John Wiley's End-of-Year Adventures: an online game for 150 people

John Wiley is an international academic publisher of professional literature, journals, and encyclopedias in both printed and electronic form. Intending to reward its employees with an End-of-Year team-building session, the company turned to ManGO! Games team.

Among the 150 people who came to the icy wilderness ready for treasure hunting, no one regretted it! In a New Year's warm atmosphere, the team strengthened their resource planning and teamwork skills.

Mission. Hold an online New Year's training session in a form of a fun team-building game that could bring together 300 people to have a good time while reaping the benefits of business interaction.

Background. Although the quarantine measures left no other option for the team to get together, they still should celebrate the occasion in a memorable, vibrant, and educational way.

Solution. Adjust the Desert Rock Treasures online game to comply with the New Year's theme.

The event attracted a total number of 150 people.

The main idea of the game was to immerse participants in the New Year's holiday spirit. They were on their way to Lapland to help Santa deliver presents to the kids when dark forces got in the way…

The participants were to overcome bad weather, outrun competitors, confront giant snow trolls, and handle all those obstacles in resource-constrained settings.

The key competencies to be developed included resource allocation, teamwork, and advanced problem-solving.

The game rules. The team is allowed to spend the allocated money to buy firewood, food, a tent, or a compass. The amount of firewood needed will depend on weather conditions. On the other hand, if the team runs out of food before they can get to the nearest town, they all die. The compass can only help them survive one blizzard. The tent can help saving firewood and food supplies while preventing the members from getting lost. However, it only can be used three times, with new ones only available for purchase in the nearest town. The number of times one can get advice from the Wise Polar Explorer or call the Ice Tundra Elves for help is also limited. All the listed terms require the participants to be very resource-conscious.

The ultimate goal was to collect as many children's smiles as possible.

The positive and kind atmosphere of the game delighted and engaged the players. The thrilling adventures ended with music, memorable greetings, and gifts. The most touching moment was seeing children's smiles in the video, which brought the participants to the maximum level of joy and festivity.

Of course, full replacement of the traditional face-to-face celebration would be impossible. Although they felt the longing for a real-life meeting, we still managed to create the atmosphere of a New Year's corporate party for the participants. We can sure tell that the company cares about its employees and is going to arrange good old offline events during the upcoming holidays, something they all began to miss.