HomeStation Adds New Editors
by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief
I come from a military family. As a youth, my father — an ex-Marine — told me, “The esprit de corps that comes with wearing the globe and anchor stems from the fact that every single Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman. You might be a general or a cook, but god damn, you can shoot a rifle.”
This concept stuck with me. And, indeed, it is a key element of the foundation of HomeStation Magazine: if you are an HSM team member, you are first and foremost a writer. You might branch out into podcasting or machinima or art or music composition or some other creative endeavor, but you are first and foremost a writer.
It is this ideology which propels us, and defines us as a brand. If you want top-notch Home machinima, you go to PSTalent or the HomeCast; if you want an encyclopaedia of Home, you go to AlphaZone4; and if you want the source of the finest writers Home has to offer, you go to HomeStation.
Rewind the clock eighteen months. A literary journal which would have a new story about Home or Sony gaming every single day, with a nine-hundred-word minimum count, editorial standards, proper copy editing, and magazine issues to boot?
It was hard to discern which was louder: the disbelieving laughter or the silence of doors being closed in our face.
But we achieved it, didn’t we.
HomeStation works because there are a whole lot of talented people who agreed with the belief that out of the tens of millions of registered Home accounts, there was a pent-up appetite for a Sony-positive and Home-positive publication which critically examined Home from a social standpoint instead of a purely gaming standpoint, and offered up a level of journalism which catered to an audience slightly more sophisticated than just the typical loose-cannon fanboy crowd. And we were right.
It hasn’t always been easy. HSM’s first foray into machinima was a case of going too far too soon, and thus had to be shelved for nearly a year before all the pieces were finally in place. And we’ve certainly lost contributors along the way, for various reasons. But HomeStation endures because the idea of it is sound, and because it fills a legitimate community need.
The catch, of course, is that as you grow, you’ve got to scale up your infrastructure to meet that growth.
If there’s one thing that every single Home community project can agree upon: it’s an insane amount of work. You only do this if you’re genuinely, passionately committed to it, because otherwise it will chew you up and spit you out. You sacrifice a lot of time and sleep to keep things going. And certainly, in the case of HomeStation, we’ve turned into quite a many-headed monster: daily web articles (averaging two per day instead of just one), magazine issues, videocasts, public events, writing contests, art contests and more. Our art director, Mike, is even helping nDreams design a virtual item for Home! And we’re partnered with AlphaZone4 and the HomeCast, which are themselves very complicated projects with a lot of moving parts. Coordinating everything takes a lot of work.
So you come to points along the road when you realize it’s time to take the next step. Like graduating from City to Metropolis in SimCity, you might have access to more goodies but you need to plan and build accordingly. You’ve got to think and plan ahead.
It is thus time that we introduce some new positions to the HomeStation.
We don’t create new positions lightly. HSM is structured, as much as possible, like an actual commercial publication — albeit one which uses the internet as its primary medium and is an all-volunteer endeavor. So we’ve labored to keep things as fun as possible and minimize exposure to the daily mountain of back-of-house work that has to be dealt with on a constant basis. But there is a balance between minimizing redundancy and maximizing efficiency, and given just how much content is pouring through the HomeStation every day, it’s time to scale up the infrastructure. A Bugatti Veyron’s W16 engine might have as much power as a small battleship fleet, but that power is wasted if it doesn’t have the tires, suspension and all the other components which put the power on the ground.
So. With all that said: it gives me great pleasure to introduce three new editors and an events coordinator to HSM!
HSM team writers Estim20, Orion_NGC1976 and SealWyf have all accepted new positions as HomeStation editors, with all the duties and responsibilities that go with that role. They will report to Terra_Cide, who now serves as HSM’s managing editor. Rest assured that you will still see articles from them on a regular basis; prior to this move, copy editing was handled solely by Terra and I, and given everything else we have to do on a daily basis, it really had gotten to the point where additional manpower was needed. Either that, or Terra was going to knife me. She’ll do it, too. Look at the eyes, man. So, by spreading the work around to more people, we’ll be more efficient as a publication and be able to handle more content at a faster rate — which means more for you, the reader, to enjoy!
Pictured: Estim, Keara, Orion, Seal
In addition, we’re also proud to announce Keara22HI as the HSM public events coordinator. When HomeStation started, we honestly didn’t think we’d ever have a public event; we’re an older group (on average), and the idea of a literary journal throwing a party sounded like trying to hold a kegger at the Diogenes Club. Mycroft simply would not approve.
The reality, however, proved to be far different. We’ve held a few public events — most recently, we were the closing act of the AlphaZone4 Expo — and the server blowouts have been insane. Jampacked public spaces, people trying to get in half an hour early and being locked out, and a surprisingly festive atmosphere every single time.
In the early days, we had Team RHO to help us out and teach us the logistics of holding a successful public event (for which we are enormously grateful); recently, however, we’ve been on our own, and it became quite obvious that due to the success of our parties as well as their public visibility, we needed someone to run point on coordinating everything. Since Terra and I aren’t exactly party animals — our idea of a rave is a quiet night of rain, candlelight and Chaucer selections — we needed to have someone else handle it. After the success of the AlphaZone4 party, it became clear that Keara was the right person for the job.
Down the road, there will be additional personnel changes and new positions — HomeStation has a very aggressive and exciting road map planned out for its future, and there are certain milestones we can’t wait to announce — and we want to thank all of you for coming with this crazy bunch of artists, writers and filmmakers on this journey.
Please join me in welcoming Estim, Keara, Orion, Seal and Terra to their new roles!
May 18th, 2012 by NorseGamer | 12 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
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Hurray! We are growing and look at the talent base! :O Thank you all for being awesome!
AWESOME!!! I don’t have to tell you but I will… Very good choices!
Great news for all of us. Now you and Terra can actually take a breather once in awhile and enjoy Home together instead of always running to and fro. Great picks for the jobs too! Congrats everyone!
Standing-O! I’m proud of you guys and of all of us, we rock!
Congrats to all of you, and congrats to HSM for growing in such a way. Go team!
Congrats to the new editors here the best to you all I’m sure when it comes to home you all will find interesting articles to write about covering all the socialites and events is a huge job with leadership of Burbie and Terra and the wisdom of Keara your careers here will blossom.
Congrats to all of you!!
Beautiful! Congratulations Seal!!
Applause to all in your new roles. I don’t yet know everyone well, but I do know Keara is right for keeping things orderly. Again applause, applause!
Congratulations to all four and the best of luck herding these unruly cats.
I am definitely the “Howling Mad” Murdock of group. Congrats to everyone on their extended roles.
Somehow I missed this announcement. Congratulations on the past successes of HSM and for the expected future success as well. Your articles are relevant, well written and blissfully great fun. Congratulations, Seal, and all the new editors! BTW, your group shot is especially lovely…