My name is Angie Dietrich and I am a Quality Analyst. I am not the best or the least, but simply one of the many working here at Gearbox. We are the first and last line of defense against shipping out a buggy product. Our job - our duty - is to play this game in a way few ever will, to understand it inside and out, and to make sure that when you pick up the bright, shiny Brothers in Arms box, you will get a smooth and bug-free experience.
I share an office on the 9th floor with 5 other people. You get to know a person when you work this closely with them. I can identify any of my officemates in the dim monitor light of the office simply by how they hold an Xbox controller, or by the sound of their keystrokes. We are friends, family -- comrades without all that communist jazz.
Our day begins by pulling down the latest build of the game. While we download we chat, speaking in quiet tones and with clipped sentences. We are tense, anxious to see what new horrors this build will bring. Then we play. Our quiet is broken by whoops of joy, the muttering of angry curses, discourse on the nature of certain behaviors witnessed, and the occasional intercom message from the office next door. We meet with testers from other rooms to exchange notes and engage in multiplayer battles in the name of honor and glory.
It is not enough to simply play the game, however much we may wish that was the case. We also have to report what we are experiencing to the People in Charge. Often this is as simple as a screenshot and a written explanation but these measures are not always sufficient. We once held demonstrations of AI bugs in the parking lot, using unsuspecting bank customers as Germans while we assaulted them from their flank. Jim got over-excited and lobbed his Whopper instead of a dummy grenade, leaving one businessman covered in delicious ketchup. We retreated to a hidden location but it was too late -- the bank sent up a strongly worded request that we keep further demonstrations to ourselves. Now we resort to turning tester against tester in our well-documented office battles.
On top of our testing duties, we also perform other tasks around the office. Every few weeks it becomes necessary to replenish the fuel that keeps Gearbox running. The People in Charge round up testers and take us out to escort the precious cargo of soda and snacks. Once it safely reaches the building it our job to haul them up to the kitchen. Like the pyramid builders of ancient Egypt, if said pyramid builders had access to dollies and elevators, we move the giant blocks made out of flats of soda cans to make a monument to our consumption. Over the coming days we will consume the monument and the cycle will begin again.
Every day, from build to build, one thing remains the same. We are excited. Excited to be here and excited to be working on this project. We want to show you, the public, what we have been working so hard on. No, not the stack of soda cans. We all love Brothers in Arms and we can't wait to see it in your hands. When you first log in to a multiplayer game we will be there, welcoming you with open arms so that we can better kick your asses.
QA rules!
