Gather Town is a virtual video and audio conferencing platform. Unlike typical meetings in Teams or Zoom, Gather Town is more similar to a top-down 2-dimensional game (like Pokemon, Diablo, Balder's Gate, etc.) You can walk around in the virtual world and talk to people who are nearby you. It is ideal for small informal meetings, social gatherings, project- and group-based work, poster sessions, ... basically whenever multiple smaller groups of people interact simultaneously.

The free version of Gather Town supports up to 25 people simultaneously. Contact Daniel Davison for more information or if you want to schedule a larger event: HMI and I-Tech have a license for up to 50 people.

An impression of how this looks in practice:

(Demo video is from the official Gather Town - About Us page)

images/gathertown/demo.gif

Your first steps

Head over to the web app and click "Create your first space". Then enter a name for the space, select a layout template from the list, and click "Create space". In the next screen enter your name as it will appear to others and customise your character, then click "Next". Make sure that your webcam and microphone are working correctly (you may need to give approval in your browser). When you are done, click "Join the Gathering".

If it is your first time using Gather Town, you will first spawn on a small "tutorial island" that walks you through the main aspects of moving around (with the arrow keys or w a s d keys on your keyboard), muting and unmuting, and interacting with nearby objects (with the x key on your keyboard). When you are done, move through the door to go to your personal space.

You should now be in your personal space. You can invite other people by sharing the URL, or pressing the "Invite" button. Walk around and explore the space, there are often things that you can interact with, like games or videos.

If you run in to problems or would like more detailed step-by-step instructions, the official guide is a good place to start.

Distance-based interaction

In traditional video-conferencing tools (e.g. Teams, Zoom, Skype) everyone can see and hear everyone: you join, you switch on your webcam and mic, and boom you're done! On the other hand, Gather Town can be quite confusing and disorienting at first, especially if you are not used to playing video games.

Keep in mind that interactions in Gather Town are based on your location. More specifically, your distance to other people and objects. As you walk around in the 2D space you encounter other people. As you get nearer to other people, they enter your "interaction circle". Your camera & audio will be automatically shared with the people nearby you, and vice-versa. Their videos are displayed along the top of your screen. This way you can quite naturally join / leave / switch between groups of people hanging out, just by walking around.

The images below show user "Daniel" interacting with someone else. On the left they are standing close to each other, the character of the "Other person" is clearly visible. On the right, they are standing further apart, outside the interaction distance: they can not see or hear each other. Note that the character of the "Other person" is slightly transparent.

images/gathertown/interaction-circle.png

Take a few minutes to get yourself accustomed to the user interface and controls. Try to play around in your own space together with one or two friends before joining a large space with loads of other people. This should help you get a feel for what a typical interaction distance is.

Private spaces

"Private spaces" are an exception to the interaction distance. When entering a private space you can see and hear everyone else within the same space, but nobody outside it. This is ideal for talking privately in a crowded area, or for having simultaneous group discussions. A private space is usually around a table/chairs and is often (but not always) recognisable by a slightly darker-coloured rectangle, as seen on the screenshot below.

Note: Even though it is called a "private space", anyone can actually listen to your conversation just by walking into the same space. Take care not to discuss anything sensitive!

images/gathertown/private-spaces.png

When entering a private space the surrounding area will darken and the private space will light up. You will also get a notification at the bottom of your screen. Private spaces overrule the regular interaction distance; this allows you to have group discussions where people sit further apart. For example, see the below situation where user "Daniel" and "Other person" are sitting far apart, but because they are in the same private space they can still see and hear each other.

images/gathertown/private-space-interaction.png

Customising your space

A powerful feature of Gather Town are the editing tools: you can completely customise your space however you want! For example: custom background images, room layouts, objects and decorations, private spaces, etc.

The official documentation and tutorial videos are a good place to start.

Making an account

Of course if you want to save your personal space and return to it later, you should make an account. Although straightforward, the process is different than what you may be used to. For instance, there is no need to make a password. Instead, it sends a unique secret URL with a login key to your e-mail address. Once you click the URL you are automatically logged in, and Gather Town will remember you during following visits. Alternatively, you can choose to log in with your Google account.