Being a high school student, at some point, we have to face the real world, with the internship being the first chance to experience that.
Studying in the Media Studies course, I would need to look for a job that is related to my skills in media. Since I was already an active tournament player even before this, I also held a great passion for the ACG.
As such, GamerBraves became an easy choice when looking for somewhere to start my internship, as it combines both the media and the gaming industry, which fits my need to work in a media-related company while fitting my passion for games. Furthermore, I was pretty curious about how these game journalists’ sites operate, and thus I applied and started my work here.
Completing my Dailies
Much like any gacha game, of course, there will be daily tasks that I have to finish every day.
While it may look like my job is to just play games and write about them, my job in the end is still to report them
Still, I would much rather cover news on things I like than random society news that I probably would not understand. Plus, sometimes I might come across a new game that seems interesting and I can add it to my wishlist.
Aside from covering the usual news, sometimes I would also get to do things that I’m passionate about, especially when it comes to certain topics that trigger my investigative journalism neurons, prompting me to dive deep into the topic and uncover the truth.
Challenges Along The Way
When first starting, the biggest challenge for me was trying to make sure my articles seemed more neutral and professional. Due to my lack of professional writing experience, most of my earlier articles are quite biased and would be quite unfit for journalism standards.
However, thanks to being able to work with real industry professionals, I was able to rid myself of the habit rather quickly, which allowed me to write company-standard articles swiftly. Furthermore, they have also given me many tips and insights on how to improve my writing. Whether it is how I can better find information to hit the word count, optimizing my Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or just generally checking my work to fix any mistakes. My colleagues played a huge part in helping me improve my work.
By the end of my internship, I can more confidently say that my writing is now more fitting towards industry standards, and I definitely got a huge speed boost in writing speed. Both are great improvements for when I have to deal with schoolwork again or if I have to work in similar fields once more.
Workplace Culture
Due to me being an introverted person, I initially did have a harder time speaking to most of my colleagues. Fortunately, my colleagues in the office were all pretty friendly people, and over time I would get used to interacting with them.
As an additional plus, since everyone in the office is well-versed in some part of the ACG, I could discuss my interest in anime and games with them. In some cases, I even get to geek out and go in-depth on certain topics, making the entire experience rather fun.
Despite being quiet at first, I’ve never really got secluded or left out during my time here, even with unfamiliar topics or things I don’t understand, my colleagues will take the time to explain it, which was something I am sincerely thankful for.
Closing Thoughts
Alas, the fun times will have to end at some point, though my internship at GamerBraves was a short one, it was definitely an experience that allowed me to vastly improved.
From making mistakes constantly to being able to hold my own when writing articles, while learning multiple journalism tips and media literacy, this experience has been fruitful, to say the least. While there is no guarantee that these skills will be applicable everywhere, they will definitely be useful to me in the long run.