STER-005

Small Talk Escape Room

Live

An interactive game that teaches you to navigate from weather chat to real conversation. Each choice branches the dialogue—some paths lead deeper, others loop back to "nice weather, huh?"

Overview

Most people hate small talk but don't know how to escape it gracefully. This experiment gamifies the transition from surface-level to meaningful conversation.

Methodology

A choose-your-own-adventure style dialogue tree where users navigate a conversation. Good choices unlock deeper topics; poor ones trigger awkward silences or conversation loops.

Initial Findings

Users learn that asking "why" or "how" questions advances conversation depth 80% of the time. Statements about yourself create dead-ends unless paired with a question.