There are only two types of creative people

There are two types of creative people

Lately, I've been watching a lot of interviews and talking with a lot of creative people who make tabletop games and write books, and it's led me to think about a dichotomy I see on Hive (and elsewhere). There are, fundamentally, two types of creative people and I think what type of creative person you are is (with a few exceptions) maybe inversely proportional to how successful (monetarily) you'll be and how happy you'll be with your creative output.

The folks I've been watching interviews of and talking with lately all fall into my first branch - which I like to count myself in: People who create what they want to use/read/play.

In the indie tabletop gaming space, these are folks like Yochai Gal, Ben Milton, and Chris McDowall. Each of these guys took a concept (old school Dungeons and Dragons / dungeon crawling) and went: "Well, that's alright and all but I think I'd like it better if..." and then made the game they wanted to play.

Cairn (Yochai Gal), Into the Odd/Electric Bastionland (Chris McDowall), and Knave (Ben Milton) are all hugely successful tabletop games within the Old School Revolution/New School Revolution branches of the hobby. In fact, without Into the Odd, Cairn and Knave both may have been very different games as each draws inspiration from McDowall's work - while successfully standing on their own merits.

It is hard to be aware of and part of the indie ttrpg scene without running into these games, or games inspired by these games, and in every case it's been someone sitting down and creating the type of content they wished to consume.

For most of us who create the content we wish was in the world, it's a labor of love and we understand that most of what we create is probably a niche thing. I know my worldbuilding prompts and guides aren't likely to rocket me to a lifestyle of the rich and the famous. That's okay. I don't make content for profit - I make it because I want to use it and I enjoy it.

I think this kind of creative process is a happier one, but it makes no concession for audience or popularity or profit. After all, if I am the audience of what I create then the only popularity value that matters is how popular I think it is and the profit is meaningless.

Which brings us to the other type of creative: The Profit Seeker.

We've all seen it - folks churning out garbage to make a quick buck. It happens all the time. On Hive, it's a fight we constantly see and that we (mostly ineffectively) try to keep in check with downvotes for "low quality"... but that's only one side of the Profit Seeker coin. Here, it's pretty easy for anyone who looks to spot the kinds of content that are very likely to skew rewards in your favor.

Leofinance (no shade to that community or the folks running it) is awash with it, because on HIVE a blind man could see that talking about finance is profitable. Talking about the network itself is profitable... and if you can do both? Well shit, the tokens basically mint themselves.

It's massively profitable, but sometimes I wonder if the folks who pivot their entire personality here to chase a profit margin are actually happy with what they produce. I'm sure they're happy with the result, but are they proud of the content?

Who can say. Certainly not me.

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