact that over 164 million adults in the U.S. play video games, there are still common misconceptions about gamers being “lazy” or not wanting to work. But, you know when you’re playing games that you’re not just wasting your time, especially if it’s something you’re passionate about.
There are actually a lot of careers within the video game industry that many people don’t realize. If you truly have a love of playing video games and you’re interested in turning it into your life’s work, let’s look at some ways you can make that happen.
Yes, You Can Play Video Games for a Living
Remember when you were a teenager and your mother said you’d never make a living by playing video games all day? Well, that’s not entirely true. Game testers and professional gamers make their living by playing video games all the time. But, it’s not just a matter of sitting in a dark room with some snacks and playing with friends for hours.
Game testers, for example, have to walk through every inch of a game and take notes on everything. They have to critique the environment, find any glitches, and be detailed with the developers about how the game actually works in live play. It’s less about playing for fun and more about picking apart the good and the bad.
In addition, professional gamers can make a lot of money, but it’s a career that can be very difficult to get into unless you’re extremely talented in what you do. If you are, you could attend esports conventions, sign up for tournaments, and become somewhat “famous” in the gaming industry.
Put Your Creative Skills to Use
There are so many ways to bring your skills into the world of gaming and find jobs that will not only be fun but fulfilling. Some of the “behind-the-scenes” jobs in the gaming industry include the following:
- Writers
- Producers
- Graphic designers
- Audio programmer
You could also choose to be a game developer/programmer if you have experience with coding and a vision for the game. Developers typically need a background in software development, since that’s essentially what you’re creating when you bring a game to life.
Because developers are usually the ones championing a game, they’re also typically the ones fighting for a better gaming environment. Developers have used their voices to fight for Net Neutrality laws and the future of multiplayer online gaming. They have even developed the National Committee for Games Policy (NCGP) as a way of self-regulating the industry.
Staying Afloat in the Gaming Industry
Like any other career, you shouldn’t expect to dive into the gaming industry head-first and receive a hefty paycheck. Although it is a booming industry, it might not be easy to get into right away or to create a lucrative game that everyone wants.
A side hustle can help to keep you afloat while you’re making your place in the industry. There are many things you can do on the side while still working your day job:
- Pet-sitting
- Ride-share driving
- Freelance design/writing
- Selling things online
- Online tutoring or teaching
Don’t get too frustrated about not making the money you think you should when you first break into the video game industry. With so many talented people vying for limited positions, it’s a competitive market. But, as you can see, there are plenty of opportunities to make your mark and find a successful, fun career in the world of gaming.
Gaming
Ubisoft says that future Assassin’s Creed games will need more time to be made
As Assassin’s Creed Shadows is about to sneak up on people in November, Ubisoft says that the time between developing games needs to be longer to find the “right balance.” Shadows has been in development for four years, longer than any other game in the series up to this point. That includes the huge open-world epics Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Shadows lead producer Karl Onnée (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz) says that the latest AC game took 25% longer to make than Valhalla. He says this is necessary to keep the quality of the series that it is known for: “It’s always a balance between time and costs, but the more time you have, the more you can iterate.” You can speed up a project by adding more people to it, but that doesn’t give you more time to make changes.
Onnée says this has as much to do with immersion and aesthetics as it does with fixing bugs and smoothing out pixels. This is because the development team needs time to learn about each new historical setting: “We are trying to make a game that is as real as possible.” We’re proud of it, and the process took a long time. In feudal Japan, building a house is very different from building a house in France or England in the Middle Ages. As an artist, you need to learn where to put things in a feudal Japanese home. For example, food might not belong there. Get all the information you need and learn it. That process takes a long time.”
You’ll have to wait a little longer for Ubisoft to work on each game. Are you okay with that? In what part of Shadows are you now? Is it interesting to you? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Gaming
You can now pre-order Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP on PS5
You can now pre-order Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, a remaster that Dragami Games and Capcom both created. You can now pre-order the PS5 game on the PS Store for $44.99 or £39.99. If you have PS Plus, you can get an extra 10% off the price.
The company put out a new trailer with about three minutes of gameplay to mark the start of the pre-order period. Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is a remaster of Grasshopper Manufacture’s crazy action game from 2012. You play as Juliet, a high school student who fights off waves of zombies.
The remaster adds RePOP mode, an alternative mode that swaps out the blood and gore for fun visual effects. It also adds a bunch of other features and improvements that make the game better overall. You can expect the graphics and sound to be better as well.
The game will now come out on September 12, 2024, instead of September 12, 2024. Are you excited to get back to this? Please cheer us on in the section below.
Gaming
This Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 zombies trailer is way too expensive
Is there really anyone who is following the story of Call of Duty’s zombie mode? We’ve known about the story in a vague way for a while, but we couldn’t tell you anything about it. It looks like the “Dark Aether” story will continue in Black Ops 6, but we don’t really know what that means.
For those of you who care, here is the official blurb with some background: “Requiem, led by the CIA, finally closed the last-dimensional portal, sending its inhabitants back to the nightmare world known as the Dark Aether, after two years of fighting zombie outbreaks around the world during the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War timeline.”
Wait, there’s more! “Agent Samantha Maxis gave her life to seal this weird dimension from the inside out.” Even worse things were to come: senior staff members of Requiem were arrested without a reason by the Project Director, who turned out to be Edward Richtofen.
Black Ops 6 will take place about five years later, and it looks like it will show more about Richtofen’s goals and motivations. The most important thing is that you will probably be shooting an unimaginable number of zombies in the head. This week, on August 8, there will be a full reveal of the gameplay, so keep an eye out for that.
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