Creativity above consumerism

Somehow it seems more nourishing when we create things ourselves whether we share it with others or enjoy it alone without fanfare or external validation. This seems to be true of cooking, writing and pretty much any creative endeavor. Ultimately creativity is what nurtures us and enriches our culture; as a counterpoint, consumerism offers instant gratification, but lacks nourishment.

There is that wonderful proverb*: "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."

This quote has been a truism for 3rd world aid activities, but we can apply the same philosophy to consumers seeking to co-create their entertainment and online social experiences. Let people be storytellers, creators, publishers of entertainment and managers of online communities and they will have nourishment "for a lifetime".

There's also a lovely counter-argument to the proverb: "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day."

Wouldn't life be simpler if drinking beer on the boat all day really was satisfying? Somehow the easy life doesn't answer the deepest drumming in our hearts. This drumming probably means different things at different stages of our evolution but right now it seems to be telling us to know ourselves and to do this it seems we must continuously transcend our current achievements.

While I'd love to parallel these ideas with Maslow's hierarchy of needs and link that to the esoteric meanings of the Fisher king myth and demonstrate its relevance to creativity (healing) and consumerism (listlessness), I'll keep this blog entry shorter than book-length by skipping all that. Instead, I'll explain how a lucky accident as a kid led to the philosophies behind the VastPark platform.

Maslow's hierarchy

I had the good fortune to be a kid when the PC "arrived" in Australia in 1982. It arrived and there were no fun games. If you wanted to create a music synthesizer you had to program it. If you liked a game in the arcades and you wanted to play it free, you went home and wrote it. You gained the personal power to do these things because no-one had done it for you. But after a few years games came along that were far better than any hobbyist alone could create. So then I became a computer games consumer, but I had gained the nourishment "for a lifetime" because I knew I could create these things myself.

Today, as communication, media and technology converge, virtual worlds platforms are one of the center points for convergence. Virtual world platforms will be places of companionship, storytelling and dramatic action for a new generation. The core philosophy behind VastPark is to empower these new users to create whatever they want to experience: from a game of chess that they can play with anyone they meet online, to an interactive spaceship they can fly and then sell to others, right up to their own Second Life-type world that they co-create with their own community.

The technology we're all developing in these virtual world platforms should have one core purpose: empowerment for users big and small. We've gotten use our abilities to create new technology to take away the barriers to creative expression, communication and distribution of ideas. For instance, users should find it easy to share what they have made with others. And I think we need to create an environment of entrepreneurship where people are triply motivated: I want to help our talented users become creative geniuses, Internet stars and to monetize their creations. As I see it, VastPark will be an open creative platform like the first PCs, the Amiga and, today, the iPhone. VastPark is going to support hobbyists and professionals creating all kinds of applications, games, widgets and social spaces. I think it's a strong vision because it puts the creativity and fun back into the hands of individuals and communities. May we all co-create and not just consume what is put in front of us!

Now, is anyone going fishing? I've brought beers... =P

* For those who like to know it's source, the Chinese proverb about fishing seems to be a slight twist of a quote from the Chinese philosopher Kuan-tzu who says if you give a man a fishing pole he will be able to feed himself for a lifetime. Strangely there's not much I've found online about Kuan-tzu.