games give us that immediate sense of effectiveness and accomplishment. Websites like Foursquare and brands like Nike are recognizing this and are therefore applying game mechanics to their websites.
Mindbloom is doing the same, it’s just that we want to do more than see our community explore their city or become better runners… we want our players to live healthy, balanced, and meaningful lives. What’s neat about Mindbloom is that it works well with other games. There’s a lot of value in what Foursquare, Nike, and Nintendo are trying to do. There’s no reason why someone in Mindbloom can’t create a “health” leaf on their tree that has an action to use their Wii Fit 3 times a week or a “travel” leaf on their tree that has an action to explore a new location in their city using Foursquare. In fact, we’d like to partner with them one day so that when I use my Wii Fit or check-in via Foursquare that it updates my Mindbloom tree and keeps it green and earns me seeds!
X: So, is this the future of consumer Internet plays?
CH: If a company wants people to keep coming back on a regular basis, then yes. Apple has proven that making a content distribution platform that is visual, dynamic, fun, and simple is the key differentiator that keeps people coming back and more importantly causes them to want to share their experience with others. Add on top of that some gaming mechanics that make people feel successful, then you have a real winner.
However, Mindbloom isn’t necessarily focused on the trends. We just want to leverage the best in technology, design, and content that makes achieving a better quality of life as fun, simple, and effective as possible.
