Writer's Note: Due to a confidentiality agreement, I will not be mentioning the actual name of the games publisher I'm writing about. To be honest, it doesn't really matter. I think my experience is but one of many that have been given the opportunity of interning with a publisher they've admired.
For any gamer, journalist, or in my case, games journalist, there's no higher privilege to fulfilling your college's internship requirements than with a premiere video game publisher. For me, that fantasy came true one cold morning last December, through a confirmation email. "Congratulations, Tony." I'd been chosen to intern for my entire spring semester with one of the largest game publishers out there. I had been a fan of this publisher for years. They opened me up to a new genre of gaming altogether. I'd interviewed twice over the course of a week's time, once with the Human Resources person and then with my potential supervisor. I felt confident in both interviews, as my previous knowledge of the games industry set me apart from other potential candidates. Providing links to articles, as well as a small marketing background, sealed the deal to what would be a grueling, yet once in a lifetime experience in the months ahead. Friends joked and colleagues gasped at what looked like winning the lotto in regards to what I truly wanted to do with my journalism career: write about games. But I would learn there were immense differences and misconceptions from what others (and myself) thought my experience would be, compared to what it actually was.
Misconception 1. "That's great, Tony. You must be so psyched, and to be able to play video games all day? So jealous," ten friends said in harmony. I was psyched, but this was the opposite of what actually was the day to day job description. I was working with the marketing and social media extension of the publisher. Being on this side of things, I was put into the position, as many interns are, of product management. The core of my days were bound to updating spreadsheets of the samples I was sending to VIPs and making sure the budget codes accounted for each shipment I sent. I also searched the internet for any news or gossip that pointed toward the brand to keep on top of what the public wants/thinks. As the weeks progressed and I proved myself more of an asset, I was given the task of creating PowerPoint presentations for new ideas I had. These were my favorite times as I was allowed to let my knowledge of the industry correlate with my creative side.
Misconception 2. Being a video game journalist is going to make your job easier with them. How couldn't it? You probably know more than they do about video games!
The hardest aspect of my time during this internship was the one thing I thought would make it the easiest: being a games industry writer. I'm a journalist in the industry. I know a lot of PR people, games writers, and even have a staff position here at Kombo. Who's better than me? I was shocked to find out that these very traits are what hindered me in the beginning weeks and were the reasons I had to earn their trust within a brand that prides itself on secret projects. Paranoid much? Yes. I'm games journalist. That "was" the problem. I was now contributing in weekly meetings discussing new products that other "journalists" would die for. I was seeing footage of gameplay, products, and new features that wouldn't be announced from a few months to a year. The journalist in me was gasping for air as the new intern mindset I was forced to adapt to took shape. Who was I? That was the toughest part. I wanted to tell these things. I wanted to write about the same facts that will be written about months from now.
Even now as I write this article, my mind races to things I've seen and want to tell you about. But I don't dare. I can't. I won't. "You know you signed confidentiality right, Tony? Hope you know you still can't write about this," was a common starter after the weekly staff meetings I contributed to. From my first week, I was reminded of this publisher's competition in an industry that seemed much smaller than it used to. Rivals, sales figures, number comparisons, these are the main priorities that came first and foremost every week. Coming into this internship, I had a solid relationship with many of the competitors and rivals of this publisher as a member of the games press. As this knowledge came to fruition throughout the corridors and hallways, my knowledge of the industry seemed to take a back seat to the potential "mole" I might be for numerous reasons. Could confidential information get leaked to the competition, the press, or written about for my own personal gain?
For myself, I knew I would do no such thing, but how did they know? That fact is, they didn't. And for that, I didn't and don't blame them for being skeptical of me. A few weeks prior, it was my job to find out the information I was now being shown daily. This experience has now come to an end. I've graduated, I've reminisced, and I'm looking forward. I don't miss the four hour daily commute from Connecticut to New York City. I don't miss the suits on the train that had hot wings for lunch, letting me know this fact by the pungent air excreting from the orifice in their ass. I don't miss filling out spreadsheets until my eyes feel like they're going to bleed. I don't miss feeling like a mole while the innocent me transforms into a hardened, callous self. But I do miss the laughter in the halls, the video gaming gossip, and the amount I learned from the great people there. Oh, and the secrets. I miss those beautiful secrets; the secrets that separated you from me.
This article originally posted on Kombo.
