Co-creation in games and drawing!

My wife and I were sitting in a coffee shop (as we often do) when we realized that we did not bring a game to play. Usually we'll play something quick and fun like Zombie Dice or Munchkin but this time we had to get creative.

We started with traditional childhood suggestions like tic-tac-toe and hangman, but found them lacking. Then I made a suggestion, "let's co-draw something."  For the next 20 minutes we took turns adding to a little doodle. I'd add something, she'd add something. Back and forth we went. Until we came up with this little number:

While I doubt we'll be winning any awards for our work of art, we did have a heck of a lot of fun.

In fact, the exercise felt very much like role playing. In a RPG everybody comes to the table with a little something they would like to see happen. We all add to, work on, and play with each others ideas until we come up with an "original" work, that none of us could have produced on our own.

Also, just like a RPG this "game" took some trust. We had to trust that the others ideas were valid and valuable.

What really stuck out to me was the fact that co-drawing had no winner. We both benefited from the experience and while my wife cleary has a more steady hand then I, she did not walk away with more points or the title of "winner." I appreciate this type of high value, low competition environment and I wonder if it is what draws me to create stories with fellow adventurers...

Thanks for reading.