The Champions Online official site has been updated with an internal interview with Alan Salmassian, who explains the behind the scenes work of the QA department.

Q: What do you do for Champions Online?
A: I'm responsible for overseeing the testing of all aspects of the game, from writing test plans to finding bugs, organizing bug reports, checking play balance and – ultimately – making sure the game is fun.

I do that by scheduling the other QA testers and balancing their workloads, so they can work relatively uninterrupted. When some crisis comes up, though, it's up to me to allocate a portion of our QA resources to take care of the issue while still staying on track with the project. I also manage testing of our software tools and web sites. Basically, QA makes sure everything works as it should, and tracks down the right people to fix any problems that are found.

Q: How long have you been working in gaming, and what did you do before working on Champions Online?
A: I've been working in the computer games industry for about three years. I actually started out in the sports department at Accolade many years ago, but then I decided to work in the music industry because "it would be more challenging." (Ah, the folly of youth …) Eventually, I decided to go back to my main passion (and actually get paid), and started testing at Atari. A while later, I ran into a friend at a Detroit Cobras concert in San Francisco, and she told me that she was working at Cryptic and that I should apply there. I didn't believe her at first – it was too good to be true – but I have since apologized. Sometimes opportunities do fall into your lap!

Read more here.