What Tom Sawyer Knew
December 29th, 2005
If Tom Sawyer had put on his Banker’s Hat rather than his Entrepreneur’s Hat that fateful, fictional day in Hannibal, Aunt Polly’s fence would never have gotten painted.
(Can’t recall the details of Twain’s mythic tale, here’s a reprint.)
We’re not against developing creative instruments for micro-level lending and equity investment. They have a place in the MicroFinance Marketplace. But it is, after all, a marketplace and not a hallowed hall. A marketplace can be as exciting as a three-ring circus or as boring and constrained as a Victorian men’s club. We choose to put our creative juices into the circus side of things.
Consider that we live in a world where:
- people pay Real Money for Virtual Real Estate,
- people buy clothes and vehicles for their virtual personae to get around in virtual style,
- a website carries news feeds from no less than a dozen virtual communities such as Blazing Falls, Calvin’s Creek, and Interhogan… places that exist nowhere but in their inhabitants’ shared imagination, and
- research shows that online game revenue will grow from $1.1 billion this year to more than $3.5 billion by 2009.
A Better World Is a Fence to be Painted
Considering these and related trends, there is no reason that we cannot create a story-rich, game-like on-line experience — NED On-line if you will — where tens of thousands of people are willing to pay, say $20/month, for the sheer joy and excitement of participation in this active, vibrant global on-line community. A place where everyday activity in this virtual world has a Matrix-like impact creating a better world in the Real World.
This membership subscription is not a loan nor an investment. It is a fee for experience, for access, for having a voice in what goes on in this ever-growing, ever-evolving on-line global community.
Once you are a member, it will be up to you to decide how to ‘invest’ your Better World Tokens. Perhaps you’ll purchase two shares of goat wool futures of a herd in Uganda. Later, you’ll lock in an hour of loom time craft futures of a New Mexico weaver.
You don’t do this with an expectation of below market return rates on repayment of a loan to the shepherd. Nor do you do it to own an equity share in Acme Weavers of New Mexico, Inc. You do this to be a stakeholder in the process that brings this wool to market, to have a voice in what the weaver makes, and to what Impact Point the sale of that wool and the weaver’s sweater will be directed. You’ll do it to get to know and care about the shepherd and the weaver as you shift your focus from the wool and sweater of a product-focused supply chain to a people-centered investment-production-consumption cycle.
Next month, you’ll increase your share in wool futures of the goat herd, and lock in 20 board-feet of lumber to be produced by a sustainable forestry co-op in Maine. Your purchases from the NED On-line marketplace over the last few weeks have been rewarded with a stack of additional Better World Tokens that you apply to a community development project to raise a wind turbine in an Aceh fishing village.
Within three months you’ve parlayed your participation tokens into a growing account such that your Impact Quotient has landed you on the Top 10 Rookies of the Month list at NED On-line. You set your sites for Hall of Impact Fame recognition within a year. Even if you miss your personal goal, you’ve had a heck of a creative, fun time helping to make a better world.
Now multiply this hypothetical NED On-line player/character community member by many thousands. With an addictive “serious play” environment and an effective reward system for impactful participation, imagine how many miles of Better World Fence we can paint if we can just learn to think like Tom Sawyer.
–Sohodojo Jim and Timlynn–
Entry Filed under: Entrepreneurial Community Ecosystems, Globalization 3.0 and the Small Is Good World, Inprosumerism, MFM - MicroFinance Marketplace
What Tom Sawyer Knew
December 29th, 2005
If Tom Sawyer had put on his Banker’s Hat rather than his Entrepreneur’s Hat that fateful, fictional day in Hannibal, Aunt Polly’s fence would never have gotten painted.
(Can’t recall the details of Twain’s mythic tale, here’s a reprint.)
We’re not against developing creative instruments for micro-level lending and equity investment. They have a place in the MicroFinance Marketplace. But it is, after all, a marketplace and not a hallowed hall. A marketplace can be as exciting as a three-ring circus or as boring and constrained as a Victorian men’s club. We choose to put our creative juices into the circus side of things.
Consider that we live in a world where:
- people pay Real Money for Virtual Real Estate,
- people buy clothes and vehicles for their virtual personae to get around in virtual style,
- a website carries news feeds from no less than a dozen virtual communities such as Blazing Falls, Calvin’s Creek, and Interhogan… places that exist nowhere but in their inhabitants’ shared imagination, and
- research shows that online game revenue will grow from $1.1 billion this year to more than $3.5 billion by 2009.
A Better World Is a Fence to be Painted
Considering these and related trends, there is no reason that we cannot create a story-rich, game-like on-line experience — NED On-line if you will — where tens of thousands of people are willing to pay, say $20/month, for the sheer joy and excitement of participation in this active, vibrant global on-line community. A place where everyday activity in this virtual world has a Matrix-like impact creating a better world in the Real World.
This membership subscription is not a loan nor an investment. It is a fee for experience, for access, for having a voice in what goes on in this ever-growing, ever-evolving on-line global community.
Once you are a member, it will be up to you to decide how to ‘invest’ your Better World Tokens. Perhaps you’ll purchase two shares of goat wool futures of a herd in Uganda. Later, you’ll lock in an hour of loom time craft futures of a New Mexico weaver.
You don’t do this with an expectation of below market return rates on repayment of a loan to the shepherd. Nor do you do it to own an equity share in Acme Weavers of New Mexico, Inc. You do this to be a stakeholder in the process that brings this wool to market, to have a voice in what the weaver makes, and to what Impact Point the sale of that wool and the weaver’s sweater will be directed. You’ll do it to get to know and care about the shepherd and the weaver as you shift your focus from the wool and sweater of a product-focused supply chain to a people-centered investment-production-consumption cycle.
Next month, you’ll increase your share in wool futures of the goat herd, and lock in 20 board-feet of lumber to be produced by a sustainable forestry co-op in Maine. Your purchases from the NED On-line marketplace over the last few weeks have been rewarded with a stack of additional Better World Tokens that you apply to a community development project to raise a wind turbine in an Aceh fishing village.
Within three months you’ve parlayed your participation tokens into a growing account such that your Impact Quotient has landed you on the Top 10 Rookies of the Month list at NED On-line. You set your sites for Hall of Impact Fame recognition within a year. Even if you miss your personal goal, you’ve had a heck of a creative, fun time helping to make a better world.
Now multiply this hypothetical NED On-line player/character community member by many thousands. With an addictive “serious play” environment and an effective reward system for impactful participation, imagine how many miles of Better World Fence we can paint if we can just learn to think like Tom Sawyer.
–Sohodojo Jim and Timlynn–
Entry Filed under: Entrepreneurial Community Ecosystems, Globalization 3.0 and the Small Is Good World, Inprosumerism, MFM - MicroFinance Marketplace
1 Comment
1. Taryn&hellip | June 22nd, 2007 at 7:23 am
Taryn…
Great site! i\’m looking forward to reading more….
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