The Largest Gamified Simulation Engine of Human Experience on the Planet
RealLives 2004
The first widely adopted version of RealLives that introduced players to a simulation of life across the globe. With a basic UI and limited data, this version laid the foundation for what would become a powerful learning tool on global diversity.
RealLives 2007
An improved interface and broader country database made this edition more immersive. RealLives 2007 added more life events, cultural depth, and socio-economic details, bringing users closer to the everyday realities of people worldwide.
RealLives 2014
With enhanced graphics and better event logic, this version offered a more detailed life simulation experience. It allowed users to make impactful life decisions and see the consequences unfold over time. This version continued as a standalone desktop application.
RealLives 2017
This cloud-based version of RealLives, released in October 2017, brought the experience online. With a revamped interface and updated global data, it works seamlessly on all modern browsers and operating systems.
RealLives 2025
Powered by AI, this edition delivers personalized life paths, smarter event logic, and real-time global data. A modern interface, dynamic cultural scenarios, and adaptive learning tools make this the most immersive and insightful RealLives experience yet.
Current VersionInventor
Kathy and Bob Runyan
Bob Runyan grew up in California's emerging Silicon Valley, where early exposure to technology sparked his lifelong curiosity. His travels through Mexico and Europe as a young soccer player deepened his passion for understanding diverse cultures and perspectives.
After serving with the Peace Corps in the Seychelles Islands—where he taught math and computer science—Bob transitioned into computer programming in 1989. In 1996, inspired by technology's potential to build empathy, he conceived software that could simulate life experiences worldwide using real statistical data. This vision led him to found Educational Simulations Inc. and launch RealLives in 2001.
The partnership that would transform RealLives began when Bob met Dr. Parag Mankeeker through the Ashoka Foundation, recognizing his exceptional vision for the platform's global potential.
Dr. Parag Mankeeker is a social technology entrepreneur whose journey spans medicine, public health, and anthropology. His multidisciplinary expertise has driven him to tackle complex social challenges, from developing innovative hospitals to managing disaster response systems.
Parag's work has taken him to the frontlines of understanding global conflicts, including terrorism research in India and Afghanistan. His commitment to positive change has earned him recognition as both an Ashoka Fellow and Salzburg Seminar Fellow.
Now leading RealLives' global expansion, Parag is transforming the platform into a powerful tool for building empathy and socio-emotional learning, advancing the shared dream of creating a more empathetic world.
Leader
Dr. Parag Mankeekar
Working Team
Parag Mankeekar
Team Leader
Ravi Gulhane
CTO
Ajit Ghanekar
Chief Stasitician
Amrapali Pathare
Senior Frontend Developer
Atharva Nijampurkar
Senior Backend Developer
Pankaj Sapkal
Chief Strategist
Vidya Mankeekar
Account and HR
Adarsh Vishwakarma
Frontend Developer
Viraj Kabbur
Product Manager
Janhavi Desai
Translation Intern
Sakshi Kulkarni
Translation Intern
Bhoomi Luniya
AI Intern
Itinerant Team Members
We extend our deepest gratitude to the many talented professionals from the Neeti team whose significant contributions helped bring this ambitious project to life. Their expertise and dedication laid crucial groundwork for RealLives' continued evolution.
Over the past three years, more than 200 passionate interns from diverse backgrounds and disciplines have poured their energy into this labor of love. These remarkable individuals—spanning fields from technology and education to social sciences and design—have each left their mark on RealLives, contributing fresh perspectives, innovative solutions, and countless hours of dedicated work.
We are profoundly grateful to the following organizations for their generous support in connecting us with exceptional talent. By providing outstanding interns who shared our vision for building empathy through technology, these institutions have become integral partners in our mission to create a more understanding world. Their commitment to fostering meaningful educational and professional experiences has directly contributed to RealLives' growth and impact.
To every intern, mentor, and supporting organization—your contributions have not only advanced our platform but have also embodied the very spirit of global collaboration and cultural exchange that RealLives seeks to promote.
