Sandy "Lockup" Goseland is the owner and "janitor" of a hugely popular site for undeveloped software and games called Beta Bites. Beta Bites holds over 400 alphas and betas in development. The site pumps out news on a daily basis, and releases approximately 2 previews a week.
Organizing her army of enthusiastic volunteer staff members through Yahoo's calendar, Lockup manages to uphold one of the most thourough sites dedicated to betas I have ever run across.
Q: How did you initially get into computer gaming?
A: I had been a competitive Magic: The Gathering CCC player for about 2 years. The last year, I was primarily judging tournaments and not playing as much. When Wizards of the Coast released MTG for PC, I wanted to try it out. The only problem was I didn't own a computer. A friend of mine had just purchased a new PC, and knowing how much I wanted to try out the MTC PC game, she invited me to play it on her computer. I think she regrets that to this day!
Q: Tell us a little about the history of Beta Bites. Why did you start Beta Bites?
A: After discovering computer gaming, I discovered games in beta testing. I began beta testing Westwood Studios' Sole Survivor. I was immediately hooked on beta testing. I considered it not only an excellent computer learning experience, but also a challenge. I get bored really easy. Hunting bugs is never-ending....
At the time, there were only 3 gaming sites that listed game betas. However, the lists were often outdated or missing other beta games I had found on the internet. I decided with the amount of time I was spending on the internet looking for new game betas, I ought to share with other interested parties my discoveries. I set out to build my first website, Beta Bites. I knew nothing about web design at the time, but had help from a friend on building the website. I launched Beta Bites on December 25, 1997, and it was strictly game beta links.
BB moved to GameGirlz in Feb. of '98 and continued there until mid-July of '98. On Sept. 23, 1998, Beta Bites was launched as its own domain. The opening of the website included the new addition of application betas in addition to the game betas. Originally when I started BB, I had every intention of adding application betas, but once I moved to GG, I started doing other things, and had no time to add apps. I doubled the work load with the addition of application betas.
Q: You call yourself "the Janitor of BB". What exactly do you do there?
A: "The Janitor of BB" was my choice for titles. It is an eclectic term for doing everything including the stuff no one else wants to do on the website (including me :). I am:
- The owner - I pay the bills, fight the copyright battles, talk to companies, do PR work, etc.
- The webmaster - I maintain over 150 pages and write news and features.
- The Pregnant Woman - I have to give "birth" to new staff meaning I have to train them in the ways we work at BB. This includes: Dreamweaver 2 usage, screenshot editing, news writing, feature authoring, etc. This can be extremely time consuming.
- The cook - I coordinate and schedule the staff for different jobs on BB. I even get to spank them when they burn the meat (get their previews in late) although I hate that part of the job.
- I take out the trash - I have to clear out old betas, delete out-of-date archives and images, make corrections to bad links, etc. Boring, boring, boring...
I want to mention here that Beta Bites is a huge website, and does not run without the help of my great staff. I may be the owner/janitor, but it is the BB staff that helps keep us a float. I currently have 4 women and 4 men working on Beta Bites. I couldn't do it without them, especially Penelope who is my "geek" woman and sidekick. She keeps me centered and on the ball. She even tells me when I screw up! You got to have balance on a website.
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