Some of you may have noticed a few odd things hanging around GameSkinny lately. You might have seen a sudden onslaught of articles written by names that gradually started looking familiar; names that seemed to have gone from almost no content to an article a day over night. If you were particularly observant, you might even have noticed a few strange images tacked on to the tail end of these same articles. Words such as “Alpha” and “Omega” might have skittered across your vision.
Rest assured, werewolf packs have not taken over this gaming site. These words do represent packs, however.
Packs of Interns.
Recently, GameSkinny has decided to start a two phase Internship they have labeled “Beta” and “Bastion”, which is being Lead by Katy Hollingsworth. Currently we are a little over a week into the Beta phase, in which 20 people have filled it’s ranks.
Yes, I am one of those Interns. It’s nice to meet you, officially. Don’t worry, I don’t bite – unlike another intern (*cough* INS4NITY W00F *cough*). On second thought, don’t click that. He’s on an enemy team.
In all seriousness, although the 20 of us are sorted among four separate teams it’s been a ridiculously fun experience writing and making some awesome gamer headlines with these people. There seems to be a wide range of ages, too, which gives you a great variety on perspectives and experiences. It’s really enjoyable for me to see the creativity, encouragement, and passion that these people give every day (and long hours into the night) while being apart of this.
Each week the teams are charged with writing 1 article each, in addition to assigned topics for articles. We are then judged by view stats. At the end of the week our stats are collected up for a weekly team total.
The complete list of teams and their end of week View Stats for Week 1 are:
- Alpha Team – 3,553
- Omega Team – 2,777
- Delta Team – 1,779
- Omnicron Team – 1, 352
Much to my chagrin, as you can see the Alpha Team has won the competition for the first week. Ah, that’s right. I almost forgot to mention. As if complete and utter GS glory wasn’t enough to drive anyone to be a intern here, we are also competing each week for prizes. The alpha team has pulled off the lead for Week #1, after getting an awesome amount of views. My own team, Omega, turned up in 2nd (insert small victory dance). Delta was third and Omnicron was fourth.
Now, this is just the first seven days of teams writing, editing, posting, reading, and brainstorming. Sometimes even a little game playing. Despite that I feel we have all been productive, it’s also been a week of getting to know the ropes and each other.
Having never had writing goals or deadlines, I am not afraid to admit it doesn’t feel like it’s only been a week. Before joining the internship, I signed up on GS after learning about them at PAX East last March. In between then and one week ago, I had only written three articles. Three is nothing compared to the fact that I have almost doubled that in a week’s time. The current week might see even more than that; perhaps as much as 10 articles.
No sleep for Interns.
Sleep is for wusses who can’t handle the gaming writing powers GS has handed down to us. Ok, well they haven’t actually given us any super gaming powers (yet, I’m still holding out). They do send us tips and tricks on Tuesdays and Thursdays though. Which is almost a super power, because between those and the constant help and encouragement Katy gives us we seem to be getting better at this. And no, I’m not just saying that because she’s in charge of my article writing fate. She puts up with rowdy chat rooms, endless and sometimes repetitive questions (even late at night like the one I just blasted off at 9:30pm), and still manages to not kill us. So we might have to work hard in getting in our articles on time, but Katy and the GS team are also working hard with us, too.
So what do I think so far?
My only regrets after week one is that this internship has opened me up to so many more games. Sounds odd right? Everyday I hear talk of what is happening in the gaming community from both Katy, my team, and other teams. Researching topics to write about brings even more things into my head until I’m almost giddy with excitement. It means only one thing in the end though. There is a really good chance that being a GS Intern might just make me flat broke. And I think I’ll even thank them for it.
Have any advice for a nice girl?
If you have gotten this far I think I may have successfully charmed you over onto my Team (*cough*Omega*cough*). And let’s say on the off chance that I haven’t, you should absolutely post some helpful advice comments below anyhow! Not only will I appreciate it, I bet any of the other interns would love some tips as well. Or you could just give us a shout of encouragement. That works too.
If you are extra supportive, you could even follow me here on GS or on Twitter.
Check back in a week or two for a new article with some more internship updates!
