By @indefatigableth, writing contest winner
The Bait and Switch
I recently reached out to a fantastic visual artist I follow on LinkedIn with the goal of evangelizing a bit about blockchain and NFTs. The artist responded with a lack of interest (not unusual), and an expressed concern for the environmental impact of blockchain technology. They decided on a wait-and-see approach toward minting their artwork.
There is a pervasive sense that the decentralized ethos is a scam. Easy to debunk talking points have been handed out, like “it’s for criminals,” or full of scammers, or “it’s bad for the environment.” Does not using blockchain tech make you any more environmentally conscious? I’d argue no. Does most of our web2 creative output feed systems we have little stake in? I’d argue yes.
Our entire economy is one of extraction and exploitation, with a media driven to sell the ideas that pump monopolies. And the stories we tell are filtered by gatekeepers to uphold the status quo. This is not consciously nefarious intent at work or a conspiracy, it is simply lots of individual short-sighted choices at work.
The Much-Touted Revolution
In Web3 (Blockchain) we see a fusion of media consumption, interactive (including metaverse) experiences, gaming, social clout, and content creation. Without a doubt there are a new set of gatekeepers. I’ve watched fantastic original artists drop unique, well-crafted content only to be drowned-out and surpassed in sales by a conventional media personality with a less-than-innovative collection. It so happens that often these superstar drops resonate with, well, collectors. In the case of Web3, I would posit that crowd sentiment is the first, and most important gatekeeper.
Now that all my local bookstores have closed, and my local cultural centers are non-existent, where do I share my art, energy, music? Who do I write and create for? If I scroll through instagram and twitter I find A LOT of people catering their message to what they believe the audience wants (inevitably in support of the status-quo).
Themes include:
- Getting money
- Getting high
- Basic unimaginative misogyny
- Glorified sex and violence
- Bragging of various flavors
I’m not a prude, it’s just my armchair cultural analysis. The tougher content to sell will always be socially conscious content. And yet, community-driven projects are springing up all over the Web3 space. How? Why? Fundamentally, blockchain allows the incentives for participation to be spread throughout the community. Take the PageDAO Discord for example and the weekly shows on the very popular TokenSmart Discord server. During the show people gather to celebrate collaborative writing projects like “Pass the Pen” and original work by the inaugural group of writers published on the Blockchain. More pragmatically, listeners also gather to receive “tips” of $WIPC, $WHALE, $PAGE and other ERC20 tokens dropped by event organizers.
Over the past year PageDAO has minted over 100 original works on-chain. It’s a mixed bag of philosophy, self-help, autobiography, fiction of various flavors, some NFT/metaverse lore, poetry collections, magazines, a few collaborative writing projects, and a couple that are tough to categorize.
These first books would have a tough time living outside of the self-published vanity category, and would have to be someone’s pet project to make it into one of the Big 5. Yet, for that reason, I believe they’re important. Writing has the power to create cohesion, and we get the privilege of watching it happen from the ground up.
Collaborating in a New Way: Sitka World
At PageDAO, we’ve been lucky to see quite a few brilliant creators land in our spaces on Discord and Twitter. When they stick around, it’s largely due to their tenacity and not our wrinkle-free hospitality. One project caught my eye specifically: Sitka World.
I saw the name and it immediately caught my eye. My wife’s Cherokee mom and her dad lived in Sitka, Alaska, for years, so I’ve heard so many stories about the lives of indigenous people there, and the weather (not what one would expect from Alaska). I saw the art and it was beautiful. I got a bit of an idea of a fantasy story.
Then I read the first released NFT on sitkaworld.app.bio (a free/gasless NFT subscription and collection platform from the founders of Cent). I was absolutely blown away by the clarity, honesty, and relatability of the author. There were two main points that stuck out to me.
Like me, the author had suffered at the hands of in-group/out-group emotional violence under the guise of piety
This experience led the author to seek new ways of forming healthy community
These reasons are part of why I’ve spent the last 15 months dedicating my time to building PageDAO. Sitka World is well-thought-out and will deliver for its readers, but it is also going to weave the reader into the storytelling, thus building a vibrant tapestry of interlocked story.
When we distribute this creative load, we stand the chance of creating lasting friendships, shared language, and resilient communities. It turns out that in Web3, we get the community first, and the potential rewards later! There are countless examples. The projects that succeed are the projects that take care of the people involved.
When I took a look at Sitka World, I’m reminded of why I was so passionate about putting these tools into writers’ hands. Yes, it’s great to get caught up in a cute fantasy, but it’s even better to build worlds alongside others, negotiating, imagining, and fabricating a thing of beauty together. And like the best alchemy, what you’re left with is greater than the sum of its parts.
Get Involved
It can be overwhelming entering an entirely new social context, even a digital one. This is why finding a place in the Sitka World saga is your launching pad! Hop in, have fun, meet other writers, share your passion, hone your craft, and discover why shared ownership and trust will beat out larger systems, and without a doubt, change the world. Go to sitkaworld.com and enjoy the ride.