Seminar by Gorm Gruner Jensen

The Expertgame 2.0

Gorm Gruner Jensen (Complex systems, ITP, University of Bremen)

Abstract: There is a great interest in studying the dynamics of the formation of social networks. A great number of dynamics have been proposed which lead to networks reproducing observed statistics, such as power law distributions of connectivities or clustering.
Here we flip the table and propose an experimental setup, the so called Expert Game, which allow us to directly observe the formation of a self-organized communication network between the participants in the lab.
The game consist of a sequence of rounds. At the beginning of each round each player is assigned a question and an expertise. The objective is to find out which players has the expertise matching your question. When a players achieve find their expert they are rewarded with monetary prize. Information is passed between players by sending messages, which are costly to the sender, but free to receive.
We find a very high correlation between how many messages a player send, and how many that same player receive. This indicate a reciprocal type of behavior, which effectively punishes the inactive players for not investing in the common good, and helps protecting the active players against exploitation.