How To Play Online Murder Mystery Games:
Online murder mystery games have been increasing in popularity over the last few months for a variety of reasons. First, there’s the obvious elephant in the room that’s forcing many of us from fun times and face to face partying with our friends. An increase in viable software for video chats has also exponentially increased the potential for online murder mystery games. This has made it possible for far-flung friends from around the world to partake in amazing murder mystery games. With so many different platforms and options for how to play online murder mystery games, it can be extremely difficult deciding which option is best for your group of players. At Dastardly Deeds Murder Mysteries, we have tested multiple video platforms and there have been several that have stood out for their features and accessibility to new users. While it is more than possible to host any type of murder mystery game in almost any type of video chat platform, some are defiantly easier than others. Some of these features incorporated into various video chat services make them ideal to play certain Dastardly Deeds Games. I’ll start by going through some of the video services out there and why the features in some may align with your style of gameplay or the needs for your murder mystery games.
Zoom Online Murder Mystery Games:
I’m sure you’ve all heard of Zoom by now. Zoom was the video chat system that made waves as soon as the pandemic hit by offering free services. While the features included in Zoom were already present in many other platforms, Zoom one-upped other services with better SEO and marketing. As soon as they took off, so did a slew of security concerns in the early days of their service. While these security gaps mostly involved unwanted guests entering rooms, there were some more noticeable issues involving insufficient end-to-end encryption. It is noteworthy that the free version of Zoom also does not include features like said encryption or other features, at the time of writing this article. That being said, the pro version is only USD 14.99 a month and can be canceled at any time, so it’s not an unreasonable option to pay for a temporary membership, especially if any of your players want to pitch in for the cost. Zoom has a bounty of features that are very conducive to hosting successful online murder mystery games. First and perhaps foremost is the ability of the host to assign players into different breakout rooms. While it is possible to form similar rooms in services such as Discord or Microsoft Teams, Zoom feels a little bit more user friendly when utilizing this feature. The ability to force different people into rooms can be extremely beneficial from a host’s standpoint for certain games. Many Dastardly Deeds Games are designed with the intention of placing individuals in specific rooms at specific times. This can of course be achieved using a variety of platforms. Another huge perk of Zoom as a service for hosting online murder mystery games is the fact that players don’t need to download or install any software or create any accounts for the features of Zoom to still work. Even better, the invitations can simply be sent through email or text and anyone with a valid link can join the video chat. That being said, anyone with a valid link can join the video chat… So be careful of who’s in your group and how you doll out your information for your chat. Another good feature contained within the Zoom platform is the ability to privately chat with other individuals in your breakout room. While this is limited to chatting within your breakout room, it’s an excellent way to pass covert messages back and forth between the other players in the same room. It’s noteworthy that for some murder mystery games this might be a hindrance to only chat within your breakout room, however, so plan accordingly. Overall, for hosting online murder mystery games, Zoom is a relatively effective platform with a low overhead cost for premium features.
Sometimes the end of the world can be a hilarious situation. Why cry when you can laugh?
Captured in Zoom from A Game of Mutually Assured Destruction.
Discord Online Murder Mystery Games:
If any of you out there are online gamers like myself, then I’m sure you’re already awfully familiar with Discord. Recently, Discord has been making leaps and bounds to catch up with some of the video chat competition that’s already on the market. So far, they’ve done a surprisingly good job of it. I still have a little bit of old-school PC gamer resentment for ditching TeamSpeak from back in the day, but overall Discord is a feature-rich video chat service that has a lot of features that make it ideal for hosting online murder mystery games. First, and perhaps most beneficial, is that Discord is a free-to-use service. Unless you’re looking for high-resolution video and things like custom emojis, the basic free Discord should have every feature necessary to host amazing online murder mystery games. As another perk, Discord also doesn’t have nearly as many security hang-ups as many of the other video chat systems out there do. Discord also has the option to have multiple rooms inside your server, which can make for a very fluid online game experience that feels a lot more like an in-person murder mystery. It can be a little trickier as a host to assign individuals to rooms specifically, but if you have a cooperative group for your murder mystery this shouldn’t be a hang-up. One huge leg-up Discord has over Zoom is the ability for individuals to freely move from room to room. This can be helpful for a host so that they have less manual assigning tasks to do. Discord also includes an integrated chat feature with anyone on the server regardless if they’re in your specific room or not. Discord, just like Zoom, can run on the client end through a web browser, but you will need to create an account to join. Having run multiple playtests through Discord, it is noteworthy that we have found that certain people may have issues with their phones or devices overheating during prolonged video chat using Discord. A simple workaround involves taking off your phone case and either placing your phone in front of a fan or a cool area during the game. Also, tweaking with other settings such as video quality can help diminish how taxing the application can be uncertain phones or devices. A little primitive, but quite effective for such an accessible service. Overall, Discord is a very solid choice for online murder mystery games.
You simply can’t stop serial killers from killing. It’s simply second nature for them.
Captured in Discord from Serial Killer Social.
