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Zoom is by far the most popular virtual meeting tool getting workplaces through the current coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, video chats are also frequently irritating, forcing participants to wrangle their unwashed social isolation hair and strap on a bra for a simple one-hour chat.

Happily, necessity — and annoyance — spurs innovation. As reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, one workplace has taken to holding meetings in 2018 cowboy video game Red Dead Redemption 2, letting employees ponder the almost-natural splendour while also pondering their workload.

Author and illustrator Viviane Schwarz first shared their workplace's home office policy in a May 16 tweet. "Zoom sucks, we started having editorial meetings in Red Dead Redemptioninstead," they wrote. "It's nice to sit at the campfire and discuss projects, with the wolves howling out in the night."

Tweet may have been deleted

A video game about grimy, gunslinging outlaws isn't the most obvious pick for corporate business on the face of it. Aside from the threat that another posse will just roll up and start a firefight in the middle of a meeting, Red Dead Redemption 2also requires players go through a lengthy tutorial before they're allowed to play with other people. If conducting business in a game, the versatility, quick setup, cheaper cost, and comparative lack of violence in a title such as Minecraftseems like a better option.

However, Schwarz told Rock Paper Shotgun that Minecraftoffered a bit too much freedom to their team, with people wandering off to mine in the middle of discussions. Cowboys sitting around a campfire in Red Dead Redemption 2 "just look[s] right" in comparison, and there are even emotes and in-game coffee to better recreate that office meeting atmosphere.

"It's definitely been much much more productive and less stressful to hang out in games than video conferencing," wrote Schwarz on Twitter. "They really vary in ridiculousness though, RDRis probably the least sensible choice... but so far my favourite."

A perk of this is that when you agree that the meeting is over you can all jump on your horses and do crime or justice, which is a lot less awkward than everyone smiling at the camera while they're trying to sign off

— Viviane Schwarz (@vivschwarz) May 16, 2020

Of course, such use of the rootin' tootin' cowboy shootin' video game is far from what developer Rockstar Games had originally envisaged, so not everything goes smoothly. Non-player characters can wander over and play the harmonica, and sometimes accidents happen and people die, leaving their ragdoll corpse flopping on the ground. Even so, these distractions can be welcome, punctuating meetings that have lost focus.

"Also the landscape is amazing so you can walk and talk, and if some other posse attacks they only get five minutes to fight you, which is in effect a tea break except you don't have to pretend to make tea, or agree when it happens," tweeted Schwarz.

"The main technical hitches we've had is that sometimes the meeting table doesn't exist for everyone, and sitting on the ground is the same button as attempting to strangle the nearest person. Still beats zoom."

Fingers crossed this means they can claim Red Dead Redemption 2as a tax deduction.

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