Stewart Butterworth, who accidentally helped invent Flickr in 2003 when his company's socially interactive online pursuit Game Neverending didn't work out, started his career in computing like many a lad, according to this Globe and Mail piece:
At the University of Victoria, where he did his undergrad in philosophy with a focus on neuropsychology, cognitive science and linguistics – the workings of the mind – he got an account on the school's Unix server, basically geek heaven. He was also a big Phish fan and connected with other lovers of the jam band to trade tapes. “That seemed to be the principal application” of the Web, Mr. Butterfield joked.
Butterworth went on to sell Flickr to Yahoo for $30 million, and worked there for a few years until entrepreneurialism called him back.
His well-funded Canadian company, Tiny Speck, is cooking up something that sounds even cooler: a massive, multiplayer, socially interactive online game they hope will appeal to everyone from kids to grandparents. Yeah, I know. But it's hard not to get excited about something described like this:
Inspired in part by the artistry and sensibilities of writers Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and Jorge Luis Borges, Mr. Butterfield says Tiny Speck's goal is to create a “fun and really interesting world with its own rules, absurdist and strange but fully realized, if imaginary.”
Sounds a bit Gamehenge-y to me.