Chapter 09. Initiation

Although we perceive it as a subset of Ritual, Initiation is a Conversational Capital engine with a power all its own. Important passages in life are often marked by initiation of one kind or another. Significantly, these initiation rituals always involve some discomfort, if not outright pain.

It may sound odd in a book about experience design and marketing to talk about pain and discomfort. After all, most producers and marketers in a consumer society would tell you that their only goal is to please. Consumption is supposed to provide us a way out of discomfort. It’s supposed to be about pleasure.

Yet salient experiences, the cornerstone of Conversational Capital, would not be interesting without a minimal amount of unpleasantness ...

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