Why can't I jump and why can't I shoot anything?

When gamers arrive in a digital environment they expect targets to shoot and obstacles to vault over. In Relm the opposite is true: there's nothing to shoot, and there's nothing to jump over. We wear this as a badge of honor.

That's because Relm is more than a game.

You might say Relm is more like Zoom than a game. After all, when you load into a relm, you have the option to give the software access to your camera and microphone, just like any other videoconferencing platform.

But Relm is very unlike Zoom or FaceTime. Your video box is a video bubble, and instead of a box in a grid of faces it's a round bubble and it follows your digital avatar through a 3D digital space. It's as if you're a game character exploring a new level, but Relm isn't a game, so the 3D space you and your avatar are navigating isn't filled with enemies trying to kill you. It's a place you can meet your friends or co-workers, and the objects in that 3D environment can be moved by a click or tap, customized, and embedded with links relevant to you.

Relm shares features with Zoom, Discord, Telegram, WhatsApp, Miro and others, but it's the combination of connective features from various platforms built into a shared and navigable game-like environment that makes Relm what it is: a co-creative space for projects and ideas, not a hostile game environment to dominate or survive.

Imagine you load into a room with curving wooden bookcases and green velvet benches. There's a table with glowing colourful symbols and beside it sits a lounging lazy cat. If this is a video game, someone is about to come around the corner and shoot you while you speed through the environment looking for resources to survive and clues to advance the level.  

But this is Relm, not a game, and you came here to work on a project with your colleague, so rather than searching for ammo or battling your enemy, you and your friend walk your avatars over to the table where your project notes from the last session are still visible on a virtual notepad. Beside those notes is a glowing orb that links to your Pinterest board, and next to that a glowing diamond holds the link to the team Trello board where task progress is tracked. You can leave notes for your co-workers on this digital table, you can find the things you need that are relevant to this project. Information can be found by anyone on the team because it's in an environment that makes visual sense.  

In Relm we make worktables not weapons benches. In Relm we build digital studios, offices, libraries and mind palaces.

Come say hello if you're curious to learn more.

We won't shoot. We promise.