Involving the Players (CSC)

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Asking the DM to even attempt to handle every aspect of game world creation is similar to asking the architect of a major construction project to do the plumbing and wiring himself. Chances are he can do it sooner or later, but meanwhile, the building goes unfinished. In a like manner, the DM can take forever and try to cover every detail of his world himself, but why do it? Why not involve the players? Let them do some of the work of creating cultures, religions, and area maps for parts of the world. Great idea, but how?
Let the players come from parts of the world other than where the campaign will initially take place. If a player wants to play a seafaring barbarian, give him a coastal or island area from which his people originate. Give him a peek at what has been roughed out for that area. Encourage the player to make notes about what goes on in his comer of the world. Much of this can come from his character background. Who are his people's gods? Do they have any peculiar customs? What are the major cities? Encourage the player to draw the regional maps for his homeland. The more the player details his character's culture and homeland., the more he designs that portion of the DMs world.
In a similar manner, the players of priests and paladins can expand upon the nature of gods and religions in the DM's world. Thief characters may be both the basis for a thieves' guild and an overview of the laws of the land (particularly as they relate to larceny).
Now this doesn't mean that everything that the player says has to be law. In fact, the creative DM will take what the player gives him, and modify it ever so slightly to reflect what the DM knows to be true of his world (things the player's character wouldn't or couldn't know). Does it matter that the player knows what part of the world map looks like? Not particularly. It is his character's homeland
Listen to the players. Although much of the core design and development falls on the DM's shoulders, don't design the world without listening to the players. What do they want to do? What kind of adventures do they seek? What interests them? Design the core area and the first adventure to meet these desires. It would be folly to design a campaign around political intrigue or a grand mystery when what the players really want are monster hunts and dungeon crawls. As the players become involved in the DM's world, the DM can rely upon them for inspiration.