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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Raja_The_Fat on 2025-06-13 21:56:18+00:00.
So I work in game QA (Quality Assurance), which basically means I get paid to break games and then write a detailed essay about how and why it broke.
One day, our lead sends out a message:
“From now on, stick strictly to the test script. No deviations. No exploratory testing. Just follow the document as written.”
Now, this goes against the golden rule of QA exploratory testing is where you catch the truly nasty bugs. But hey, they wanted strict compliance? Fine. Let’s play that game.
The next day, I’m testing a new patch for a third-person action game. The script says:
“Step 12: Jump on the platform and pick up the health pack.”
So I do exactly that. I don’t move left or right, I don’t run into any nearby enemies, and I certainly don’t check what happens if I fall off the platform. I just jump, grab, pass.
Later, a developer gets a bug report from another tester about a soft-lock (where the game becomes unplayable without restarting) if you pick up the health pack after aggroing a nearby enemy. It turns out it’s a critical bug ,one that happens to 1 in 5 players who aren’t robots following a script.
The dev asks why I didn’t catch it. I just forward the manager’s message back:
“No deviations. Just follow the document as written.”
Next thing I know, we’re in a meeting, and suddenly the tone shifts to:
“Okay, from now on, feel free to do exploratory testing where appropriate.”
Uh-huh. That’s what I thought.