Manisha Sathe
Vivek Rishi
Paresh Deshpande
Nikhil Jain
Purva Deshpande
Sateesh Khomne
Namita Pandya
Abhijit Kuljkarni
Aniruddha Bhide
Chaitanya Joshi
Tejas Chitale
Pinaki Dixit
Bob Runyan
Omkar Chandrachud
Makarand Vagaskar
Dilip Kalantri
Dr. Manasi Abhyankar
Lukesh Bundele
Yogini Barde
Aditi Thombre
Ramesh Garudkar
Sarita Karde
Anjani Pathak
Jaganntah Shelar
Sharvari Kulkarni
Special Thanks
We thank Ashoka for fostering empathy and social innovation worldwide. Their recognition of Dr. Parag Mankeeker as an Ashoka Fellow validated our mission and connected us with a global network of changemakers who share our vision of building cross-cultural understanding through transformative education.
We thank BMGI Global for their strategic partnership and management consulting expertise across India and the Asia Pacific region. Their professional guidance has helped us navigate complex markets while staying true to our mission of creating meaningful educational impact through technology.
We are grateful to Ashoka Globalizer for accelerating our worldwide impact. Their specialized support in scaling social innovations has been instrumental in helping RealLives reach new communities globally, amplifying our ability to foster empathy and understanding in classrooms around the world.
Always Grateful
Lee Hartwell
Arizona, USA
Nobel Laureate (2001), Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
David Gibson
Perth, Australia
Director | Learning Futures | Curtin Learning and Teaching, Australia.
Laura Giadorou-Koch
NY, USA
Practiced corporate law on Wall Street. System-level social entrepreneur and innovative educator & CEO
Naresh Shahani
Mumbai, India
MD and Founder, BMGI India Business Coach Innovation and Organic Growth with Consulting Experience
Abhay Nalawade
Pune, India
Advisor for start-ups, technology companies, social organizations, Entrepreneur & Ex-MD/CEO of Thermax
Milind Desai
Mumbai, India
Advisor, Trackball Consultancy Services Private Limited
Thanks
Natya Tatineni
Bangalore, India
Bob Runyan
Chico, CA, USA
Neelesh Kulkarni
Pune, India
Anil Paranjape
Pune, India
Hemant Karandikar
Pune, India
Milind Desai
Mumbai, India
Vibhas Chandrachood
Lexington, KY, USA
Hiren Bhat
Detroit, MI, USA
Parimal Tathawadekar
Detroit, MI, USA
Daniel Truran
Madrid, Spain
RealLives Licenses
Wanderer
$7.99
/1 Year Validity
Max Lives : 50
Explore
$9.99
/ 1 Year Validity
Max Lives : 100
Voyager
$12.99
/2 Year Validity
Max Lives : 200
Trailblazer
$19.99
/3 Year Validity
Max Lives : 1000
What’s Included?
All plans include the same core features No hidden costs. Complete transparency
RealLives Simulation
Experience life from birth to death in different countries and circumstances. Make decisions that shape your virtual life while learning about global inequalities and cultural differences.
Empathy Canvas
A structured reflection framework that helps students process their RealLives experiences and develop deeper empathy through guided self-reflection and peer discussion.
RealBoard
A safe, private social platform where students can share their RealLives experiences, engage in meaningful discussions, and learn from diverse perspectives in a moderated environment.
ChangeMaker Index
Revolutionary assessment tool that measures 18 global competencies through gameplay decisions rather than self-reporting, providing authentic insights into student development.
Why RealLives matters?
Using real-world demographic and economic data, the simulation places students in authentic scenarios where they make decisions about school, work, family, health, and more. Every choice leads to realistic consequences, shaped by global inequality, access, and opportunity.
RealLives isn’t just a game—it’s a window into the lived experience of people across the globe. Whether you’re born into a wealthy family in Sweden or a struggling household in rural India, the simulation challenges you to navigate life based on real-world constraints and possibilities.
