How is Relm better than Zoom?

In some ways Relm is like Zoom (video chat!), but at the same time, a lot of people notice it also looks like… a video game world!? So, what’s up with that, and is it better than Zoom?

Video game worlds are fun, and multiplayer campaigns are so great for building team spirit and camaraderie. If that’s the case, we wonder, then why not use them in our everyday work? Why confine ourselves to bland video chat software?

Today, there are a few things that we think already make Relm better than Zoom:

• Have you experienced Zoom fatigue? We think it’s so unnatural to be placed with faces towards one another for an hour or more. Having the freedom to move yourself around, shift your attention, and meet in different settings is a big improvement over traditional video conferences–you won’t be as tired, because your brain is naturally novelty-seeking and you’ll find video chat in Relm refreshing.
• Has your team started using Zoom backgrounds for fun and self-expression? The fact that so many of us take advantage of this points to the need for self-expression. In Relm, you have many more ways to show your mood, tell a story, or create an environment that strikes up conversation. Relm is like a “shared team background” that can be the starting point for team or community culture.
• When you start up Zoom, you’re always in the same place–facing each other, with your office or synthetic background behind you. In real life, the environment we meet in is a huge social cue that normally constrains what can be talked about. When inviting someone to your home, this signals something far more intimate than meeting in the office. In Relm, you can build environments that allow many types of constraints and levels of intimacy for conversation.

But this is just the beginning! We hope to build a real global village, an open source platform where you can be you, where you can feel belonging and status in a healthy, human way.

Relm is attempting to combine a kind of social network (like Facebook) with video conferencing software (like Zoom or Whereby), with an MMO video game world (like World of Warcraft).

It’s an ambitious project, but one that we feel inspired to attempt today in this work-from-home, school-from-home, everything-from-home environment. We are building the online space that’s worthy of our spending time there. If this is inspiring to you, contact us!