Virtual Escape Game

Initial situation

The company law course is a compulsory 3rd year course, which brings together almost 300 students. In this course, the teacher usually has the students work in small groups on classic practical case studies (in written form). Using the theoretical elements learned in class and the legal texts at their disposal, the students have to propose a solution to the case presented.

Faced with the limitations of such exercises (which remain fairly one-dimensional and are not really able to immerse students in reality), the teacher initially developed a serious game in which students find themselves in the shoes of a trainee lawyer, who has to satisfy the demands of a particularly difficult client and his or her particularly rigorous training supervisor (see corresponding project).

With this new project, the teacher has decided to take the students’ role-playing one step further by offering them the experience of an immersive escape game.

Project implementation

The game is based on the theme of partnership law, and more specifically on the rules for leaving or terminating a partnership. The game is based on the idea that a partner may be trapped in a partnership to which she does not want to belong, and that she needs help to find the legal means to escape.

Escape the firm” is based on the codes of a classic escape game. The instructions are not explicit. The students - who are encouraged to play in teams - have to explore the game and work out what they have to do to progress in the adventure.

The game begins in the student’s flat (entirely in 3D), where the student receives a call from a friend, Anabelle, who tells her that there is something strange about her uncle’s estate. We learn that the uncle, who has died, was a partner in a local gallery; unable to contact the gallery, Annabelle asks the student for help in understanding her situation.

The game alternates between digging, during which the student investigates to gather relevant information (e.g. information about the gallery, the rules of the partnership contract to be applied or evidence of dishonest behaviour by the other partners) and unlocking levels, i.e. solving legal questions (thanks to the clues gathered) in the form of digicodes, padlocks or other passwords. It is designed so that students can playfully experience the various stages of legal reasoning that will enable Anabelle to leave the company with her uncle’s share. Students can draw on their course and previously acquired knowledge to identify and analyse the information found and determine the applicable legal rules.

The game provides a few clues for students who get stuck, but there are penalties for doing so in the form of longer game times.

The teacher proposed the escape game concept to her colleagues in the law faculties of the universities of Lausanne and Fribourg, who were won over by the project. For the first edition of the game, it was agreed that students from all three universities would take part simultaneously. To increase the appeal of the game, a competition was set up to reward the best inter-faculty team, as well as the 3 best local teams.

During the lesson following the game, the teacher gave a debriefing in which she went over the timeline of the escape game and the different stages the students had to go through before they could leave the company. She explained the reasoning behind the game and the theoretical elements behind each enigma. She went over the legal texts that the students had to refer to in order to solve Anabelle’s situation, and what made it possible to rule out the various possible situations on the basis of the clues available to them. The session was also the occasion for the prize-giving ceremony, which was attended by the Vice-Dean of the Faculty.

Thoughts and advice

The teacher draws attention to the fact that, although creating an escape game is an exciting adventure, it requires a huge investment of time. The game took a year and a half to develop in its entirety. Meetings lasting 3 to 4 hours with the game developer took place every 2 weeks at the start and end of the project, and every month during development.

The developer, who was external to the university, took charge of the technical aspect and the formatting of the teaching team’s ideas, but it was up to the teaching team to provide all the educational content that the game should contain. At the first meeting, the teacher arrived with a precise and well-developed idea of the game scenario she had in mind. Writing the case study was relatively straightforward, but setting up the game and its various stages took a lot of time. The teacher suggests surrounding herself with development specialists, as well as a pedagogical advisor. The idea is to think differently, not to go straight to the final solution, but to suggest plausible solutions that the students might think of, but which need to be ruled out.

Initial discussions led, after a month, to the drafting of the first chapter of the game, on which the teaching team was able to give initial feedback. Many iterations were necessary for each of the 6 chapters of the escape game.

The final tests are crucial for getting feedback, ensuring the consistency of the scenario, validating the length of the game, correcting any remaining bugs and adapting the level of difficulty. It’s complicated to set the game’s difficulty at the right level: you don’t want students to get stuck, but you also don’t want the game to be too simple. The tests made it possible to adjust the level of difficulty by adding clues, removing puzzles and reducing the number of documents available.

Teaching in the form of an escape game encourages students to revise their lessons and get them to revise more regularly in a fun way. The teacher identifies two types of skills that are particularly developed through this course format. Firstly, the game is constructed as a practical case; the students have to complete a mission that represents the different stages of reasoning to be followed in a real case. Secondly, when solving a practical case in real life, you are faced with a magma of facts and law from which you have to extract the essentials. The escape game, with its lack of explicit instructions, is well suited to this situation. You need to work constantly to achieve the primary goal, always going to the essential while keeping the main objective in mind.