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The Tester 2

by cornbredx

I'll start with an admittance here. I hated the first season of The Tester for more reasons then the obvious one (obviously the prize If anyone else is watching this too, I doubt they think the show is anywhere near quality. is retarded and all you really win is a $5000 sign on bonus, anyone could get a job as a game tester- it's called Quality Assurance). The show was cheap (being made on a lo...

I'll start with an admittance here. I hated the first season of The Tester for more reasons then the obvious one (obviously the prize

 If anyone else is watching this too, I doubt they think the show is anywhere near quality. is retarded and all you really win is a $5000 sign on bonus, anyone could get a job as a game tester- it's called Quality Assurance). The show was cheap (being made on a low budget even for Reality TV standards) which was really painfully obvious, the games had no real tester equivalence (tell me the relation of guiding a blinded ball roller to game testing and I'll show you how it's irrelevant) until the end of the show, it's an obvious ploy to advertise (and doesnt even mask it well), and the one person that is someone you are guaranteed to work with if you win IS AN ASSHOLE. 

Brent Gocke, Sony's Release Manager and First Party QA (I think hes a lead QA) has a penchant for reminding you game making isn't supposed to be fun, and more so that game testing should never be. I know he's trying to look like the shows lame version of Simon Cowell, but the difference is Gocke is anything but brutally honest.  Brent Gocke. Simon Cowell of "The Tester"? You decide.
 
I don't know if anyone else even watches this show, (or at least, no one admits it- even though it was reported over two million people watched the first season) but its only on episode 2 for this season and I can already see it's continuing to be as bullshit as season 1 was. I admit freely, I am only watching it because 8 bit mickey is on this season and I (like many other fans of his) voted everyday to make that happen. I am interested to see how interesting he can be in that environment (he's laying back so far, if anyone cares to know). I generally have a low tolerance for BS so admittedly the show continuously pisses me off but I keep watching because it's free and isn't very long per episode (thank god). 
 
The show caters to the basest of game players- the ones that are not happy in there life, job, or some other element and want more than anything to make game playing the only thing they actually have to get paid for. That is to say, most game players (including me). Some of them are smart enough (sometimes) to realize the prize isnt worth it but this is an opportunity for them to get their foot in the door of Sony (like I believe season 1's winner to have been). There are worse ways for a job interview, one can only hope they get paid for the amount of time they cant work to record the show. The idea itself is still solid, but with the budget they have, and no foundation for a real rule set the show is hampered by bullshit.

Speaking of which, my real issue with the show, and why it pisses me off, is the show is beyond unfair. There's no real ground work for rules here, and they come up with the dumbest competitions I have ever seen. As I said the show never lets them play games (except at the very end), instead they substitute real life scenarios which they Because, you know, when I think about checking games for being broken, I generally stare at my hamster. want you to believe somehow relates. It never does, and the judge's expectations from the players is generally absurd. Because of these substitutions the players are generally on a tight rope- you never will know who is going to get kicked off unless you follow Gocke's intuition which is generally one of up-tightness. I only say this because the reasoning is never valid in a logical world but since there's no basis or real rule set I believe the whole game is centered around what Gocke really wants in a tester. This is really a platform for Gocke to decide who he wants, what anybody else says doesn't factor meaningfully in anywhere here. 
 
Ok, I can't stop bashing Gocke (A man I don't know- i've only seen on the crappy show) so I'll get to the end. This current episode (which is episode 2 of this current season so far) a player was kicked off for unfair reasons. Samurai (the players gamer tag), did nothing to suggest he didn't want to win- he only said he wouldn't stab his team in the back to win. An honorable gesture indeed- that Gocke recognized- then went on to say that honor gets you nowhere in this business and its do or die (I am paraphrasing, his wording was more stupid). I was actually shocked that Ted Price agreed with him on this, basically saying if you don't step on everybody at any chance you will never get ahead in the biz of making games. What an absurd thing to say!
Ted Price; No lie, granted I'm paraphrasing but he really said that.  
Look guys, I know the world gets you down sometimes, and developers have it tough, but you can never give up on honor and you should never believe throwing your friends under the bus is justified. If you sell your soul everybody loses, and when your soul is gone your games wont have it either. I know The Tester is a competition. I don't think there are exceptions, though, to selling out.
 
Also, Susan Panico, if you really think you're getting an Emmy for this show you're fooling yourself. I don't mean to hurt your feelings, as I have no reason to, but the show doesn't compare to anything on TV. Reality TV is trash for the most part as it is, and to contend with the ones that actually get Emmys you're gonna need a lot more than this. We shall see if that ever happens.
 
So, anyway, my criticism's aside- feel free to agree or disagree with me on this. What interest (if any) do you think The Tester has? Do you think it has any potential? Feel Free to discuss. I will continue to watch the show and get mad at it at least as long as Mickey is on it.