But if you’ve been following us, you might’ve been asking yourselves: “Why would a security awareness company develop a VR game?” Well, let me explain.
Our experience in the security awareness sector (an experience of over 20 years of working with medium and large companies) has shown us that the biggest hurdle in the path to sustained behaviour change, is getting people engaged in the subject.
Cyber security, by itself, is full of technical definitions and abstract concepts. That, plus the high learning curve make it a dry subject in which employees can lose interest quite quickly.
However, throw them in a gorgeous virtual environment, put in a ticking time-bomb and some exciting storytelling, ask them to complete puzzles and be a part of the whole story. Make it about them, give them an active role, and watch them learn.
Security awareness isn’t necessarily known as the most interesting or engaging subject matter in the world. There are no epics written about how to lock your screen, no poems about malware. But that’s not to say there couldn’t be.
At Infosequre, we don’t stray away from challenges just because they’ve never been done before. After doing a lot of research and talking to our clients, developing a VR escape room seemed like the solution to some of our problems. So we went to work.
We had the reasons, we had the research, we had the feedback. The one thing we needed still was the know-how. Luckily, our diverse team has skills in many areas of expertise, just enough to take on this challenge.
Bojan Marcus, our swiss army knife of an art director, employed his hands-on approach to design a user-friendly escape room experience and create a 3D environment that is as realistic as it is breath-taking. He did this while project managing the whole thing.
The user-experience, testing and behind the scenes flow of the game was ensured by Sergio van Pul, and the storyline, writing and voice direction were done by yours truly: Oana Stefanescu.
I’m very proud of our team. The hours spent debating the outcome of a puzzle, the color of a button and the tone of a word were really worth it when we presented the game to the rest of our colleagues. To see their excitement and to hear their feedback, and that of our clients, was a delight.
The VR escape room is the result of months long, true teamwork. We wanted to bring security awareness into the realm of playfulness, make it into an experience that wouldn’t be easily forgotten, an experience that truly stimulates people and brings about sustainable behavior change. And, if I may be so bold, I think we succeeded.