Has anyone here contemplated using Roblox for work?

I manage remote software development teams who have never met face to face and I find that bringing people out of their shells is difficult, and activities like icebreakers can be invaluable for this.

Roblox games are very varied and the platform seems very flexible. And it got me thinking that maybe these icebreaker activities can be gamified. Imagine a Roblox game being used to estimate stories for a sprint for instance.

Anyway, does anyone know of anyone who has done this? I'd love to know how they found it.

@gpowerf @aschaffar transferred a group dynamics setting called "organisational laboratory" into Minecraft during the pandemics. I did the tech behind it. Everything worked out nicely with >80 participants.

So yes, I think with the right design, it is possible to facilitate a lot, like teambuilding in a remote setting for starters.

With the right dose of required reflection on what's happening I think it is quickly clear to most, that this is about more than just being a fun activity. But then again, there are those teams that don't even get why a retreat makes sense. So one never knows I guess ;)

When well established, then as a recurrent thing I think such that it could be most suited for retrospectives and the like. Times of reflection. Because why not express my feelings about the last sprint this in an artsy way by building a sculpture for example?

Plannings and estimations require more sticky note like things like Miro I guess. But then again, I'd probably be surprised with what people can come up there as well :)

@bpub @aschaffar very interesting. Thanks. Roblox seems super flexible! I've seen people implement yoga tutorials, dance clubs, complete wild west sumulations, etc...

@gpowerf Yeah, I already wanted to take a look at it, but at the time it didn't support Linux so this was only a short lived research for me :)

But I also heard that it is super flexible, so go for it! :)

I think the key ingredient is that you have a good plan regarding your setting and what you want to achieve with it. Prepare a space facilitates what you want to achieve. Like mentioned creative space for a reflection session or smth. alike.

Since you said that this is a remote work environment I think anything like this already constitutes value for the team.

@bpub that is a good point! I didn't consider Linux support. But thankfully everyone in that team has access to Windows. Except me! :ablobthinkingeyes:

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@gpowerf I just now read in the roblox wiki that as of January 2022 it is supported via Wine in Linux as well.

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