mindopoly
A cultural-jammed game imitating the mechanics of Monopoly except it's all about taking care of yourself and learning about different mental health disorders.
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problem
Mental Health is spoken about virtually EVERYWHERE from social media, work, and even in conversations. But how many people actually get it, and how many people brush it off as a minor subject? Anxiety isn’t “just worrying too much”, Depression isn’t “just being sad” and OCD isn’t “just being neat and tidy”. People throw around buzzwords about Mental Health, but understanding a Mental Health Disorder takes more than reading an Instagram or Tiktok post. The real issue is that we lack immersive, and liveable experiences in learning. We don’t feel what it’s like to spiral into overthinking or be paralysed by a lot of compulsions, instead we sympathise rather than empathising. This is where Mindopoly comes in to act as a space to immerse yourself whilst also learning.
solution
Mental Health isn’t something you can fully understand from a textbook or social media post or even some sort of awareness day. You have to step inside it, feel it, and f*cking live it. Mindopoly is probably the first ever board game that turns Mental Health into an immersive, learning experience. But nope - this isn’t your ordinary game of Monopoly, where everyone goes crazy for landing on “Free Parking”. You don’t win by making your friends broke, you don’t collect money (you collect Mind Fuel) and most of all you DON’T compete, you work together as one. Mindopoly is built around mental health struggles such as the likes of Anxiety, OCD, Depression, PTSD and more. Each space or “property” on the board represents a different disorder, with real life inspired challenges.
We currently live in a world where Mental Health is everywhere - it is plastered around social media, thrown into work wellness programs, and SLIGHTLY squeezed into the school curriculums... but here is the real issue: AWARENESS ISN’T THE SAME AS UNDERSTANDING. People think they are pros at Mental Health just because they have seen one odd video or a random, and probably fake Instagram infographic spreading misinformation. But it is so simple... they just don’t - they do not know what Mental Health actually is.
To create a game that doesn’t just talk about Mental Health but also makes people feel the effects of it, I needed to go beyond surface-level awareness. I chose to research different Mental Health disorders to really get into the guts of what each disorder means. Because if we want to change the way people understand Mental Health, we have to change the way it is taught nationally across the United Kingdom.
Anxiety disorders are one of the most ever-growing mental health conditions affecting many people across the world. A lot of Anxiety disorders can also cause impact daily functioning and the quality of life. In 2019, Anxiety began to affect approximately 301 million people worldwide, this reinforces the fact that is the most common yet growing mental health disorders globally. There are various Anxiety conditions. They are not limited to the following: Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or otherwise commonly known as PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that can mainly occur when an individual experiences a traumatic event such as natural disasters, serious accidents, terrorist acts, war/combat, rape, or even other different violent assaults. The mind acts as a replay button forcing individuals to relive those moments in their life with no clarity. The biggest symptoms include intrusive memories such as flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety. It can also be shown through the avoidance of places and people that trigger the traumatic event.
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