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Gather Town - a better way to meet online

In Gather Town, participants can move freely, interact with objects and other characters. Participants create their avatars and personalize them, representing a good range that includes notions of diversity – says Mara Rodrigues, head of EU Training Academy and President of Foundation Ambassadors of Ideas. She is a trainer in the field of youth who was born in Portugal and lives in Poland in Leszno, a place “full of magic”.

In the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic Mara implemented GPS (Growing Partnership Strategies) training course online. On the last day there was a follow-up activity that they wanted to host in a more creative, informal and free atmosphere. So they decided for Gather Town. In this space people could not only discuss among themselves, but also explore the environment and interact with different elements of it. Each participant creates an avatar and can walk around the environment (map) and check different neighbourhoods and objects that facilitators have predefined. This allows to tailor the space to the objectives of the activity. Whether it is a social activity or learning event, the map and its object can seriously enhance the outcomes. Whenever two or more characters meet on a map, a small window(s) open up and people can see each other’s cameras and speak through their microphones. The platform has a very playful look, a retro 8-bit look that reminds of a Super Mario videogame.

The instructions were given on Zoom, as it was already familiar space for the group, but the session went on in the Gather Town. There were open rooms, where everybody would speak and be able to listen; there were rooms with computers and interacting with them allowed participants to get information about organizations involved in the project, so the follow-up activities can create a good multiplying effect.

The feedback from participants is that - especially the younger ones - can get a little lost in it, and they prefer to just walk around and explore the space, rather than follow the instructions and engage in the proposed activities. Another common question: does fun go in line with learning… Also the first few minutes are often chaos, because participants appear in the same spot and everybody starts talking at the same time. As the platform gives participants plenty of freedom, some people might be lost and get frustrated, and they just quit. That is why Mara suggests to keep some other channel of communication in parallel (preferably not a video communicator, so the camera and microphone are not conflicting as they are used for Gather Town). This is useful for people who feel a little lost, so they can go and ask for technical help. It may also be helpful to have instructions and a brief tutorial as a written document (with text and pictures), to help with troubleshooting. There is a number of ready ones on the Gather Town website. Another possible solution to make people familiar with the space is actually to invite them already few days prior the meeting, so they can visit anytime and get a bit oriented.

As organiser of an event or trainer/facilitator, one can easily create environment (map). It’s like playing “The sims” - says Mara. You choose an object, click to place it on the map and decide what should happen when participant clicks on it. It is possible to start creating an environment from plenty of templates, possibly modifying them or start from blank. It is possible to share music or different sounds as a background to specific part of the environment. Actually participants can be also involved in shaping the final outlook of a space, making it comfortable for everyone.

Up to 25 people can join a meeting for free, but for larger groups the platform is payable. Actually paying for a group means your environment is temporarily moved into fast servers, so everyone’s experience is better. There are also workarounds. Mara for example suggests that it’s possible to create two separate rooms and invite maximum 25 people in each - two separate rooms mean 50 people can work at the same time…

Does Mara actually like the online setting? It’s a hot topic because some people feel they “have to do it”, some others genuinely love it – says Mara. She believes that it was needed in this recent period of the emergency covid-19 situation. Sometimes it allows to be more effective, like to do a job interview without a need of long travel. But in many situations online doesn’t transfer so well. For example teacher training or school activities. Research shows that students are not learning effectively online. If we expect to transfer traditional teaching methods online, it’s no surprise that they don’t work. And maybe the question should be, if they worked in residential school at all. But this is a much bigger question.

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