Zoom adds multiplayer games like poker, werewolf, heads-up!

There is a good chance that before March 2020, you had never heard of Zoom, the video conferencing software. By July 2021, that has pretty much become the generic name for such technology. And from today it offers games.

While Zoom isn’t the only one driving the global end to face-to-face meetings, “Just let me zoom you in” is much more likely to be said even if someone is using Microsoft’s teams or them. Google rooms …? Meet? Meeting place? (Exactly.) But until now we’ve had to spend those endless online conversations trying to surreptitiously play games on our phones or in some other window. Those days are over! As reported by someone called Stephen Totilo at Axes, Zoom introduces multiplayer games that users can play while chatting.

This is part of the introduction of Zoom apps, an App Store-like suite of add-ons designed to make the software more adaptable, primarily aimed at horrible-sounding types of businesses. (“The Dot Collector fosters more inclusive collaboration, transparency, and meaningful relationships among colleagues while giving individuals information that helps them unleash their full potential.” Brrrrrrr.) But of course, there are games there- in it, and hey, we love games!

The first group added is LGN Poker, a variation of the social deduction game werewolf with name potentially pending trial Werewolf with friends, a version of horrible Ellen DeGeneres’ game Heads up!, a guessing game called Just say the word !, and something called Request remotely which offers – oh my god – “icebreakers”.

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Okay, so it won’t be the subtlety required to get by while your boss explains the need for more synergistic target angles for the coming financial quarter, but it might make this family conversation slightly obligatory and awkward. less intolerable? Or maybe if you and your friends are already getting together for a Weekly Zoom, you could play some poker too. Not for money, obviously, although the app allows up to 10 players and has a tournament mode where you can easily set a buy-in … It would be illegal.

In all likelihood, the fifty or so applications present at the launch of this new offer will be followed by very, very many in the coming weeks. Already names like SurveyMonkey, DropBox and, uh, Weight Watchers are there. The real question is, of course, how long before he can play Loss.