Guestology

I'm currently reading Be Our Guest, which is the, shall we say, textbook of the Disney Institute for customer service. If you work in a customer service or entertainment field, I highly recommend it. I think all escape room owners should spend some time researching what it takes to build and maintain a successful business, and this is one of many books I have read on the subject. I don't come from a business background, this is the first and only business I've ever run. And there is definitely a learning curve. Escape rooms are largely a business run by people passionate about creating amazing games, not business people. And when the former type of person has very few skills of the latter type of person... well that's how escape rooms go under. So we learn, or we close. For me, that means that I've spent countless hours reading books and articles about how to run a successful business; as many hours as I've spent reading books and articles on game design. This is one of those books.

I'm not learning anything earthshattering; in fact a lot of what I'm reading in this book has been presented to me before. But that doesn't always matter. What matters is engaging with the material, even if it's material you already know, again and again. Thinking about it. Because when you read a book, any book, meaning is created between the content and the reader. Every time you pick up a book you've read before, you're a different person, and you can create different meaning by engaging with the same content. So when I started reading about "guestology," even though it's a very familiar concept, I started thinking a new thought.

Guestology is the term Disney uses for understanding your customer base; who are they, what do they want, what do they expect, how will they behave. This is important to any business. And before I went into business I did some research on demographics. I learned that more women book or organize escape rooms than men, although there isn't a significant difference in the amount of men vs. the amount of women who play. I learned how many people were in my city and I researched estimates of what portion of that population might be interested in an escape room. I talked to other owners about what to expect. Over the years I've kept track of demographics and refined what I create based on what my market wants. I've paid close attention to how players behave in a room and that has informed my game design. And yet, today, when I read this chapter, and I asked myself if there was anything I was missing, I hit on something I have never really internalized before.

Like many mom and pop shops, my rooms have decor that is sufficient to let you know where you're supposed to be, and what kind of environment you are in, but honestly, isn't jaw dropping. Especially to me, who has spent hours and hours in the rooms turning them into the spaces they are today. And there is technology in our rooms, electronic puzzles of various kinds, a talking mummy, a ghost, a helpful bee guide. But we've often opted to avoid costly cosmetic additions to the games, or additional electronic elements that don't add anything to the puzzle flow. Why? Because it seems to have a low return on investment. Would I love panelling and crown molding in our English parlour? Yes. Did I think it would bring in more players? No. So I opted out.

So, here I was, reading about guestology, thinking about escape room players and what they expect and how they react to different games, and an irritating memory popped into my head. A review of a game I read. A game I have played. A good game, one I enjoyed, but that I felt had several major flaws. I felt that this game had several elements designed to waste time, and it is absolutely not designed with any sort of accessibility in mind. It has purposeful red herrings in the design. I get the impression that the game designer feels like if the player wins the game, the designer somehow has lost. Now this game has amazing storytelling elements and the set is very large and incredibly immersive. I was duly impressed by these things. Money was definitely spent to make you feel like you were in a different location. But the pain points mentioned are ones I work hard to avoid in my own game design. All designers have an ego, myself included, and I feel strongly that the way I design games is the right way to do it. So does the designer of this game. I know, I've spoken to them - though I've never told them my criticizm of their work. They are doing what they think is right and making money in the process. Who am I to say they are wrong. The review in question proclaimed that this was the best room in the country. And it irritated me.

But there is an important truth in that review, and one that I have dismissed at my own peril because I don't agree with it. For the average escape room player, how a room looks is more important than if the game design is impecible. Yes, players will get irritated with bad game design. But an amazing set will make many players overlook average game design, or even serious flaws. An amazing set design is what makes people talk about your room. It's what players want. So maybe that paneling and crown molding is more important than I thought.

The important thing, is that if I want the quality of my games to be fantastic, I can improve set design without skimping on game design. Impecible game design (as I understand it) will always be a core necessity to a Quandary Escape Adventure. But perhaps, a little more attention can be paid to the decor.