Has or does anyone used/use micro-job sites to get assets for their games such as voiceovers, press releases etc..?

I use www.seoclerks.com and www.fiverr.com quite a bit, what about everyone else?

I'd never heard of this site (www.fiverr.com) before you posted it. There's a programmer section; a C++ programmer section.

"I will write any kind of c++,java,c program within 2 days for $5"
I wonder if they could code me a new modelling tool in 2 days? $5 seems pretty cheap.


On the serious side, these sites always seem suspicious to me; since the cost is super low, the quality of what you purchase will likely be really bad. (Hopefully I'm wrong here)

I've personally never used a micro-job site for anything, instead, forming a network of contacts who specialise in certain fields (sound design/voice overs/animation) seems like a better approach. Additionally, agreeing on a contract for their services, and hiring the same people should ensure your assets are more coherent.

Just a few thoughts, hope this is useful. :)

Most of the things you get on such sites like fiverr are usually stolen from open source solutions. I had a friend attempt to use that site to offshore some work; It didn't end well for him as the result he got back had a giant GPL header on the top so he couldn't even polish the turd he was given to use it.

On the serious side, these sites always seem suspicious to me; since the cost is super low, the quality of what you purchase will likely be really bad. (Hopefully I'm wrong here)

I wouldn't say that, but one of the issues I've encountered is that they will build the software according to the specifications precisely. The issues are:

- If your specifications are somewhat unclear, the end-result will not be optimal

- If your specifications change, you will find the result to be hardly malleable (mostly hard-coded to the fastest solution)

Otherwise, it works well most of the time, at least for me.

You have to be careful of course its not just $5 though, I mean you can pay $5 but you can also pay for gig extras if the seller has gig extras.
It's just about using common sense and looking at the reviews as well as thinking about what the real cost would be to actually do the work.

As I say there are some good services to be had you've just got to look for them.

I have had good and bad experiences, you can get some services on them that you'd pay 3-10 times more on other sites. That is no joke either haha.

There are some things I would avoid but if you are on a budget then for the sake of spending some time looking through reviews or just testing with a small amount if it does not go as you wished then at least you have not wasted all that much.

I know someone who uses Google's Mechanical Turk to get people to playtest his games and then provide feedback in the form of a survey.

Personally I'd be more than wary of "Here's $5, install my mystery software and tell me what you think!" -- but I guess there's some benefit to the average internet user being completely unconscious of network security :)