Creativity Comes Easy

Reading an un-excellent blog attempting to talk about how Dungeons and Dragons relates to network engineers, I found one part interesting... the rest read like the guy was trying to impress his bosses by being geeky and using phrases like "forward-thinking." Gay, as we said in High School.

"Dungeons & Dragons, if you're not familiar with it, is a game where people tell a story and when there's a moment of indecision in the game, the players roll dice to determine what happens.

As ridiculous as this may seem - and I'll admit, it's pretty darn ridiculous - the use of dice and placing artificial limitations on the characters are the way that people help to improve the story. Because it's much harder for a group of people to get together and just tell the story without some sort of limitation.

Let's try a little thought experiment.

Tell a story right now. It can be about or on anything. It doesn't have to be a good story or even a long story. You don't even have to write it down."

I had no difficulty with this. My first impulse thought was "Oh, great! I can tell any story I want, I have many, and I can create something new, too..."

"Having difficulty?

Okay. Try telling a story about a talking dog and a troll that live together in a cave.

That's a little easier, isn't it?"

My next thought was "You just made (the task) - not interesting."

"The more limitations that are given - boundaries or obstacles - the more the brain works to be creative. You look to make the most of your boundaries; you look for ways to surpass the obstacles."

I thought this was interesting, that my mind gravitated towards a lack of obstacles, not clearly defined barriers. Clearly, I am too imaginative to be an engineer - put another way, just not the right mixture of intellect and creative thinking.

This tells me... that my brain doesn't work like (most or many) people do.