Critical Play: Bluffing, Judging and Getting Vulnerable

Skribbl.io is a free online browser-based multiplayer drawing game. The game is developed by ticedev and released in February 2017. Skribbl.io is essentially a drawing and guessing game. During the game, players battle against each other using drawings of assigned objects. 

People who enjoy games such as Pictionary will definitely enjoy this game. This game is targeted at anyone who is able to draw and read. Because the game is very simple and intuitive it allows for a wide range of players. I have personally played this game with my 7-year-old brother and with friends my age and had lots of fun with either group. 

The game can have 3-12 players. People can join a public game or create a private room to start playing. The players can choose how many rounds they want to play when creating the room.  

In each round, there would be a chosen player who has to draw whatever word they are given. The other players have to guess it with the least amount of time to gain the most points. They enter their guess in the chat and everyone can see it. If the player doesn’t guess the word in the designated time they do not gain any points. 

The drawing aspect of the game is fun as it gives the players creative liberty. People can have different perceptions of the same object. In addition, drawing is a universal language making this game fun with anyone you play with whether it be strangers or close friends.  

When you join a random public game the game would already be in progress. If the player is competitive and cares about their score this would be a pain point for them as the other players who joined earlier already accumulated points. One solution would be making public rooms with a set number of players that people can join and start the game at the same time. 

Another improvement I see is some words are very hard to draw, especially for younger players. This can be solved by using only words that are drawable. There would also be different pools of words for different age groups. 

Compared to other judging games such as cards against humanity and apples to apples this game is different because its base on drawing and not words. In addition, the online nature of the game makes it more accessible allowing people from different locations to play together (especially popular during quarantine). 

The game does not push the players to be vulnerable at all. It is really hard to be vulnerable by simply drawing objects. I could see people feeling vulnerable about their drawing skills however, the game is not about artistic skills. Players can thumbs up or down people’s drawings to provide feedback for the drawer. However, since there are public rooms and everyone is anonymous I can see how it allows people to hide behind their screen. This may be why there is a vote kick function in the game. If a majority of players votekick a player, they will be removed from the room. 

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