Dirt: Worldbuilding, Pt. 2

In his 1947 essay “On Fairy Stories,” J.R.R. Tolkien wrote that a creator should “hope that he is drawing on reality,” to shape the qualities of his world.

While similar to Disney’s “transnarrative” strategy, in which characters are interspersed throughout various media, most projects don’t cohere around a central figure or storyline. Instead, the emphasis is placed on the world itself.

The collaborati

ve nature of such [web3] activities are contrary to the traditionally extractive relationship between a fan and a franchise. Even when fans peripherally contribute to the franchise through fan-produced media, like fanfiction, there is no financial reward or recognition for their participation.

While not-for-profit projects do exist, it seems increasingly rare for participatory worlds to avoid commercialization, especially when attention is the primary currency of the internet.

within the greater content ecosystem, fans are “active agents collectively determining the validity of the ‘official’ storyline.” Their engagement matters more than their canonical contribution.

Rettburg categorized the participants of collective authorship projects into three types: conscious, contributory, and unwitting. [The latter two groups] “may not be aware of how their contribution fits into the overall architecture of the project, or even of the nature of the project itself,” he wrote. Fans of franchise-produced or brand worlds, f

projects like Invisible Seattle and Loot prove that inventive and imaginative results can emerge from collaboration, producing works that defy easy categorization and commercialization.

Collaboration doesn’t preclude commercialization. And participation — whether driven by a project’s fans or members — is an essential element to any long-term worldbuilding project.

“Anyone can spin up their own Minecraft server and create their own world, [and] invite people in,” Hu said. “That's more where I see the future going, in terms of tools that enable more artists to make their own worlds. Minecraft isn't free, but in terms of access to building these custom worlds, it’s just much more accessible.”