The Transformative Power

The Transformative Power of Progressive Decentralization in Media

In the rapidly evolving world of Web3, one of the most prominent trends is the emergence of community-driven media. Fans are now stepping into the role of co-creators, actively shaping media content and applications within established character universes or steering the direction of content creation. This phenomenon spans various creative domains, from fans influencing the narrative progression of animated films, exemplified by Shibuya, to NFT holders contributing storylines for their characters to be included in novels.

At the far end of decentralized co-creation, models become entirely open-ended, as seen with Loot, a collection of NFTs representing adventure gear items, where the community was entrusted with interpreting and developing it post-launch, leading to a thriving ecosystem of guilds, tools, games, and more.

Power of Progressive Decentralization in Media

Progressive decentralization is not only a potent strategy for building crypto applications but also holds great promise for community-driven content creation. In simpler terms, the journey to building a creative community should commence with the creation of exceptional content by a small team, gradually transitioning towards community ownership.

This approach mirrors the concept of progressive decentralization applied to crypto apps, originally elucidated by my partner, Jesse Walden. It involves the sequential phases of finding a product-market fit for an application, cultivating a user community, and ultimately transferring ownership to users through tokens. In the context of media, the corresponding stages are as follows:

Content-Market Fit: Crafting content that resonates with the desires of the audience.

Community Participation: Nurturing engagement and active involvement among the audience.

Community Ownership: Surrendering ownership and control to the community.

This sequential path paves the way for the creation of content that deeply resonates with an engaged community before progressively relinquishing greater control and ownership to fans.

Initial content creation is entrusted to a core creator or team, initiating a cohesive and captivating piece of media that seamlessly aligns with the content market. This phase acknowledges that creative endeavors often thrive under the vision of a single creator or a small team, paralleling the conventional model of media creation.

This initial work acts as a catalyst for community formation, as individuals become emotionally attached to the characters and storyline, fostering intrinsic motivation to actively participate. Over time, community members gain increasing influence in the decision-making process for additional intellectual property (IP) creation. Eventually, tokens and fan ownership can supercharge this community participation, incentivizing fans to contribute derivative works and narratives.

This concept of “progressive decentralization for media” bears similarities to the fan fiction (fanfic) world, where vibrant communities generate derivative content inspired by original creations that serve as focal points for audience engagement. For instance, fanfiction for series like Harry Potter or Twilight emerged only after original creators produced content that rallied communities. Reversing this order, expecting a community to generate initial stories and characters, would indeed pose significant challenges.

Prominent examples of progressive decentralization within the Web3 realm include Forgotten Runes, Tally Labs, Shibuya, Bored Ape, and Mad Realities . These projects initiate content creation under the guidance of core creative teams while outlining parameters for fan participation, with a long-term vision of increasing fan ownership.

In contrast, there is the model of decentralized creation from inception, exemplified by projects like the Loot Project. Although viable, this approach may prove more challenging, requiring communities to start with a blank canvas. As outlined in Jesse’s original piece, this path carries the risk of attracting speculators lacking sufficient intrinsic motivation to engage, potentially leading to fragile and speculative token-holder communities, perpetually seeking the next opportunity before a long-term roadmap unfolds.