Building a World of Play Where No One Needs to Feel Invisible Anymore

How do we create a world where no one has to feel invisible?

Sri Seah

When I read this question above by Sri Seah that emerged from some deep reflection by them, I immediately thought of two things.

Making the Invisible Visible

The first thing I thought of was a quote by Beau Lotto from his book Deviate.

The best technologies make the invisible visible.

Such technologies open up new understanding, transforming the ideas that we have about our world and ourselves. They not only challenge what they assume to be true already, they also offer the opportunity for a new, larger, more complex set of assumptions.

Bea Lotto, Deviate

Imagining a World of Play

And the second thing I thought of was a statement I created some years back that describes the arc of my life.

From playing within imaginary worlds to imagining a world of play.

Nollind Whachell

This arc began decades back playing within imaginary worlds in role-playing games and MMORPGs. And it spans to today where I’m wanting to imagine and build a newer worldview, one embodying play. But play at a much deeper level than most people conventionally perceive it as.

Here are some quotes below that touch upon this deeper level of play which to me is essential for transformational growth and development because this play allows one to creatively step outside of one’s “self” into a larger sense of “Self”. And in doing so, one makes one’s larger sense of Self visible to the world and thus it is no longer invisible, buried, and perhaps even marginalized within oneself. This effectively embodies vertical development within the second half of one’s life as a process of removing layers as “masks” that hide one’s True Self.

Hello.
Welcome to the human race.
We are playing a game.
And we are playing by the following rules.
We want to tell you what the rules are
so that you know your way around.
And when you’ve understood what rules we’re playing by
when you get older,
you may be able to invent better ones.

Alan Watts

Ultimately, this book is about understanding the role of play and using it to find and express our own core truths. It is about learning to harness a force that has been built into us through millions of years of evolution, a force that allows us to both discover our most essential selves and enlarge our world. We are designed to find fulfillment and creative growth through play.

Stuart Brown, Play

This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

Alan Watts

Imagine a world where everyone was constantly learning, a world where what you wondered was more interesting than what you knew, and curiosity counted for more than certain knowledge. Imagine a world where what you gave away was more valuable than what you held back, where joy was not a dirty word, where play was not forbidden after your eleventh birthday. Imagine a world in which the business of business was to imagine worlds people might actually want to live in someday. Imagine a world created by the people, for the people not perishing from the earth forever.

Yeah. Imagine that.

The Cluetrain Manifesto

Creating a Quest(ion) Log

Actually one additional thing that jumps to mind when reflecting upon Sri’s question is how its larger scope mirrors a larger question I had a couple of decades back on transforming the conventional concept of work (and perhaps how I should be creating a section on my site to list these larger questions as a whole as well).

What would a business look like if it mirrored the culture of the Web?

Nollind Whachell

My response to this question was as follows. Basically creating a statement that was a collection of values.

I work for a daring, imaginative, adventurous, sharing, caring, diverse, open, trusting, honest, flexible, responsible, and connected company.

Nollind Whachell

And here is a translation of it applied to myself as a person.

I am a daring, imaginative, adventurous, sharing, caring, diverse, open, trusting, honest, flexible, responsible, and connected person.

I am the Web.

Nollind Whachell

Embodying Values

What’s interesting about this statement is that it’s easy to say. Embodying its values is another story altogether though.

And I think this ties into creating a safe space and playful environment for people to express their larger, invisible selves within, thus making them visible.

Everyone participating within this space, not just the host of this community space, needs to truly embody what they say and believe for this space to truly become a reality for all involved within it.