I know that many students here have interest in gaming and often play games to relieve stress. I consider myself as an active gamer as well, which makes gaming my favorite free time activity. I have always questioned myself if working in a gaming company will be as fun as playing the game itself. I was very lucky to find a company that could answer this lifelong question. I did not have to hesitate when Pearl Abyss offered me a place to work as an intern. It was quite a historic moment because I was the first ever intern in the office! Pearl Abyss has its headquarter in Korea and produced Black Desert, which is an MMORPG played worldwide.
I studied the company’s visions and values before I started my internship. The three most important values of Pearl Abyss is perseverance, drive, and trust. As some of you might have noticed, the values can be respected only with efficient teamwork. I could directly observe the teamwork going on in the office from the moment I stepped in. All workers were proactive, conversations were going on all around the office, and the atmosphere was very chill and relaxing. There was no strict rule on anything, and the people were all welcoming ad kindhearted.
As an operations coordinator, my main task was improving internal communication within the office, and bridging different in-game contents from EU region to Korea. For improving internal communication, I had to find problems and solutions of the current state of communication in the office. This was an extensive project, in which I had to create a presentation to present in front of the office members. Bridging was mainly consisted of translations of online community trends and bug reports of the game. Trend translating was a repetitive task, when patchnotes come up every Wednesday. It was fascinating to notice how different platforms (Discord, Reddit etc) react differently to the same patchnote. Minor translations such as influencer videos and in-game story related translations happened without a chronic pattern.
The company also had interactive activities for the employees to join. On Easter, we went for a picnic in Keukenhof. There were several movie nights as well. These activities really helped me get used to the company and the co-workers.
In conclusion, experience as an intern in Pearl Abyss was fantastic. I made countless unforgettable memories, and confidently answered yes to my question, if working in a gaming company will be as fun as playing the game itself. I think it is a great workplace for people who have interest in gaming, or want to diversify their working experience.