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WOW - Great discussion. I just happened to stumble across this discussion and I
couldn't resist throwing my ideas into the pot.
When talking about any "community" I think it's important to remember that any
community can be defined in different ways, and that each definition is
correct. A town community could include anyone who lives or works in the town,
or it could include anyone who pays taxes, or it could include anyone who buys
from the shops, or it could include anyone who belongs to a church or school in
the town. Each of these definitions will include different groups of people.
Furthermore, if a community gets big enough, it will start subdividing into
smaller communities within the bigger community. So you might have a community
centered around the Chamber of Commerce - which does not include everyone in
the town community, but might be seen as representative of the whole community,
even if it isn't.
The LEGO community is something like that. There are lots of smaller
communities within the larger one, and some of the smaller communities think of
themselves as being the "real" LEGO community.
Jake's definition is probably as close as you can get to an all inclusive
definition, but for better understanding, some of the words should be
considered individually.
One of the key words in Jake's definition is "relationships." A relationship
could be something as simple as buying LEGO products. From LEGO Direct's point
of view, those people are important members of the community. From LUGNET's
point of view, they are not.
Another key word is "regularly." How often is that? I don't post very often,
and I've never attended Brickfest, but I consider myself a member of the
community.
Finally, the word "interacting" is important. There are a lot of passive
members of the community. People who lurk may still be devoted to the brick.
You could say that passive members may not be members of the community at all,
but I would argue that they are not ACTIVE members of the community. I have to
admit that I was a closet AFOL for many years simply because I associated LEGO
bricks with childhood and didn't know that there were other adults like me out
there. I stumbled across the adult LEGO community completely by accident
through the internet. (It would be good if the LEGO Group formally acknowledged
the adult community in some way.)
The word "community" is pretty slippery. I think the best definition of the
LEGO Community should be as inclusive as possible but should acknowledge the
concept of "degrees" of membership.
The LEGO Community includes both children and adults.
It includes people who simply play with the bricks once in a long while and
people who have devoted whole rooms in their home to LEGO play.
It also includes collectors. (There are people who never even open the box!)
It includes "purists" and it includes people who like to mix LEGO bricks with
other toys. It includes people who believe it's OK to modify the bricks and
those who don't.
The LEGO Community has its conservatives and its liberals. Some people don't
regard Technic, Bionicle, and Galidor as "real" LEGO and some people think
they're great additions.
And then there are the themes. Some of the themes seem to have bigger
followings than others (or is it simply that they have more active followers
than others?) There seem to be a lot of LTCs (LEGO Train Clubs) but I have
never seen a LEGO Castle Club or a LEGO Space Club.
I don't know if this helps or just confuses the issue more. I've discovered
it's pretty easy for me to define myself and not so easy to define the larger
group. It might actually be easier to define the LEGO culture or the LEGO
philosophy than it is to define the community.
Stephen
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