>>> [!note] Migrated issue <!-- Drupal.org comment --> <!-- Migrated from issue #2207789. --> Reported by: [mgifford](https://www.drupal.org/user/27930) >>> <p>I've been thinking a lot about how to change some disturbing trends in the Drupal community and find ways to ensure that Core &amp; Contrib in particular are better supported by the community. I've been exploring reward systems, gamification and other tools to try to change community participation. @Tim.Plunkett essentially introduced me to the thoughts of @seriouspony and it's got me thinking even deeper about how to help shape the community. </p> <p>I don't think there are any silver bullets in approaches. I do believe that we're going to need to experiment to find out what works for this community over the long haul. </p> <p>In <a href="https://soundcloud.com/seriouspony">@seriouspony's first hour long podcast</a> she talks about the dangers of giving rewards for things that have intrinsic motivations. </p> <p>The danger of focusing on extrinsic motivation is that of getting users addicted and you have a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning_chamber">Skinner box</a>. This isn't healthy for the individuals or the community. </p> <h3>Where There is Intrinsic Motivation</h3> <p><strong>Intrinsic motivation</strong> is when you&rsquo;re driven to do an action because the action itself provides pleasure. </p> <p>There are fortunately lots of reasons why people participate in Drupal for intrinsic reasons. I think the intrinsic ones can fall nicely into <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html">Dan Pink's ideas around motivation</a>.</p> <h4>Mastery</h4> <ul> <li>Becoming a better coder</li> <li>Learning new skills</li> </ul> <h4>Autonomy</h4> <ul> <li>Being in control of a project</li> <li>Ability to follow an interest of one's choice</li> </ul> <h4>Purpose</h4> <ul> <li>Contributing back </li> <li>Contributing to a collaborative community</li> <li> </ul> <p>All efforts should be made not to add Extrinsic motivators to things where there is already a solid Intrinsic motivator that is presently driving community contributions.</p> <h3>Places Where we often don't see Opportunities for Intrinsic Motivation</h3> <ul> <li>Writing documentation</li> <li>Writing SimpleTests/unit tests</li> <li>Answering support questions</li> </ul> <h3>Where Extrinsic Motivation Might be Needed</h3> <p>Anything that is a routine task where there is no real creativity or where no intrinsic motivations are available. </p> <ul> <li>Cleaning up the issue queue</li> </ul> > Related issue: [Issue #2193871](https://www.drupal.org/node/2193871) > Related issue: [Issue #2871769](https://www.drupal.org/node/2871769)