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6 Things an Escape Game Can Teach You About Yourself

by clueQuest

published on

Mr.Q Brain

Nosce te ipsum. ‘Know thyself’, promoted the famous writing on the gates of the Temple of Apollo, Delphi in ancient Greece.

Fast forward 2500 years and we know those ancient oracles in Delphi were right. To be successful in life we need to be clear about our strengths and weaknesses.

Self-knowledge helps us move forward in our careers and enables us to lead happier relationships with our friends, families and partners.

There are many ways and forms of getting in touch with your inner self. All big and noble goals start with baby steps though, so why not take it easy and begin with mixing good fun and a bit of self-reflection?

Have you ever thought of the benefits of completing a team challenge, such as a real-life escape room game? It’s a lighthearted pleasure - sure - but at the same time it can provide you with some valuable takeaways about your social and organizational skills, as well as about your way of thinking.

So let’s talk about the things you can find out about yourself by playing an immersive escape game!

1. How solid are your time-management skills?

You have to work to a hard deadline: you have 60 minutes to find a way out of the room you and your friends are locked in. Are you as energetic and engaged in the first ten minutes as you will be when the deadline is just 3 minutes away? You will probably know the definitive answer to this question by the end of the game.

Don’t be too hard on yourself though; you can always improve your attitude towards time-keeping. Start by taking this test, prepared by experts to get actionable tips.

2. Are you a team player or a lone ranger?

Homo sapiens were a sociable bunch. Joint efforts helped our ancestors survive the Ice Age and countless other natural calamities. Kudos to them for making it possible for us to read this article some thousands of years later.

The same principle (i.e. teamwork) remains relevant in an escape game: you and your friends need to work towards a common goal and your chances of a successful escape are highly dependent on how well you can cooperate with each other.

Are you as good a listener as speaker? Do you pay close attention to the thoughts that your friends spell out by analysing the clues? Do you all work together to make the best use of the synergy of your minds or does it feel more like a competition?

If you feel you want to take your team player skills to the next level, check out these useful exercises.

3. How good is your attention to detail?

To solve the mystery and to eventually escape, you need to investigate all objects and hidden corners in the room. Do you choose a designated area and focus on it until you search it through and through or do you act on a more ad-hoc basis?

Some jobs in life heavily rely on meticulousness while others - such as typically creative professions and arts - don’t put too much emphasis on it. You might even get closer to your ideal job by testing your approach to details.

As a start, how about stretching your attention muscles with this popular quiz on YouTube? Can you find the panda among the stormtroopers? We admit that it took us a while ...

4. Can you think outside-the-box?

An escape room is full of unusual objects in unlikely places where every letter, number, colour or shape can have meaning. In rare cases they are just amusing red herrings to make your mission more exciting (or frustrating), but most of the time you can make sense of the signs if you pay close attention.

Can you let go of the ordinary rules of life for an hour and look around the room with fresh eyes? You will need an open mind to be able to connect seemingly unrelated dots to get you closer to your escape.

Basically, playing an escape game brings you back to your childhood when everything seemed possible and when there was a fine line between reality and fiction. If you are able to channel your inner, curious child, you will solve the riddles faster and, of course, you will enjoy the game more!

So don’t be afraid to transform into a kidult; apparently, it’s good for your health too.

5. How do you cope with stress?

Time is ticking away and although you know this is just a game, slowly but steadily your adrenaline levels are likely to climb up as a deadline nears.

Can you keep a clear head or do you start to panic? Can you still concentrate on the task at hand or do your worries about possible outcomes get the best of you?

Just before you would start to think that stress itself is an undesirable thing, read this article of how useful stress can actually be and how you can harvest its power for your own benefit.

6. What’s your attitude towards asking for help?

During an escape game, it is very likely to come across puzzles that you are unable to decode on your own - although this has not kept many players from still trying. Are you willing to ask for help from members of your team or your game master?

There’s no shame in asking for help when facing difficulties. A fun roleplay such as an escape room game might make it easier for you overcome the fear of admitting that sometimes you can not do everything on your own.

We can assure you that Mission Control will be keen to share with you every piece of intel they can gather to help you succeed in your secret mission. Moreover, our missions have different difficulty levels, so you can choose the one you’re most comfortable with.

Contrary to other simulations, as experts point out, escape rooms place you directly into the game instead of having to control an avatar. This can result in a more effective experiential learning and it has the potential to shed light on areas you are really good at, as well as on skills worth improving. Don’t overthink it though. Just embrace the experience, enjoy yourself in the process and take all learnings as a bonus! ;)

 

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