The idea was to have a bunch of games (casual + social/party) and a bunch of friends in one single place. And also have all the banter that happens around these games, especially the social/party games, in the same place. So even if you are not in the mood to actively play, you can just participate in the banter which is also great fun. Better than commenting on photos, at least.
While the gaming destination as a whole did not work out, people enjoyed playing the social/party games we built and they led to a lot of banter.
So when we were trying to figure what next, we thought why not bring that banter to the workplace? While remote work is great, a lot of the team bonding/camaraderie that happens through random chitchat is really missing. And we thought social games are a great way for teams to socialize and build camaraderie.
So here we are. Bored brings social games to right where you work - Slack.
Would love to know what you folks think of it.
Beyond that, I really do see "games" becoming a big thing in the digital workplace for socializing and interacting in the next years (beyond even Slack games).
Hopefully this can get traction and grow bigger.
When you say a visual demo, does a Loom video work or a more professionally done one?
We are a small team working remotely for thr past year. Most of us have never met and this game was a great ice-breaker.
I'm not sure how to start the game at a specific time. Seems like anyone can start at any time right now. Is this by design?
It did not exactly work out, but I think the pandemic is a call to create new online experiences that are different from your typical zoom call and are an excuse to have fun and socialize with your team/friends during lockdowns. It brings an opportunity to create original and creative experiences.
Also if the situation continues maybe gaming will enter the enterprise world - like playing Minecraft with co-workers make sense to do team-building and is cheap compared to other options. https://gather.town/ is a good example of something different too.
+100 on creating new online experiences that are not a typical Zoom call.
Any plans of launching for Teams? I guess bigger companies (who were already on outlook) have heavily adopted Teams (and I believe these games might be something that HR teams at bigger companies might be interested in).
Faker is a lot of fun - you should try it out!
Videos - makes sense. We will get one done soon.
Teams - for now, we are focused on Slack itself but as soon as we are ready to build for the next platform, Teams it would be.
Spot the faker is a lot of fun though - my favorite game :)
Are you folks launching more games?
Yes do have a very interesting new game that I can't wait to get in the hands of people. Should come out next week most likely.
But all ears to what other kinds of games would you like to play with your team.
and i agree with another comment - you should add more context to the website about how the games will look/play like in slack.
Yes we definitely need to work on our website and bring out the games better.
- Who's the faker: A game all about accusation and deception. Lots of banter.
- Roastmasters: All about roasting your colleagues (SFW though)
- Trick or Trivia: New-age trivia with about 50 topics and 5K+ questions
- Give me a break: Activities and fun corners of the Internet for short breaks by yourself
Happy to take inputs on what other games to build - what else do you think would be fun to play with colleagues?