Mind Candy is a great place to work (and play). We have every imaginable toy and game scattered around the London office. We have an entire section of the office for gaming, with couches and bean bag chairs and a big TV. It’s not unusual to find a group of Mind Candies playing Guitar Hero during their lunch break. And, we have “Game Night” now and then, where we order take-out and play games after work.
Last month the Mind Candy team took a ‘Field Trip’ to the Victoria & Albert Museum to view a digital art show. 20 something Mind Candies took the Bus and Underground to South Kensington. It was a spectacle for Londoners and a great exercise in camaraderie for the Mind Candies. The exhibit was interesting but the journey and purpose of our group activity made an impression on me. I spent time talking to one of our newer employees and had time to get to know him outside the office environment. It was a great exercise, all in all.
Recently, two of the Mind Candy Community Team members took the term “work ethic” to the next level by visiting a tattoo parlour to show their dedication to moshlings, the cute little pets that belong to Monstro City monsters (because we all know that pets need and love pets of their own). Here’s how Amanda, one of our Assistant Community Managers, describes their adventure in ink:
“Because our love of Moshlings has grown to astronomic proportions, Tiffany (Community Assistant) and I were carried off by a giant Furi and Katsuma and taken to a tattoo parlour in our home state in the US. We visited a toy-tattoo collecting artist, Jesse, and had the Moshlings Shi Shi and Lady Meowford permanently added to our body art collections.”
I don’t think we’ll see a trend among the Mind Candies such as the LOTR (Lord of the Rings) cast who (not so) secretly “branded” themselves to show solidarity. But one never knows. When you work together AND play together, you become a family of sorts. The monsters and moshlings are an extension of our collective efforts at Mind Candy. We think of the monsters and moshlings as more than 2 dimensional characters. We think of their personalities and how they interact with Monster Owners in the game. Every team member is encouraged to provide input when we create new characters, need character names, and every team member is welcome to provide input in pretty much all of the creative processes. The atmosphere is quite democratic and open. Michael (our CEO) is a great communicator, open with information and inclusive. His approach makes all the difference in what you do 8 hours (or more) a day. Some of us spend more time at our jobs these days than we do with our families. So, we need to be sure we’re in an open, creative, accepting and healthy environment. Trust and respect start at the top of Mind Candy, with Michael and the Senior Management team. Creativity is always rampant. I had a conversation with our Community Manager just yesterday where she said “I just gotta give out those thousands of Mississippi Mud pies first… (I love that I get to say that - my job rules).” I have to agree.
At Mind Candy, creativity rules, as well. We’re thrilled to see two of our team members’ affection for their favorite moshlings (mine is Lady Cleo but I’m too chicken to get a tattoo). The Community Management team is coming to London this week for the 15 Million Monster Party at the London Aquarium. So, if you’re in London and you see an American with fun little moshlings tattooed on her arm, feel free to stop her and ask her for the moshling code ;)