Microsoft Teams Online Murder Mystery Games:
Albeit a relatively late player to the game, Microsoft Teams offers an incredibly robust list of features for hosting your next online murder mystery game. What’s best about Teams is that pretty much every basic feature you could desire to host a murder mystery game is included in the free version. To gain full access to more premium features like recording and hosting groups of up to 250 people, all members would need a $5 a month subscription. This honestly is a little overkill for any murder mystery needs. Microsoft Teams’ free version of their software also has a much better security track record than most of the competition. Microsoft Teams offers as robust a feature list as Zoom or as Discord, however, we have found that setting up the same features is a little bit more complex than the other two video chat platforms. If you’re willing to accept a little bit of a learning curve, Microsoft Teams can be an excellent platform for online murder mystery gaming. Teams does allow individual chat and you can put people into rooms for video conferencing as well. As mentioned before, it is a little less intuitive than the other platform. Teams also requires all players to have a free Microsoft 365 account to join. For less tech-savvy people, this may be kind of daunting if they’re trying to just join an online murder mystery game without any of the fuss.
Canada tries to convince the other M.A.D. bunkers and they are not amused.
Captured in Microsoft Teams from A Game of Mutually Assured Destruction.
Google Meet Online Murder Mystery Games:
Google Meet is another newcomer to the video chat scene. While there certainly is a lot of potential for this video chat service in the future, it is a little feature-light to be utilized for most online murder mystery games. The free version does require all participants to have a Google account, but if the host does want to fork out less than $10 a month, joining players don’t even need an account to join. Without features like independent rooms and private chat between players, Google Meet is lacking for this specific type of gameplay. It’s certainly possible to host a game through Google Meet, but only if it is a smaller and more intimate style game. I would recommend below five or six players in total. You will also need to use some form of separate private chat system in conjunction. This could be as simple as text messages through your phone.
Other Online Murder Mystery Game Platforms.
I have barely grazed the surface of all the potential video chat software out there that can be utilized to host online murder mystery games. At Dastardly Deeds Murder Mysteries, we’ve experimented with many of these different video chat services. One option I didn’t touch on was utilizing business-class video conferencing software like GoToMeeting, WebEx, or RingCentral. These services are usually very feature-rich, but this often comes attached to a hefty price tag. Just make sure if you are using company software that you have permission to use it beforehand. I don’t want anyone getting fired because they threatened to kill a coworker in character over the weekend! A few honorable mentions outside of business-class software include services like Skype. Skype is an old player in the game. Despite being a relative dinosaur compared to the services above, it’s certainly a viable option for hosting online murder mystery games. While still slightly more feature-rich than Google Meet, Skype seems to have a slew of technical issues when using it in large-scale video chats. I find this to be especially comical considering how many years this software has been around. The benefits of Skype, however, are numerous considering it as an entirely free platform. While it does require accounts for all participants, it also includes private chat among players. Another option is trying to host your game through something like FaceTime. The obvious hang-up with this is that not all individuals have an Apple product available with which to join. While this might be fine for smaller games where you know everyone may have an Apple product, It’s certainly not an option for larger games. Unless you want to buy all your friends iPads. What a cool friend you are! Along the same lines, you could also attempt to host a game through Facebook Messenger. As someone who doesn’t have a private Facebook account and hasn’t for over a decade, I don’t like this as an option. To be honest I haven’t even experimented with the features available through Facebook Messenger. I could go into a tangent discussing other options things like Tango, Viber, or WhatsApp, but I feel that one of the best ways to find a video platform that will work for you is through experimentation. Also, ask your friends what type of service they would like to use. Not everyone is as comfortable with utilizing programs that have had potential security breaches in the past. Some people don’t want to install or download proprietary software that is required for many of these video chat services to work. Some players may hate creating accounts to play. As the host of an online murder mystery game, it’s up to you to try to balance out this comfort zone among your friends who will be playing the game with you. I can tell you from personal experience, we’ve had struggles inside Dastardly Deeds finding platforms to play on that everyone is comfortable with, especially as we try to playtest different platforms and different styles of gameplay. Hopefully new software will come out that works well for all. A very safe bet is to utilize a piece of software that you’re already comfortable and/or familiar with. This may be one of the ones listed above or maybe even a piece of software that’s proprietary to your region of the world. It’s best to go with something inside your comfort zone and bend its features to conform to the style of gameplay needed for the game you’re playing.
At the end of the day, if you can see another person’s face and hear their voice, you’re probably going to be able to play an online murder mystery game. The rest of it is all logistics. Whether it involves sending your messages through private text messages or a separate chat service or even creating multiple video chats using multiple services, you can make it work with a little bit of perseverance. We don’t endorse any particular video service, and have been having a heck of a time finding the best ones after we’ve written our games, but I know you are industrious and capable people reading this, and you’ll all find a way to make your next game work. While hosting an online murder mystery game may seem a little bit daunting at first, I can assure you, if you’re familiar with your video chat platform and know how to utilize its features, you’re gonna have a good time. Now get out there, get your friends together, and start murdering them.
