Manager scolds game developer for deviating from script to find errors, complies and ignores major bug: 'No deviations. Just follow the document as written'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Jun 17, 2025 8:00 AM EDT

It turns out that in nearly every job, there are difficult managers… no matter how cool that job may be.

This author, who works in quality assurance (QA) at a video game developing company, usually spends his work days meticulously searching for flaws and errors in the game that can be patched up and fixed before it's released to the general public. Unfortunately, his new manager found the author's process to be too slow and ineffective, despite the fact that it was literally his job to think outside the box and search for mistakes that others might not necessarily consider. The manager told the author to stop deviating from the script and to just play the game exactly as the instructions are written. Well, this backfired pretty quickly, as a major bug therefore remained undiscovered because the author was not entrusted to do what he does best. 

Keep scrolling below for the full tale of malicious compliance and for the best reactions from members of the only community!

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10517945856
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • This just goes to show once again that a decent manager trusts that the employees on their team are good at what they do and are capable of thinking of things and discovering phenomena that the manager might not be capable of. Unfortunately, that lack of respect ended up being the sole cause of the fact that the bug was undiscovered!

  • 02
    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.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 03
    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."
    via Raja_The_***
  • 04
    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.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 05
    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."
    via Raja_The_***
  • 06
    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.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 07
    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.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 08
    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:
    via Raja_The_***
  • 09
    "Okay, from now on, feel free to do exploratory testing where appropriate." Uh-huh. That's what I thought.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 10
    Cheezburger Image 10517947392
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 11
    thedarthken⚫ So no taking responsibility? An "oops" and that's it? Surprised he didn't blame you.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 12
    Academic_Dare_5154. In QA, you're supposed to be the dev's 2nd worst nightmare. Ар ed off customer is the worst. If we get to do our job right, customers generally stay happy.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 13
    Biped Snowman ⚫ I'm sorry for asking, but how does one get a job like this? I have like 15 years of experience catastrophically breaking Minecraft servers. This sounds genuinely interesting.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 14
    Korwinga ⚫ As a dev, I've worked with 3 different types of QA testers. The first type just follow the test scripts exactly, with no deviations, exactly like you were told to do.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 15
    These types in general just aren't great, as they lack the required curiosity to be a good tester, and they usually won't last too long.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 16
    The second type will follow the test scripts and try a lot of new things too. They explore outside of the box and will develop new test scripts along the way. Bugs they find are well documented and easy to reproduce. This is 90% of a good QA team.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 17
    The third type is truly gifted. They somehow dig themselves into holes that nobody even knew could be possible. They try every combination of button pushes and actions, just to see what happens.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 18
    Why would they run directly into the wall for 8 seconds, then walk for 3 seconds, and then jump? Nobody knows, but they discovered that you can clip through the terrain if you do it just like that. These testers might not
    via Raja_The_***
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    be as meticulous as the second type of tester, but they will find bugs that definitely would have slipped by otherwise.
    via Raja_The_***
  • 20
    dvdmaven. All too often the scripts carefully avoid potential problems areas. I did internal QA at my last job and I got a lot of "Why would you want to do that?" from the developers and their management. It was storage management software and I managed the corporate data storage.
    via Raja_The_***

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workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace job malicious compliance work video games company workplace malicious compliance toxic-work-environment
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