"What the heck?" I bet those were the first three words in your head as you read this thread title. Give it some thought, though. After reading much about the community's desire to want to have more GM's, I thought of an interesting way to allow prospective GM's to obtain on-the-field training as well as give John and Matt a closer look as to how they will perform if they become a GM full-time. What if there were such a thing as a GM internship opportunity? People from the community who feel inclined to want to become a GM could go through a part-time internship phase where they learn the ropes of what a GM does day-to-day by shadowing an existing GM. Not only will the prospective GM's learn immensely about the duties of being a GM, but there will be direct feedback as to how said prospects will perform individually and/or in a team of other members. Internship positions would be offered just like a normal GM position, through an application process. If an applicant looks promising, the applicant could be given an internship opportunity to showcase his/her talents. Part-time GM interns could be given slight powers so they could perform certain tasks that the GM they are shadowing tells them. The small commands would be decided by Matt and John, but as my own suggestion, smaller powers such as FM store management and rewarps would be the few tasks interns could perform. Of course, some training would be required, and I think the necessary training can be obtained by shadowing an existing GM for a couple days or a week. Afterwards, the intern would be by his/herself or on a team with other interns, and they will perform the daily tasks of normal GM's. The internship would last for maybe a week or two before the decision is made on the future GM status of the intern(s). I definitely believe this will be a great way to get to know the GM applicants that especially stand out, as well as see how they do when actual work is given to them. Sure, this may take longer than what is normal for the original GM screening, but who said mining for diamonds would be quick? Let me know your thoughts; this is a suggestion after all!
I think this is a great idea. I don't play the game much anymore (waiting for the new source), so I don't know if we really need any more gms, but it's a good idea nonetheless. I don't know how the process of hiring/training new gms work, but I think this is much better than just giving a brand new person all the powers that gms have. (I'm sure what I'm thinking about the process is all wrong, feel free to let me know) Even if people don't like the idea of having interns, I think this would be a good process to show people just how hard all of the gms work. I've seen a lot of complaints lately and it seems people don't realize that gms are real unpaid people providing you a service that they don't actually have to provide you with. You're playing a great game for free, stop being so damn entitled. (Not directing this at anyone in particular, but my point stands). Take the people with complaints/people who don't respect the gms and have them shadow a gm for a couple of days to see how hard, annoying, and frustrating it is. Right now I feel as if it's the player community against the staff. We should all be one happy family. All too often suggestions turn into fights and it's fairly disappointing to see that. I think we all need to be willing to gain a little perspective and be willing to respect EVERYONE here and consider (even briefly) everyone's ideas before shooting them down so harshly. Anyway, sorry, rant over. I like this idea.