Focused on enhancing real lives, not virtual worlds, Mindbloom today unveiled its new free-to-play life game to inspire people to define what’s important, discover what motivates them, and take meaningful daily actions in all areas of their life. Mindbloom takes a deeper approach by focusing on the science behind behavioral change – integrating technology, art, and human psychology to make personal growth more effective. Using the gaming experience of founder Chris Hewett, a former executive producer for Monolith Productions who developed blockbuster hits such as No One Lives Forever, Tron 2.0, and F.E.A.R., and the operational expertise of Brent Poole, an early member of the Amazon team, Mindbloom offers the most feature-rich, fun-to-play, and effective life game ever released.
“Mindbloom puts the principles of behavioral science behind social gaming to inspire people and help them achieve their personal health and wellness goals,” said Kyra Bobinet, MD, MPH, medical director at Aetna, which will offer Mindbloom to a select group of members next month. “By combining an easy-to-use, visually and psychologically pleasing interface with game mechanics, Mindbloom is bringing the missing ingredient of personal engagement to the wellness movement.”
Online Inspiration Leads People to Take Action Offline
The Mindbloom Life Game is for anyone willing to spare a few minutes a day to grow the life they want by creating and nurturing a Life Tree. Only Mindbloom offers the following unique benefits:
· Decide what matters most. Using the metaphor of a Life Tree, Mindbloom inspires people to define what’s important and is a visual representation of a user’s priorities and progress in life -- health, lifestyle, career, creativity, relationships, finances, and spirituality. Living in a dynamic game environment, the user progresses by interacting with organic inspirational elements such as branches, leaves, a forest, the sun, rain, and even a dragonfly.
· Daily actions lead to meaningful progress. Users keep their tree green and healthy by creating a simple action plan that encourages them to live the life they want. People can select their own activities or choose from Mindbloom’s list of 500+ recommended actions such as substitute water for soda, take the stairs at the office, clean one room each day, check in with your parents, thank a friend, smile at a stranger, and more.
· Personalized inspiration keeps people motivated. For personal motivation, users can choose from Mindbloom’s gallery of free inspirational media or they can easily create and share their own personalized media like beautiful photos, inspiring music directly from iTunes, and uplifting quotes.
· People thrive in supportive community. Users have the choice of doing actions on their own or they can use Mindbloom’s social connection to instant messaging, Facebook, or Twitter to develop a community of supportive friends that can challenge and provide much-needed accountability every step of the way. People can also choose their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Skype, and YouTube accounts to stay connected outside of the private Mindbloom community.
· Rewards for offline actions lead to online benefits. Users complete daily actions to form new habits and can track their progress online or on their mobile phone each day. Similar to popular Facebook games, users earn online achievements such as “seeds” and badges as well as the ability to level up. However, unlike Facebook games, these online achievements ultimately lead to real, everyday victories in the physical world. Users can spend their seeds to expand their image galleries and music playlists as well as on Action Packs which provide users with additional actions and images in specific life areas.
Tommy Laflamme, a research grant manager who has been using the Mindbloom beta, “With Mindbloom, I’ve improved my relationships with family and friends. Now I’m speaking with my mom on a weekly basis and instead of having superficial conversations with friends, I have deeper relationships that not only exist online but have extended into the offline world.”
“Everyone wants to improve something about themselves. Although self-help, wellness, and fitness options proliferate the online and offline markets today -- finding the right solution, getting started, and keeping at it long enough to make a difference can feel nearly impossible for most of us,” said Poole, CEO and co-founder at Mindbloom. “With Mindbloom, we’ve built the most emotive and personal interactive health experience that exists today. We believe our life game provides a missing solution to some of our nation’s biggest healthcare challenges by inspiring people to establish healthy behaviors and take small steps online to achieve their personal wellness offline.”
Pricing and Availability
Available today for free, The Mindbloom Life Game works on all popular Internet browsers as well as any Android or iPhone. Users can purchase the GrowProä Package (a lifetime membership that includes premium content, rewards, and more) for $34 until November 1, 2011. After this date, the GrowPro Package will be $89 for a lifetime membership.
