Can a game make your working life less lonely?

{"text":[[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":5.78,"text":"This island is paradise. As soon as I arrive, I stroll along the seashore, where the tide laps gently and palms wave lazily in the breeze. Exploring inland, I find glistening waterfalls, dense forests and rustic wooden buildings. I’m not alone here. In this pastel-shaded utopia, my avatar is surrounded by players from all over the world: anthropomorphic animals wearing adorable outfits. None of them are speaking. None of them are playing. They’re all doing the same thing — they’re working."}],[{"start":37.9,"text":"This is On-Together: Virtual Co-Working, a piece of software that borrows from the language of video games but is not quite a game. It is, rather, a tool responding to a broad social shift in the way people work. Since the pandemic, it has become increasingly common for people to work alone from home. Many choose this for convenience but it comes with downsides too. In my life as a freelance writer, I spend long days reading and writing in a tiny room at home, and find the isolation can negatively impact both my mood and my productivity."}],[{"start":70.14,"text":"During the pandemic, it was suggested that video games and the “metaverse” could become virtual platforms for communal working. One company even held meetings in the cowboy world of Red Dead Redemption 2. On-Together picks up on this idea but suggests that working alongside virtual strangers might be just as valuable as being with your actual colleagues. The idea is that this almost-game can live discreetly in the corner of your screen and increase your productivity and wellbeing during the workday by offering company."}],[{"start":97.78,"text":"Booting On-Together up for the first time, I’m asked to make an animal avatar. I give myself bunny ears, a sly smirk and thick-rimmed lime glasses to look extra studious. My guy looks like an unimaginative extra from the children’s cartoon Arthur. I log on and pick a server, each run by an individual user — the options include “Let’s help each other focus”, “Game dev n iced matcha” and “Toadstool Tuesday”. I opt for the last of these. Landing on the paradise island, it’s like many other open-world games: you can explore where you like. Check out the lighthouse, the café, or blow a big pink bubblegum balloon to float high above the treetops. The island is dotted with idyllic working spots, such as a classroom set on the prow of a ship, a treehouse sanctuary and an elegant library in the heart of a forest."}],[{"start":146.42,"text":"All around are groups of people working. I see one named “Squashy (hiding from existential crisis)”, a goth girl with purple glasses, ram’s horns and a cat sitting on her head reading a tiny book. She has a timer ticking above her, indicating that she’s currently in a work focus period and doesn’t want to be disturbed. I take a seat next to Squashy and select a Focus Mode, one of many work animations that will leave my avatar in a holding pattern, reading, writing, painting, knitting or much else besides. This wordlessly communicates to others what you’re working on. You can access an in-game journal, to-do list and Pomodoro timer that sets fixed periods for focused activity. I reduce the game’s window size until I can just see my character writing on his laptop in the corner of my desktop, and get to work."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":193.62,"text":"There is real science behind why On-Together might make you more productive. “Body doubling” is a productivity strategy often used by people with ADHD, who find that they focus on tasks better in the presence of somebody else. There has been a recent trend of “admin parties”, where people get together to eat snacks and sort out boring life chores. Others sit on video calls with friends, all working from home, not talking. Being in the company of other people makes them feel accountable and helps them concentrate."}],[{"start":224.22,"text":"There’s a growing field of productivity games like On-Together, many of which use terms such as “chill” or “lofi” in their titles — a reference to the “lofi girl” who is the mascot for a popular YouTube channel providing lofi hip-hop to accompany home study sessions. Most productivity games adopt an aggressively cutesy aesthetic, which is probably smart — when Meta spent billions trying to make virtual workspaces happen on its Horizon platform, one of the main reasons it failed was its world’s soul-obliterating charmlessness (and the disconcerting fact that its characters didn’t have legs)."}],[{"start":257.62,"text":"On-Together rewards you for focusing on your tasks with in-game currency, which you can use to buy new outfits and accessories. I found myself urgently and unexpectedly consumed by a need to obtain the capybara pet, which briefly motivated my workdays more powerfully than the promise of actual financial gain. Such gamification points to the danger that productivity tools can become more distracting than helpful. I wasn’t convinced by the game’s breaktime activities, such as simple basketball and fishing mini-games — in my breaks from work, I’d prefer to go outside and stop looking at my screen."}],[{"start":291.02,"text":"The software’s creators were inspired by 2000s online chat rooms, and so you can talk to other people in this virtual world. I regularly ask strangers what they’re working on. One is learning Hungarian, another is copying out notes for law school. Somebody is writing an article about why Tenet is Christopher Nolan’s best film. I show admirable restraint in not rising to this patently inflammatory provocation. But you don’t need to chat here. One of the things I end up appreciating most about the game is that, despite it being a social space, there is no pressure to talk."}],[{"start":323.46,"text":"As I write this, my sweet little avatar is sitting on the virtual beach with his capybara, reading a book. A little way off, there’s a pink cat listening to music on her headphones, bopping her head while staring out to sea. On-Together’s sharpest observation is that it feels good to be around people, even if you don’t know them, and even if you’re not communicating. We long for ambient company in our lonely lives, which is why people leave all-day Twitch livestreams on in the background or listen to three-hour “hangout” podcasts. Just knowing that the pink cat represents a real person somewhere, working in their own home, is curiously comforting."}],[{"start":359.66,"text":"I get up from the beach and wander over to a row of desks overlooking the sparkling sea. There are about 15 critters here, sitting quietly on their laptops. Then I notice that a handful of them are napping; little streams of zzzs rising from their heads into the powder-blue sky. I slot in between them at an empty desk, lay my head down on the wooden surface and join them."}],[{"start":382.14,"text":"‘On-Together’ is available now on PC and Mac"}],[{"start":385.3,"text":"Find out about our latest stories first — follow FT Weekend on Instagram, Bluesky and X, and sign up to receive the FT Weekend newsletter every Saturday morning"}],[{"start":399.08,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1786845575_7668.mp3"}