May I...

[firemeboy]

As many of you know, I teach a class at a university in Utah. Last semester I held a little experiment online and had my students post here. I think it's a good exposure for people, some of whom have never really had an 'online experience' before.

I guess what I'm asking is that would it be too much of a bother for the users of this forum if I have a few topics here on the GL for my students. They would be open to the public, and your thoughts and comments would be welcome, but you won't get any credit as my students will.

I will limit the topics to this forum since the purpose of this place seems to be geared more toward education.

We will be discussing topics relating to IT, technology, and many others. We will also be running the 4th 'Human Nature Experiment'.

If anybody has any concerns, please let me know.

I debated where to put this. It probably would have been seen more in Off Topic and probably fits in feature requests, but I thought I would post it here since this is the forum we will be using.

[Elayne]

Well *I* can't see any problem with it and it's my forums so

Seriously though, this is a open board. The threads you start can't have any less value then some of the others we have seen in the past. Besides it might be educational for us GLers to study your student's behavior

[HyToFry]

What the sappy one said. Just let us know if we have to bite our tongues.

[jesternl]

Just as long as you warn your students that some people here can seem a bit gruff..
Thinking IS and some others here could scare them ...

[VinnyQ]

yeah, you should reconsider allowing GLers to post to these threads ... before you know it they'll be "bah"ing and snoggin and dragging people into closets in the meat world.

[Samadhi]

As long as no one asks me to adjust my "language" level, np.

[CrystyB]

(i don't remember any objection for the preceding experiment... Or was it not yours?)

Anyway, in order to avoid future silly mistakes, like mine back then, could you please state for them, in the top of the first post, the SCOPE of the topic?

[This message has been edited by CrystyB (edited 01-07-2003 10:38 PM).]

[Chuck]

One thing I didn't like about the human behavior experiments was that players were competing against each other. Experiments of this type seem more interesting when players are trying to maximize their own scores even if it means others get more. For example, in a game I wouldn't usually accept $500 if it meant a competitor would get $1000 because I'd fall behind in the scoring. In real life, I might try to get the other player to give me some of his $1000 in return for accepting the deal, but I'd take the $500 alone if I couldn't bluff him out of anything.

Maybe an experiment could be set up in which players are not interacting with the players their competing against. Say, each player would compete with three other players for high score but would interact with three different players whose scores don't affect him at all.

In this example, I would be competing with Beartalon, Mathgrant, and The Critic for high score in our game. I would be interacting in the various challenges with CrystyB, BraveHat, and Courk but their scores would not affect my chances of winning my game. Since I can't affect the score of the other players in my game all I can really do is try to maximize my own, even if it means others in my group get more than I do. If course, it might be necessary for me to occasionally accept fewer points in a challenge in order to punish BraveHat for uncooperative behavior.

There would be four winners and all wins would be of equal value regardless of actual final scores. Ideally, the games should be played in private threads so players wouldn't know how many points they needed near the end of the game, but that would be boring to watch.

[firemeboy]

I'd really like to revamp the whole challenge. There have been some good feedback but I haven't had the time to change things. Thought I did change the object (I left out the part about the player with the most points wins. I left it open as far as how a person wins).

However each challenge shows a different aspect of human nature. In some challenges working together helps everybody. Other challenges do not necesarily reflect that at all.

But if anybody would be interested in refining the rules I would be very interested in that. I certainly am not vain enough to think that what I've got is the best challenges.

Let me know and I will try and dig up the rules and post each challenge. Then we can argue semantics...

As far as trying to restrict language or people, I certainly won't do that. This is a public forum and I have often argued about keeping thing more open than closed. I would be a hypocrit of the worst kind if I attempted to restrict how people act.

[firemeboy]

Here are the updated rules.

Rules:

Rule 1- Everybody starts out with 1000 points.

Rule 2 – Sometimes you will know how many points you have, sometimes you will not. Sometimes you will think you know that you have at least X amount of points, but you will not know the exact number. This will vary based on the game.

Rule 3 – Always e-mail me your answers, unless I tell you that you can post.

Rule 4 – Feel free to discuss anything in this game unless I specifically state otherwise.

Rule 5 – Many times, cooperation will be greatly rewarded in this game. If you cooperate, the group will get more points than if you had not cooperated.

Rule 6 – Many times, lying, cheating, sneaking behind the back will be rewarded as well.

Rule 7 - There is no rule seven

Rule 8 – If you do not respond to a challenge or ‘game’, then you will lose points. If you miss two in a row, you will be out of the game (though if you let me know in advance, we may work things out…)

Rule 9 – Have fun. Remember, discussion is key so get to know one another… You need to decide who you can trust...

Rule 10 - The person with the most points at the end of the game has the most points at the end of the game. It will be up to each of you to decide who has won or lost.

[firemeboy]

And here are the challenges.

