This is another great video from TED – and not just because it’s about toys.

Will Wright makes an interesting comment about his experience in designing the Sims near the beginning of the movie. I think this perfectly encapsulates the world that we’re navigating and trying to make sense of in the free culture space:

‘Players love making stuff. When they were able to make stuff in the game they had a tremendous amount of empathy and connection to it. Even if it wasn’t as pretty as… professional artists would make…, they really stuck with it – they really cared what happened to it.’

It’s interesting. I was looking for a photo to illustrate one of my blog posts and, even though Joi’s photos are absolutely incredible and millions better than mine, I really still wanted to use my own. Wright does say that it doesn’t take too much to build the characters in this game (and, as such, there are limitations) but it shows how the need and opportunity for us all to actively create has been widely recognised. Figuring out how the power plays out, I guess, is the challenge.