Alan Nanes, current Design Director at Bethesda Game Studios, recalls his unique hiring journey. During the development of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, he went from being a temporary playtester to one of the company's first full-time QA testers before moving into game design.
Bethesda Game Studios featured this employee story on its 40th-anniversary website. At the time, Nanes was acquainted with developers across various departments. With permission from friends, he entered the studio to play multiplayer games with team members. After noticing him, Todd Howard invited him to try out a new title still in development.
As temporary testing became routine, developers began gathering around Nanes to observe his gameplay, ask for his opinions on design choices, record feedback, and discuss adjustments. Nanes stated that this was the first time he felt truly involved in game development, and his name was later included in the special thanks section of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind manual.
Afterward, Todd Howard and Ashley Cheng felt the studio needed full-time on-site QA staff. Nanes took on this role, becoming one of the company's first full-time QA testers. He later transitioned to a quest designer for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and recently contributed to Starfield as Lead Companion Designer.