How to Get More People Into Our Hobby: Look to Behavior Theory

In my field of academia, we rely a lot on a wide variety of behavior theories in both the construction and examination of programs and studies meant to help people (and communities) change their health for the better.** When we want to get people to quit smoking, use condoms, utilize syringe exchange programs, or change cycles of violence, many times we structure interventions around specific models of how we think human behavior works. These theories and models are all different, and approach behavior change dynamics from an array of viewpoints. Common to many of these theories are several pieces: 

• What are some barriers to changing a behavior? What are some benefits?
• How much control do we have over the behavior? What is our intent?
• What are some internalized and social norms surrounding the behavior?

Looking at these questions, and drawing on my academic background, I've formulated a model that we can go to in order to figure out ways to get more people into our hobby. We could also use a similar theory to help players and GMs with negative tendencies (i.e. trying to control players, severe railroading issues, sexism/racism at the table) change their behaviors as well, though I'll leave that for another time. 

Theory of Nerd Engagement (TNG)

My proposed model for the engagement of New Nerds draws on a few of the heavyweights in the real of behavior theory, namely the Theory of Planned Behavior and Reasoned Action, and the Health Belief Model. I won't go into detail on those two, but below I'll walk you through my thought process for the TNG. 

1. Any person who we want to engage with our hobby will ultimately be informed by their personal history with other nerd-ish hobbies, their own personality traits, and their socio-demographic characteristics. 
2. Those background characteristics may influence a few things: their Cues to Action, their Social Norms, and their Barriers and Benefits.
1. Cues to Action represent the various forces urging them to take part in our hobby. This could be a friend, family member, some YouTube videos, blogs, Reddit, etc.
2. Social Norms represent the broader views of society towards tabletop gaming and other nerd-ish things in general, as well as the person's internalized norms.
3. Barriers and Benefits represent those things that a person might feel would prevent them from engaging with the hobby. Barriers might include things like the potential for sexism and racism, or lack of access to supplies or a group. Benefits could include feelings of belonging, fun, and escapism. 
3. Cues to Action and Social Norms may influence a person's Social Motivation for engaging with the hobby. Here, I termed social motivation to mean a motivation (or lack thereof) that is derived from external forces. 
4. Barriers and Benefits may influence a person's Perceived Control, or how much power they feel they might have over whether or not to take part. 
5. Finally, the combined forces of Social Motivation and Perceived Control might directly affect a newcomer's Willingness to Engage. 

Due to the structure of my proposed framework, there are now a few clear ways that we, as a community and individuals can engage new people.

What We Can Do

Obviously the next step is to formulate "interventions" in order to draw in new people and keep them engaged. Below I'll provide some general thoughts, many of which are already being done by prominent members of the community:

• Address potential barriers
• Provide free or more affordable gaming materials across a wider array of platforms to reach people with low access.
• Weed out players and DMs who foster bigoted attitudes which will keep people away or force newcomers out. 
• Following the point above, broaden our range of cues to action at cons, across the web, or find ways to increase visibility in more mainstream ways. 
• The above may influence broader norms about tabletop roleplaying, and shift attitudes away from the negative. 

What else do you think we can do that would address various points within the framework?

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**NOTE: I'm not a behavioral psychologist and am most probably not employing these theories in this specific context in the way they were meant to be applied.