Challenge #1.
As stated above, you each have 1000 points. In this challenge, I am selling 250 points to the highest bidder. You can buy these 'extra' points, with the points you already have. If you bid 100 points, and you are the highest bidder, then you lose those 100 points, but gain 250, for a net gain of 150 points.
The catch is that if you are not the high bidder, you lose half of the points that you bid. If you bid 100 points, and you are not the high bidder, then you lose 50 points. Whoever wins the bid will be in the first place. Whoever has the second highest bid, will be in last place.
If you choose not to bid, you will lose 250 points.
Questions?
e-mail me your bids. The bids cannot be done in public. If you want to raise your bid before the deadline, you are free to do so.

Challenge # 2: Takers Keepers…
Deadline – Must have decision to me by Monday, March 5th, at 12:00 (Noon) GL time.
Again, you can change your vote up to that point. Depending on how the discussion goes, you may want to.
Ok, this is a simple game. Once again you get the ability to remain anonymous (enjoy it while it lasts). There is a lot at stake on this game. You have the ability to win quite a bit. Here are the rules.
Since I am such a nice guy, I am going to give everybody 500 points. Free and clear. You don’t have to do anything.
Well, except for one small thing…
You have to decide if you want to keep what you have. Or take what other people have…You will do this by sending me an anonymous note that says one of two words.
Take other’s.
Keep own.
If everybody keeps what they have, then everybody gets 500 points. All is clear and singing and dancing will fill the streets.
However, if somebody decides to take, well… that is when things get tricky. Here is the run down for the chart below. The first two columns are the numbers of takers and keepers. The next two columns are what the takers and keepers would receive. So for example, if one person ‘took’, and everybody else ‘kept’, then the people who kept would still receive part of the 500, but the taker would receive much more.
Of course everybody would take then, right? Well, if you do then the group will lose out as a whole. If we have a lot of takers, then nobody wins, as is evident the further down the chart you look. It may be that people move into the negative.

code:

---

Take       Keep         Takers get      Keepers get


0             10             0                500


1              9              2500            400


2              8              1000            300 


3              7              500             200


4              6              0               100


5              5             -100              0


6              4             -200             -200 


7              3             -300             -400   


8              2             -500             -600 


9              1             -700             -800


10            0              -900             -1000


 

---

Whether or not you take or keep will be forever kept a secret (at least until the game is over), but you do get to have a discussion period. Remember, only by cooperating can you come out ahead, so you must work together, and vote together. By sticking together, you can all come out ahead.
So, enough from me. I will give you until Monday at 6:00 (GL time) to discuss. Then I want you to send in your votes.
Discuss what you want to do!

Challenge #3
Prisoner’s Dilemma
What would a human nature test be without a prisoner’s dilemma test? Here are the rules.
I have paired you up with another team member. You do not know which one. You need to send me an e-mail that says either:
Talk
Remain Silent
If your partner and you both remain silent, you both get 200 points.
If your partner and you both talk, you both get 100 points.
If one partner talks, and the other remains silent, then the person who talked gets 300 points, and the one that remained silent gets nothing.
There will be no discussion on this challenge.

Challenge 4
Dividing the wages.
Ok, this challenge is pretty simple. You are again divided into two groups. One person in each pair will be given 500 points. They can then choose how to divide up their points with the other person. If both parties agree to the split, then they get the points as proposed. If both parties do not agree, then neither party gets anything.
Here are the groups.

Groups

The first person in each group gets to divide up the points. Go ahead and make your proposals here in this thread. You can also accept or reject it here. No need to e-mail your partner, or me.
Have fun.


Challenge 5
Challenge #3 The Stock Market
In this game you have to predict how brave your fellow players are. You each hold one share of Weber State Stock. It rises and falls with the best of them. You were actually given this stock by your dear sweet grandma who purchased it for $1. This stock has just started to rise, but will invariably fall. The trick is that you are going on vacation and won’t be able to track the stock to know when to sell. You have to give your stock broker a number at which you want to sell it at.
When you 'sell' your stock, if the stock is rising then you get full price for whatever price you sell at. If the stock is going down, however, then you get much less. The stock rises when a majority of people are still holding their stock. As soon as more than 50% of the people have sold, the stock loses value very quickly and your stock broker will try and get whatever price he/she can.
For example, lets say the bidding goes like this:
Different people tell their stock brokers to sell at the following amounts:
Player 1 - 50
Player 2 - 70
Player 3 - 90
Player 4 - 150
Player 5 - 300
Player 6 - 500
Player 7 - 550
Player 8 - 580
Player 9 - 700
Player 10 - 800
The first five people would get what exactly they ask for. The next five would get less. The sixth person would get 50 percent of what the 5th person bid, the seventh person would get 25 percent of what the 4th bid, the eighth person would get 12 percent of what the 3rd person big, etc. 6 percent and 3 percent for the 9th and 10th.
Questions? Let me know if you have any.
Ties will be determined by a flip of a coin so avoid them by bidding in odd numbers. 204 for example, not 200.