For a marketing class group assignment at university some 20 years ago, we were given a product (flea spray) and asked to design an advert for it. By the time we left the session, I had already mentally designed and completed the exercise and I told the other 3 members of the group that I would handle this assignment and they could help on some other courses we shared. We had formed this group and used it as often as possible because we could work effectively and efficiently together.
The day of the assignment presentation came and we sat through and watched as you can perhaps imagine, some very bad acting selling flea spray. Our presentation happened to be played last and it was an animated, professionally voiced commercial that with work, could have gone to TV. The lecturer loved it.
Others in the class said, it wasn't fair.
It wasn't fair because they didn't have the possibility to do the same thing as they didn't know how to animate (I used Flash), they didn't have access to the tools, they didn't know they were allowed, they didn't know this and that.
This was debated openly at the end of the class and my response was to use the words of the lecturer at the start of the course. "Use what is available to you". to which she heavily agreed (how could she not, they were her words), and dismissed the complaints of about half the class and calls to penalize us.
Benefits of skill inequality
Now, all of the skills used in the creation of the advert were learnable and actually not very difficult, the difference was that I had learned them while others had not. At the time it was an interest area of mine so it happened to be applicable to the assignment. Even though I was able to do this assignment, I was missing other skills which meant I was able to trade my abilities with other members of my group so that in other classes I had less to do.
People want equality but the inequality of skill has large benefits for a community because it means that people are able to find their own competencies and use them to create a competitive advantage, find their niche. On top of this, it allows people to socialize and organize in a fashion that a group is able to perform complex tasks without each member being a specialist in all areas. This is how a ballpoint pen is created, this is how the human race has made it to space.
If we all had the same opportunities (this includes the capabilities we are born with), our ability as a group would be severely limited and, our potential as individuals would be too as essentially all skills are ubiquitous and readily available. What this means is that without broad skill scarcity, we are much less likely to be able to bring value to the communities in which we live.
Quality vs Value
If anyone read the post by @personz last night that broaches the question of value and quality on Steem, they will quickly recognise that these are indeed two different functions and need not impact on each other. What can add value to the Steem environment may not be high quality but, high quality is not excluded from adding value either.
As I see it and mentioned in the comments is that quality is a differentiator that can be used as a competitive advantage. It doesn't mean that it necessarily adds value but, if one can find a value adding niche and then use competency to differentiate oneself from the crowd, it creates barriers to entry. Not everyone is able to write a quality post just like not everyone is able to run a sub-10 second 100 metre or, solve complex mathematical equations. Even though all people can improve in these areas massively if they so choose.
The niche
I mention niche because essentially this is an ecosystem that allows for a very wide and diverse range of techniques to incorporate and use as survival mechanisms. Just like animals that develop their approach to being successful in their environments, I think that humans can do much the same. I do believe that it is a better quality of life when we work out what we are good at and then work hard to being better at it so as to find our place. This crosses into passion and purpose territory also but, that can be for another day.
Finding what we are good at has value both to us as individuals and likely, to the communities in which we operate. If we are able to create something that is needed or valued by the community, we are not only able to do something we are suited for, we are able to live while doing it. Not all actions conclude with the same result or the same return however.
For me personally on Steem, if I had taken a different approach and tried to offer something I am not suited for, I am unlikely to have been able to have the success that I have had. Yes, it has taken a lot of work but it is in an area that most people are unwilling to invest themselves into because of the time it takes, many don't have the language skills or interest and, most are unable to keep the pace. Due to my skills, personality and experience, I am tailored to do what I am doing better than many others are which means, there are natural barriers to entry to do the same.
This is a competitive advantage but, I hope it is also in an area that is able to bring real value to the ecosystem because, that is a factor that I consider very important. For this community to really work in the long-term, there has to be inputs of value to reach output of value. Quality doesn't come into factor here unless one chooses to play in the quality arena.
Why quality matters to me
For me, I see this environment like a very large game of life and we are all competing for scarce resources, whether it be Steem or the attention of the audience. We also have the ability to increase our own possibility to distribute to others who are playing the game. This is o different to anything in the real world whether it is for a career opportunity or the affection of a loving partner. Relationships matter.
Just like in all of my real-world relationships, quality matters and I consider what I am able to offer and what I am taking from the relationship itself. I am the kind of person who doesn't ever want to be a burden on others so I try my best to add value in, rather than only take value out. This I think is a way to strengthen the community rather than continually weaken it.
As a result, I am also going to support those I think are adding value rather than extracting more than they add. This is hard to calculate because it is much more complex than Steem in and out but, there are other indicators like engagement or, the effects they have on others in the community and the subsequent behaviors.
Building skills of value
I see this place as having the potential to be an environment where we can all dabble in many areas and test and play to find areas of interest and, develop our skills along the way. Rather than being forced into soulless work for a paycheck, we can discover our true talents. Perhaps in time, this means that as a collective, the problems we can solve together are of much greater importance to the community than what the governments and corporations decide we should spend our tie on.
However, doing what you enjoy doesn't mean there is equality of return on what you do because no matter how good you are at it, the value is derived from the value it brings to the community. There aren't likely to be many millionaire marble players in the world, no matter how talented an individual may be.
Also, the easier something is to do, the more people are able to do it and if it is in a field that is highly rewarded and easy, the competition is going to be very high. When it comes to gamer streams, there is only a small percentage who are able to be highly rewarded because there are many, many streamers and, there is only so many consumers willing to reward it. The high earners attract an increasing amount of competition but, at a slower rate than attention or Steem Power.
Playing the long game
As said, this is a a system filled with game theory and the way one chooses to play is not only going to influence individual experience but also the collective direction over time. Like @personz doubling-down on quality, others are producing all kinds of new apps and interfaces that will bring in a massive diversity of users (hopefully). Anyone can post on Instagram and hope for traction, much fewer are willing to put effort into writing on Medium for the same result.
What this means though is that on each of the platforms there is going to be varying degrees of competition and, depending on the approach, varying degrees of attention paid. With Steem that means the Steem that backs the users. People have always complained about the over-weighting SP on crypto/Steem genres but, this is where the interest lays of many of the largest Steem users. As distribution slowly shifts though, this will disperse as well as when the Steem and crypto fields mature, interest will shift too.
This means users who come in and attempt to earn in the low barrier areas are unlikely to earn much unless they are able to compete at the very highest levels with those who are already established. Most meme creators aren't going to do well here unless they have Steem already backing them as the space is filled with memes already. But unless one really, really loves memes, why would one be creating in that area because it is not bringing personal value or is it likely to bring financial value, especially in the long-term. Perhaps, it is just easy.
The easy game is rarely so
Playing the easy game rarely is easy in the long-term experience because it rarely builds the foundation of skill necessary to compete and add value over a long period of time and, it is rarely going to build the depth of relationship required for lifelong connection.
When people say relationships should be easy, they are sorely mistaken because essentially for a relationship to go the distance it requires the work to consistently offer the best to the other person and this is the same for a community. For a strong community to not only be established but to flourish and become stable, it requires members to continually improve and consider whether what they do actually brings value in or, are they only doing it t take value out.
The game is a balancing act between today and tomorrow and is filled with complexities and a continually evolving platform with a continually evolving population. In my opinion, if people take the time to understand themselves and their skills, there is space for them here if they are willing to create it. We aren't all going to get the same results nor are we going to have the same ideas or be incentivized by the same possibilities. But, we all have a set of resources at our disposal, all have the potential to grow and expand our range and, all have the chance to improve the way we do things.
The variation in resources might not be fair, the potential to use what we have as well as we can is equal for all.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
Well, that was long.