Are We Turning To Virtual Escape Rooms?

Remember in our previous blogpost that team building activities should be short and sweet? Virtual escape rooms can be one of these activities that hits the sweet spot. I have tried physical escape rooms and I absolutely loved them! When the experience is now fully online, what do you think would be different?

What is a vIrtual escape room?

A virtual escape room is a game where players have to work in teams to solve a series of riddles and puzzles to obtain the final clue to “escape the room”, which takes place online over a call. It is usually a game incorporated to improve team chemistry and collaboration.

Why choose AveLIVEX’s virtual escape room for a team building activity?

First of all, as someone who is looking to bond the team, we always hope that the games we introduce are not boring and if we could get our co-workers think on their feet, that would be a plus point. It is also without a doubt that the new norm – remote working – has impaired our ability to communicate face-to-face in the office. But if we remain optimistic, it is actually not tough to recognise the opportunities we have, to work around the difficulties of a virtual workplace!

1. Improves effectiveness of team communication

While working remotely, we may lose the original culture or habit of communicating with our co-workers. Even a simple interaction like asking them “How do you like my work? Do you have any comments for me to improve?” can diminish without a physical workspace and communication strategy.

Observe how other games like Skribblio pitch us against one another even though we are from the same team. (Does this really help in team communication, except for playfully dissing each other or even worse, feeling awkward?) On the other hand, virtual escape rooms are set differently with a collaborative nature, establishing a common goal for the team which is to break out of the “room”. (You can think of how this can be translated to work – how you would like your employees to share the same vision in a particular project!)

Before effective communication, comes understanding. Collaborating to solve the riddles posed in a virtual escape room can greatly extend our understanding of each other’s working style. Only then would we be able to work around conflicts to make sure we complement each other in a joint task.

This helps to create a more comfortable workspace, which can create the drive for us to spur each other on and grow together as a team. Through building rapport and communication with our colleagues, we can strengthen the team’s synergy, allowing us to work better together.

2. Highly intelligent plot and game setup

When you watch a movie with a shallow plot and lots of loopholes, do you just feel so irked you immediately hit the pause button?

Fortunately, AveLIVEX’s virtual escape room plot is nothing like that. The AveLIVEX team had put in great effort to piece together a long chunk of clues and information which link back to the original storyline. It was truly eye-opening when we gathered the information in bits only to discover the flow of the story. When solving their puzzles, we also had to think fast and sometimes bring in our general knowledge! (Though, to be fair, our team solved it pretty fast… I’m not praising us! I’m just stating facts, heh!)

The amazing graphics and music effects also made it feel more realistic for us, as if we were in big trouble and had to save the day as important people.

3. Everyone is given a chance to be a leader

“Not everyone can be, or is willing to be, a leader.” Thoughts?

When we select team building activities, it’s for sure we want to stay inclusive so that no one who is less bubbly would feel uninvolved. We also want to see our employees taking the initiative to lead a team. Trying out AveLIVEX’s virtual escape room has changed our experience and convinced us that everyone in the team would lead as well as stay engaged in their game. Why?

All team members can immerse yourselves in a world where you can take on each unique superhero character, taking on varying superpowers as such. Upon reaching different clue stations, different superheroes would be able to leverage on their superpowers to help the team solve the puzzle quickly. This is where you can keep your eyes out for new (and even unexpected) leaders to surface! And everyone would feel a part of the game too! This is very different from a physical escape room as we won’t be required to ‘roleplay’ as a very specific character with specific skills – in a physical setting, it’s pretty much free for all.

Through building rapport and communication with our colleagues, we can strengthen the team’s synergy, allowing us to work better together. Try out AveLIVEX’s virtual escape room now!

What other virtual escape rooms have you perhaps tried so far? Share them with us!