Building A Platform That Maximizes Freedom

Motivation, self-determination, and how they relate to a changing open source landscape

The relationship between external rewards, internal motivation, and work is a muddled topic. People spend hours beating video games, yet would probably play less if it’s mandated by a parent. Sometimes, people would rather pay-to-play than do something for free. When designing platforms, creators must make space to evaluate this complexity.

At Gitcoin, we’re building a platform which introduces payments for work in open source software. Traditionally, open source has been an intrinsically motivated space. It has also been— to put it lightly — an undermonetized space.

This macro trend is changing. Led by value-accruing open protocols, money is making it’s way into open source. We see this trend as undeniably net positive.

Even still, we must be thoughtful about the introduction of extrinsic motivation where intrinsic motivation traditionally dominates. The two don’t always play well together. Platforms generally must toe the line with motivation when creating meaningful spaces for creators to spend time.

Work, Freedom, And Play

Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. — Mark Twain; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The basic framework for motivation is as follows:

Intrinsic motivation is doing something “for its own sake.” The behavior itself (exercising, writing, reading, eating, coding) is the reward.

doing something “for its own sake.” The behavior itself (exercising, writing, reading, eating, coding) the reward. Extrinsic motivation is when an external incentive (getting paid, receiving awards) creates a positive feedback loop which encourages an actor to take a certain course.

It is trivially easy to sabotage intrinsic motivation by introducing extrinsic motivation. It’s complex, but possible to retain both.

The combination of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation is where sustainable reality lies. However, there are many pitfalls to avoid. A few examples are shown below.

The ‘Overjustification Effect’

Intrinsic motivation can be stifled if extrinsic motivation is too strong. This is called the ‘overjustification effect’. If something which, first, was simply something done for fun, now comes with a huge reward, there’s a tendency to de-value this task when the rewards go away.

An anecdote shows how this may happen.

An old man is tired of kids playing outside of his home, breaking windows and causing ruckus along the way. He devises a plan to put an end to their play. One day, he goes to the children and offers $5 to each of them if they promise to come out and play everyday. They happily agree. A week later, he comes back and offers $1, stating the original amount was too high. The kids grumble, but accept his terms nonetheless. Finally, he comes back a week later and states he’ll no longer be paying the kids. Angry and disappointed, the children refuse to play for free. They decide not to come back. The old man enjoys his peace. 😇

Forbidden fruits

The forbidden fruit bias is when one wants what they are not offered. In some cases, optimal bonus could well be zero, perhaps even negative.

More from our friend, Tom Sawyer, who ended up making lots of money “allowing” his friends to paint his fence, originally a chore.

There was no lack of material; boys happened along every little while; they came to jeer, but remained to whitewash . . . . And when the middle of the afternoon came, from being a poor poverty-stricken boy in the morning, Tom was literally rolling in wealth. He had a nice, good, idle time all the while — plenty of company — and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it! If he hadn’t run out of whitewash he would have bankrupted every boy in the village.

Amusing anecdotes aside, real world examples are found every day in open source. Developers contribute to projects without expectation of return, other than learning and growing with the community.