RealLives is driven by real world data
Learning Outcomes
1
Understand how identity and context shape lives
Examine the influence of geography, gender, and socio-economic status on opportunities, challenges, and life paths.
2
Experience global development through simulation
Connect real-world indicators of health, education, and income to personal life journeys.
3
Develop critical skills for navigating complexity
Strengthen decision-making, reflection, and systems thinking in response to real-world challenges.
4
Engage with global challenges and the SDGs
Explore how everyday choices relate to issues such as poverty, inequality, climate, and health.
5
Foster empathy, resilience, and global citizenship
Build awareness of diverse perspectives, reflect on equity and resilience, and embrace interdependence.
RCMI
The RealLives ChangeMaker Index (RCMI) measures how you respond to real-life challenges in the simulation—revealing your strengths in 18 key skills like empathy, leadership, and problem-solving.
No quizzes, just your actions
Personalized profile of your changemaker strengths
Future-ready skills for real-world impact
RCMI Clusters
RCMI is built on the foundation that effective changemakers excel across four interconnected domains. The assessment system recognizes that true changemaking ability emerges from the balance and integration of these four essential clusters:
Internal/Personal Qualities form the foundation - you must first master yourself before leading change in society, others or even in the world.
Interpersonal Competencies build upon this foundation - enabling you to connect with, influence, and mobilize others toward shared goals.
Contextual Awareness ensures responsible impact - grounding your efforts in ethical responsibility and global understanding.
Strategic Thinking provides the intellectual framework - giving you the tools to analyze complex problems and develop innovative solutions.
How does it work?
Our Empathy Canvas has been tailored for RealLives
Get a personalised Empathy Score using Real AI
What you can do
on RealBoard?
One Platform
Multiple Use Cases
Create Boards
Why Educators Love
RealBoard?
1) Safe School-Only Network
Understand the impact of geography, gender, and socio-economic status on life paths
2) Decision Events Shape the Journey
Throughout their life journey, students encounter events that require them to make important decisions about education, work, health, relationships, and society.
3) Choices Reveal Who You Are
Every choice a student makes reflects their values, problem-solving style, empathy, and leadership tendencies.
4) Competencies Get Captured
These decisions map to 18 ChangeMaking Competencies, like critical thinking, resilience, collaboration, and social awareness.
5) ChangeMaker Index Shows Your Impact Potential
Finally, students receive a ChangeMaker Index score, a powerful reflection of their changemaking potential, based on real behaviors instead of just self-reported answers.
Real AI
Turning life stories into insights
Empathy Canvas analysis
using Real AI
The Empathy Canvas, powered by Real AI, is a unique tool that analyzes a user's emotional intelligence based on their responses to 9 carefully designed questions. Each response is processed using our Real AI engine to generate personalized AI reflections, providing deeper insights into the user’s emotional awareness and interpersonal understanding.
Based on this analysis, users receive an overall Empathy Score out of 100, along with actionable feedback. This process helps individuals explore their capacity for empathy — a vital trait in changemaking. Real AI also powers the RealLives ChangeMaker Index and other interactive reports, making complex human values like empathy, resilience, and social connection measurable and meaningful.
RCMI analysis using Real AI
The RealLives ChangeMaker Index (RCMI), powered by Real AI, measures a user's changemaking potential through their in-game decisions and responses. Based on their score, users are placed in one of five growth stages, Seed, Sprout, Sapling, Plant, or Fruit, reflecting their changemaker journey.
The report also includes a Severity Index, which maps the complexity and risks associated with different changemaking domains. Ranging from 1 (low risk) to 10 (extreme risk), this index helps users understand the potential challenges in areas like Peace & Conflict, Human Rights, or Environmental Protection. By aligning RCMI scores with domain severity, Real AI offers personalized insights on where users can contribute meaningfully while preparing for the realities of changemaking work.
Get in Touch
Contact Information
Support@reallivesworld.com
Address
Pune, India