Until recently, the variety of jobs available changed very slowly from generation to generation, and businesses often adapted at the same speed to ensure that they were still offering relevant products and services.
As technology became more widely available and the role of the computer began to expand, the range of jobs available increased rapidly.
Entirely new sectors were winking into existence to meet previously completely unidentified needs.
Workers were now needed to do everything from producing computer equipment to training users on how to make the most of it, with many people becoming ‘experts’ simply by virtue of being at the forefront of the latest technology.
The origins of gaming
The first computer games were created in the 1950s and 60s, but the earliest efforts were pretty basic and achieved more to show what could be possible than making games that people actually wanted to play.
This all changed in 1962 when university staff created a game called Spacewar! that became an almost instant hit among the local student population.
Soon, the game had been copied and played in other computer labs, making it the first game to effectively ‘go viral’, several decades before the concept would go mainstream.
It was also the first game to inspire a tournament, dubbed ‘The Intergalactic Spacewar! Olympics’, but it attracted corporate sponsorship from Rolling Stone magazine whose editors saw the appeal of such a novelty.
Players usually have a preference for a certain type of game, but many will play a wide variety of different games, from meditative puzzles on their commute to first-person shooter tournaments during a night in with friends.
The sheer number of gamers, thought to be more than three billion, has created a gaming industry where high expectations from customers are met with even higher standards from gaming studios.
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The gaming sector
From blocky games with tinny music (albeit some absolute classic tunes from some of the most popular games) to immaculately realistic graphics and studio-quality sound, gaming has come a long way in recent years. Studios now expect to put out games that incorporate the very latest in technology, whether that’s exceptionally realistic graphics or virtual reality headsets.
The rise in demand and the increasing market for video games means that there are more jobs in the sector than ever before, with job titles including:
Game development – writing and implementing code is one of the most fundamental aspects of creating a computer game and the developers are key to the functionality of the game itself. They use programming languages to render the designers’ ideas on the screen and allow players to interact with them.
Game design – this is the process by which the ideas that make up the gameplay come about, and designers work on the creative side, bringing the game to life. Game designers are heavily demanded in the casino gaming industry especially for online slot games.
Numerous new slot sites and well-known providers want to display the best themed slot games to attract players to their site, this is where the role of the game designer comes in by creating imaginative themed slot games.
Animation – specialist artists take the basic images of the characters and give them motion, describing everything that character might do from the selection screen to intricate fighting moves.
Audio – engine sounds, gunshots, dialogue, and the noise that tells you you’ve succeeded all need to be created, commissioned, edited, and added to the game. From making sure the sounds are all at the same volume to writing songs to be played in the background, the audio team are hugely important.
Production – the process of getting a game from an idea to something that can be purchased involves hundreds of steps, from coordinating the creative team to ensuring that the budget is appropriately spent.
Quality assurance – everything from the gameplay to the packaging needs to be checked, tested, and reviewed to ensure that there are no issues with the way the game works. This involves everything from ensuring compatibility between formats to making sure the in-game menus work as expected.
Marketing – as with any product, games need to be marketed and the global audience for the biggest games has huge teams of executives directing their launch.
From tie-ins with large retailers to paper adverts in specialist magazines, the marketing team are specialists in video gaming from their own unique perspective.
Other sectors also have their gaming divisions, especially since the rise of in-person esports tournaments that attract hundreds of competitors and thousands of spectators.
The swift pace of technology means that the demand for games is increasing as they incorporate augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and other technical innovations.
A career in gaming could mean working within a creative team to write a compelling story, or it could mean using technical skills to write flawless code, but it will usually mean being involved in an exciting and rapidly growing sector.
