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October 2003: Press Release
Frequently Asked Questions about The Journey to Wild Divine
Frequently Asked Questions about The Journey to Wild Divine
1. What is The Journey to Wild Divine? The Journey to Wild Divine is a ground-breaking interactive computer journey that integrates the power of the spiritual quest with an innovative biofeedback interface and high-end multimedia production. Produced by The Wild Divine Project, based in Boulder, Colorado, and scheduled for a November 2003 release, The Journey will have an introductory price of $129.00 through 12/31/03 (SRP $159.95) and come on a CD with both a PC and Mac version.
2. What does Wild Divine mean? “I believe that we each have a certain amount of divinity in us—that has to do with spirituality rather than a particular religion—and a certain amount of wildness. In our lives, we fluctuate back and forth, pushed and pulled between the two,” said Kurt R. Smith, founder of The Wild Divine Project. “At those times when the divine meets the wild in balance, we find the greatest realization of divinity and human – we find the Wild Divine.”
That’s what the game is about, too, according to Smith. In it, people are entertained, but they can also experience self discovery and find their own Wild Divine.
3. What are some features of The Journey? It incorporates mythology and elements of the classic hero and heroine’s journey with state of the art 3-D graphics, video, biofeedback technology, and an original soundtrack of music.
4. What sets this computer game apart from other games? In addition to the boldly-realized graphics, what truly sets The Journey apart is the sophisticated technology that players use to navigate the game. With three biofeedback sensors gently attached to your fingers and monitoring skin response and pulse rate, you navigate the voyage’s lush gardens, mythical temples and breath-taking landscapes, using your own thoughts, feelings, breathing, awareness and mood to move ahead in the game.
Another innovative element is that, beyond sheer entertainment value, you have the opportunity to embark on a journey of awareness and self discovery. With the help of wise mentors and guides, who appear during the quest, you learn to self-orchestrate different states of breathing, consciousness, relaxation and awareness that you can later bring back to your every day life.
The Journey to Wild Divine also includes opportunities for people to access their innate power of visualization. “In a typical computer game, what you do changes your outcomes, but everything you sense comes from the game itself,” said Corwin Bell, the game’s creator. “We include visualization exercises which open you to your own images, in addition to the game’s find the Wild Divine.” Half the game can exist in your own personal experience and imagination—if you’re willing to go there. And this is powerful, because the game becomes truly interactive instead of pretty pre-determined, like other games.”
5. What is bio-feedback? According to Dr. Bob Whitehouse, psychologist and biofeedback expert, who has consulted on the game, “biofeedback uses electronic equipment to monitor people’s internal physiological states and gives feedback that helps the recipient learn how to control these states, to activate balance, release or to recover from them.”
6. How is biofeedback used in The Journey? The Journey’s biofeedback component measures a player’s galvanic skin response (GSR) and heart rate variability. GSR measures sweat gland activity. Increased perspiration indicates increased autonomic nervous system activation, which is associated with increased energy—both positive, like excitement, and negative, like nervousness. Heart-rate variability is calculated from the differences in heart rate from one heartbeat to another. Greater heart rate variability is the healthy goal.
In biofeedback terms, the game is set up so that players might actually have to raise either their sweat gland activity or heart rate in order to get through one particular barrier, while moving into a more balanced, or even calmer, state to successfully navigate another area. Progress in the game depends upon how well players have learned what they needed to learn to accomplish the varying events.
The game, then, can increase people’s understanding and awareness of how their thoughts, emotions, and breathing affect events in The Journey. For example, a player who is required to lower a floating feather, won’t be able to do it until moving into a somewhat meditative state Within the game, the player actually sees how getting into this state helps move the feather down.
7. How was The Journey’s biofeedback developed? The biofeedback portion of the game has a well-proven scientific basis. To develop it, Corwin Bell, the game’s creator, consulted with some of the best biofeedback and medical experts in the country—in particular, those into optimal performance, such as Liana Mattulich, M.D., Dr. Bob Whitehouse and Sunny Turner.
8. Are there any other benefits I would get from playing the game other than simply enjoying it? The game can give you more awareness of your own internal states of consciousness. Other possible benefits include the potential for a clearer state of mind, heightened powers of imagination, greater understanding of the mind/body connection, reduced stress, and more energy and relaxation.
9. Tell me about the creator of The Journey to Wild Divine. “I thought about taking images and ideas from universal archetypes and translating them into a myth that works for our time,” said Corwin Bell, the game’s creator. “What’s more, I wanted to do this using innovative technology that would allow people to experience, in a metaphoric way, the opportunities and challenges they encounter in everyday life, as they seek to broaden their perceptions and expand their consciousness.”
Bell, who has an M.A. in Communications, has a background in computer games and animation, movie set design and cinematography, experimental mythological films and as a former instructor at the Art Institute of Colorado. Many of the images and ideas in the game came to Bell over the years in dreams and visions. “But I knew that they couldn’t be described in a painting,” he said. “They needed movement and crispness.
At one point, Bell realized that computer animation was the format for manifesting his ideas and images. The Journey to Wild Divine was finally created when Bell told Kurt R. Smith, founder of The Wild Divine Project, about his idea, while rock climbing together. Smith provided the funding for Bell to hire a production team and create the game.
10. Who are some of the leaders in the field of consciousness who have contributed their expertise to the game? In creating The Journey to Wild Divine, Bell is collaborating with leaders in the field of consciousness on both the spiritual and biofeedback technology aspects of the project. Known as “allies,” they include Jean Houston, a pioneer researcher in human capacities, and Nawang Khechog, a former Buddhist monk and one of Tibet’s foremost world music composers and musicians. From the start, Liana Mattulich, an M.D. and biofeedback expert, has helped Bell move The Journey from concept to reality.
11. Who will want to play this game? The Wild Divine Project has been test marketing The Journey to Wild Divine to hundreds of people across the U.S. and found that it appeals to people of all ages. People from 10 to 80 said they loved it. The Journey already has the potential to reach beyond the home gaming market to those people interested in self exploration and awareness. In addition, counselors, educators, business executives, physicians and biofeedback experts have expressed an interest in using and adapting the game as an educational and healing tool.
12. What is The Wild Divine Project? Begun in the Spring of 2001 and based in Boulder, Colorado, The Wild Divine Project produces multimedia experiences to facilitate healing, transformation, and sustainability. It was founded by Kurt R. Smith, Ph.D. scientist, entrepreneur and musician, and includes the computer voyage, Journey to Wild Divine, and Healing Rhythms, the music arm, which is producing nine healing CDs. At present, The Wild Divine Project is comprised of twelve employees and numerous partners, committed to creating and conducting business using cooperative, caring and sustainable practices.
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