definiton of a 'tester bug'

Here's a bug i found awhile back. I can't tell you what game i'm working on (even though it has been released) or where i'm employed at, so i don't get into trouble NDA-wise. but i just can't let this one slide because i think it illustrates how it is that things go wrong in games.

When the user's character throws a grenade, the pin is still attached.

WTF? I mean damn, how does something like that get by? you may be asking yourself. i mean, anyone who's seen any movies knows you gotta pull the pin to arm a grenade. And this game is supposed to be 'realistic'.

A 'tester bug' is a bug that only testers would find. We find them by doing weird, counterintuitive shit that doesn't win us the game. It's also kind of a negative term, and often used as a rationale to close bugs. Ordinary people supposedly never do these things. To find that grenade bug for instance, you'd have to walk over and inspect a live grenade, instead of running in the opposite direction. But do you think it will never be noticed by anyone, ever?

Little things like this send a message: We don't care. Polish. Polish is what separates the good developers from the ones who are in it for the paycheck.

How does something like this happen? Probably, the modeler was given the assignment 'model a grenade'. He does it, checks in the asset. Goes to the pub. Programmer writes code that spawns a grenade when the user gives the command to throw one. He just makes a reference to the asset, he never even sees it. It's neither of their job, really, to make sure it's used correctly. But no one looked to see that the user's haracter was throwing a grenade with an attached pin. No one's looking at the big picture and that's the problem.

It's Test's job to find it. Okay, we found it. What happens now?

By the way, the bug was closed. (waived, actually, which means it's pushed back to the next patch) Will it ever be addressed? Who knows? That's another thing mediocre developers do- slack off on everything until something gets to a crisis point and then use that as an excuse to only work on the most egregious bugs. Again, i'm not mentioning any developer's names here, please don't sue me.