When This Reality Fails You, Try Escaping to a Virtual One (Opinion)
Or how I learned to stay sane(ish) during a global pandemic by playing VR games and remote escape rooms
In the Before Times I would frequently be told things like, “I don’t know how you can manage all that” or “your schedule sounds exhausting.” To be fair, I did have a pretty serious work-life balance issue. But it was made exponentially worse by the decision to start a side business as well as a new-found addiction to escape rooms and immersive experiences. On any given night after I got off work, I would surely have at least one immersive event to attend or another. My candle was burnt so thoroughly on both ends, there was nothing left to burn. Suffice it to say, when the pandemic hit and the world shut down, so too did my hobbies and, ostensibly, my entire beloved immersive industry. Well… not all of it.
Within the first week or two of stay-at-home orders, I was rallying my friends to join me for online escape room-in-a-box games. At the time, there didn’t seem to be many options available for us escape room “junkies” (as I lovingly refer to us). But, slowly, and steadily, more and more remote experiences started popping up. Thanks to a fortuitous invitation from our friends over at Room Escape Artist, the next thing I knew, I was spending my spare time after work reviewing virtual escape rooms as a “Hivemind” reviewer. At first, the offerings were… scrappy. Perhaps even a bit clumsy. But creators were trying. And they were failing fast and course-correcting quickly. Some of these new experiences were designed exclusively to be played online. It was so inspiring to see this industry pivot so quickly, almost overnight.
Within a month, playing remote and online escape rooms was my new norm. Companies across the nation and even across the world were going online. And with each game I played, and each new group of fellow enthusiasts I played alongside, a little piece of my sanity felt restored.
My boss at work recently posed a concern I’ve gotten for years, “I don’t know how you can do it all. Play all those escape rooms.”
Almost without hesitation, I responded, “Some people do yoga. I play escape rooms.”
She smiled and nodded. “I get it. Makes perfect sense.”
For those 60 minutes when I am playing an escape room, I am whisked away to a world in which my problems simply cannot exist. I cannot be concerned about who in my community is or isn’t wearing masks in public. I cannot think about looming deadlines at work. My brain just does not have the capacity to be solving puzzles in a magical world of narrative wonder while also panicking about if I sanitized my groceries well enough. It is a welcomed respite, albeit, a brief one. As of this writing, I’ve done nearly 70 of those online escape rooms since March (bringing my total tally to somewhere around 180 and counting) and I have zero shame in my escape room game. In fact, in the circles I’m hanging in these days, it’s a paltry number by comparison. (Seriously, some of my fellow Hiveminders have done 300+ or were competitors in the Red Bull Escape Room World Championships for example.)
I recently realized another mental health benefit of these types of puzzle solving games: The ability to achieve a satisfying sense of completion. For some of us, it really comes down to being able to have control and agency over any small thing in our lives right now. The world is in a state of chaos and very little can be controlled right now but, at the end of that escape room, I truly have a sense that I encountered a problem, took action, and collaboratively solved it. For a control freak (not that I’m one of those or anything) this can be deeply satisfying.
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And that’s not all! Thanks to a very generous collective gift from my family over the holidays, I am the proud owner of an Oculus Quest. (This is not an advertisement for any particular VR headset.) And man, am I glad that I have that thing. Virtual reality, too, has become my oasis of calm between hours of play sessions in The Under Presents encountering many of my favorite immersive actors appearing as virtual characters, or assuming the form of a mischievous bunny attempting to escape the clutches of a mad scientist with Dr. Crumb’s School for Disobedient Pets, or solving puzzles in a room scale version of one of my favorite puzzle games like The Room: A Dark Matter. On several occasions, I have averted a near panic attack by having the presence of mind to slip on that VR headset and go play a few minutes of Beat Saber.
This is not hyperbole.
I literally stopped a panic attack by playing a VR game.
And frankly it took a lot of pep-talking from my friend Ivy to even admit this in a public forum.
“Mental health and gaming is basically at the forefront of the pandemic,” she said to me. “For some reason, I’ve felt like people are not talking about it as much as they could be…You, of all people, are in position to do that!” I knew all those years of anxiety would come in handy someday! (No, I didn’t.)
Look, I’m in no way suggesting that escape rooms or VR games should take the place of seeking treatment for your mental wellbeing. In fact, if you are able to, I highly encourage doing so first and foremost. But I am suggesting that there are many positive effects to be found by actively participating in a joyful activity that also has the added benefit of a little much-needed dopamine rush.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is: the world is scary, and uncertain, but creativity persists. And though it may be hard to let go of what was, there are little pockets of joy and wonder to be found right now. You just need to dig around for the clues.
So: hang in there, friends. And if you’re feeling overwhelmed, find a way to “escape” here and there. I know I’ll be doing the same.
(Hint: If you’re looking for recommendations, I highly recommend checking out Everything Immersive and Room Escape Artist. I also have this handy dandy spreadsheet I started at the beginning of all of *gestures wildly* this. I swear one of these days I’ll go in and clean that thing up. 🤷♀️)
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