staying connected in the virtual workplace – 2022 edition
December 31, 2021
written by
Chantel Keith
As the year comes to an end and our team reflects back on this past year, we’re proud to have successfully completed another year collaborating together remotely in the virtual workplace. Last year, we shared some of the ways we stayed connected throughout the beginning of the pandemic. Since then, we’ve discovered a few new ways for us to continue spending time together, virtually, that I’ll be sharing with you today.
Virtual Movie Party
We still enjoy sharing our favorite, binge-worthy Netflix shows and YouTube videos with each other during our virtual happy hours. These days, Google Meet makes it easy to stream a quick 30-minute episode of a new Netflix series, documentary or game show. Some of our teams’ fav’s include Arcane, Best Leftovers Ever! and Street Food.
Virtual Games
Another activity we continue to enjoy is playing virtual games together. Here’s a list of the games we’ve tried and what we like – or dislike – about them.
ShellShock.io
Shell Shockers is a free, multiplayer first person shooter game where players get to choose their egg design and weapon before facing off in a dozen different maps. There are two different game modes – free for all or teams. You don’t need to create an account or download any special apps to play the game, which is great! However, if any players aren’t familiar with using WASD keys for movement or haven’t had a lot of practice with FPS gaming online, it can be difficult to earn points.
Skribbl.io
Skribbl is another free, multiplayer game where players are given a choice between three different words that they must draw while the other players try to guess what the word is. Some words are more difficult than others to articulate in drawings so choose wisely! We’ve had a lot of great laughs playing this game and the games can hold up to 12 players, but the words do get a bit repetitive over time.
BombParty
Another recent game discovery is called BombParty. The game is described by the developers as an “explosive word game”. It’s a fast paced word game that definitely keeps players on their toes! Each round, each player is presented with a letter phrase i.e. “TE” and they have to spell a word that contains the letter phrase before their time runs out (which is typically only a few seconds). Each player is given two lives and, if they can’t come up with a unique word fast enough, they’ll lose a life until they’re out of the game. As players drop off the game, the pace picks up even faster for the remaining players. We’ve share a lot of great laughs together playing this game & highly recommend it to other teams.
SmashKarts.io
Last but not least, Smash Karts is a free, multiplayer “kart battle arena game” – or – a modern rendition of the classic Mario Kart. Players choose from a dozen animals as their character and can customize their kart colors as well. The game entails driving your kart around a chosen map, picking up special weapons by driving through boxes and proceeding to deploy them at your fellow team members. Although this is also a WASD controlled game, there seems to be a bit more chance involved in who wins the game which helps level the playing field. The game is relaxed enough that you can enjoy playing while also catching up on water cooler conversations.
We hope this list can help inspire your team to explore new, virtual ways to continue team building remotely. We’re always looking for more fun activities to do together and will be sure to share our future discoveries with you here.