- We’re not Really Stranger was developed by this 25-year-old individual game designer, Koreen, in 2018, to empower meaningful connections and build fellowship among players. It was initially launched as a simple card game, then Koreen created a viral Instagram account to reach those young adults who desire a closer human connection with their friends and loved ones. Today it is also available as a digital version on their website, and have rolled out many other versions, such as the relationship edition and the Breakup edition, to help players improve their emotions with those around them and themselves.
- The original We’re not Really Strangers needs 2-6 players to play, and is divided up into 3 phases. Players go around the table and draw a card, answers the questions on the cards, and the truthful questions the players are asked gets deeper and vulnerable as the phases progress. There is no “Objectives” to win the game, but the outcome of the game is determined by how much the players are willing to be vulnerable with each other as the questions slowly gets deeper. In the end, players write each other a handwritten note, but only open once the players have left the table.
- We’re not Really Strangers is a very non-traditional game, where the “fun” in the game doesn’t derive from mastering “new patterns” to “beat the game or other players”, but is derived from a self-realization of understanding who you are as a person through the perspectives of your friends.
- All the games in the “Getting to Know You” category functions operates similarly: Helps user build fellowship by encouraging”Disclosure” between close friends because that is the only way for people to grow their friendship to the DEEPEST level! The tricky part is “How fast do you want this to happen?” If you disclose too much true info too early, and people aren’t in the mood of disclosing those truthful information, or if their friendship isn’t at that stage yet, then it would have killed a “could have been” friendship. And I think We’re Not Really Strangers game designer designed the rate at which people gets vulnerable with each other super well.
- One thing that it could improve on is to incorporate some more physical elements, like “hug the person to your left”, or “eye-staring contest” to add in more physical pleasures of actually playing the game. I felt like there were too many questions and not enough actions. Furthermore, another issue with the game is the limited number of questions. Once you play the game with a group of friends once, it is difficult to play with them a second time because repeated questions are not interesting anymore. It’s possible to reveal a new set of questions every single year to increase user retention rate.
