Community Wealth Activation GO!
You don’t have to be a social media maven to be aware of Pokemon GO, the enhanced reality single-player game from Niantic Labs that debuted on July 6th and has captured the imagination (and pocketbook) of the American public. The game brings forward feelings of nostalgia, inclusion and connection to a bigger story, and, no matter what interest sector draws you, Pokemon Go is there to greet you:
Inclusion: Pokemon Go Mum Thanks Nintendo for Getting Autistic Son Outside
Workplace: What Pokemon Go Teaches Us About Winning in the Workplace
Education: Educators See Gold in Pokemon Go
Lifestyle: Man Quits Job to Become Full-Time Pokemon Hunter
Service: Animal Shelter Enlists Help of Pokemon GO Players to Walk Dogs
Art: Pokemon Go is a Massive Art Happening and You’re All Invited
Future: Why Pokemon Go’s Technology is No Fad
Ultimately, the real power driving this game platform is its ability to build community engagement, activating the dormant imaginal cells that hold the key to transformation.
In the span of less than 2 weeks, it appears that the American gaming world has provided the platform within which the key elements of community are identified and activated. Or has it taken a bit longer? A clue from a Reddit post “So this was the April Fools video Google posted 2 years ago…” which leads to a 2014 youtube video in which Google announces job openings for Pokemon Masters to help develop Google Maps. So, it seems that the seeds for this culture-altering phenomenon were planted quite some time ago and quietly tended to by master gardeners, much as the invisible leaders do in thriving communities.
Who are the Community Master Gardeners? They are the Community Weavers who actively create the safety net needed to engage, support and sustain community, identifiable by their actions:
Wisdom to know a commitment to shared wellbeing is the core of community
Empathize with the struggles of others
Accept the responsibility for enacting change
Value the unique elements that make the community home
Engage with community
Respond to opportunities
Share solutions – https://resilience-exchange.sphaera.world/account/solutions
These community weavers take responsibility for the truth that community thriving must be produced primarily through the stakeholders’ local coordination of their personal actions for effectively living life through a local network of commerce, thereby enabling the community to proactively provision itself with the primary factors of living such as water, food, shelter, power, communications, education, and health. These are the stakeholders—visible and invisible—who are committed to tending the roots, feeding the soul and sharing the fruits of the community garden, making & keeping it ready for generations to follow. This all takes place on the transparent transaction platform in which wisdom, empathy and community are the ‘coin’ in trade.
Although it was likely not the intent, the Pokemon Go global platform is a great way to educate everyone about the value and purpose of community, which is to coordinate action around a shared mission to produce the individual and mutual wellbeing of all the participants, in an ongoing way. It’s time to get in the game. #CommunityWealthGO