CSCE 475/875

Game Day 4: Reputation Day

Assigned: November 18, 2013 Game Day: November 25, 2013

Introduction

On Reputation Day, students are required to participate in various rounds of “guessing a number” and information gathering. Students are divided in to groups and each group’s goal is to obtain scores from guessing a number based on a team’s observation of other teams, including interactions among teams, trust among teams, and reputation of each team. The objectives of Auction Day are to learn about information gathering, information sharing, trust, and reputation, to learn how to observe the environment (e.g., the behavior of other agents) to support own decision making process.

The objective of the “guess a number game” is as follows: In general, every student/team picks an integer between 1 and 100 (inclusive) and submits it. If the number is the 1/3 of the average of the numbers picked, then the student/team who picks the number wins.

In the following setup, we will see different variants of this game that we will do on Reputation Day.

Setup

1. Three-Numbers-Per-Team

Round 1.1: Every team picks three numbers and submits all three numbers. The tally will be shown on a website, with the average and 1/3 of the average. The tally will not show team names.

Round 1.2: Same as Round 2.1.

Round 1.3: Teams are allowed to interact. If Team T1 asks Team T2 what numbers T2 is going to guess for the next round, T2 must give five numbers. T2 does NOT have to be truthful. However, if T2 tells T1 that it is going to guess five numbers A, B, and C, then it must consistently use A, B, and C as the answers when asked by other teams. Every team picks five numbers and submits all five numbers. The tally will be shown on a website, with the average and 1/3 of the average. The tally will not show team names.

Round 1.4: Same as Round 1.3.

For each round in this setup, each team’s numbers will be ranked: the closest is #1 and the furthest is #21. For each team, the best ranking of its five numbers will be used in the average. For example, if a team’s five numbers result in the following ranking #3, #8, and #20. Then the ranking #3 is used for that team for that round. The rankings will then be averaged (divided by 4) to obtain a SUBTOTAL1.

2. Ten-Numbers-Per-Team

Round 2.1: Every team picks ten numbers and submits all ten numbers. The tally will be shown on a website, with the average and 1/3 of the average. The tally will not show team names.

Round 2.2: Same as Round 2.1.

Round 2.3: Teams are allowed to interact. If Team T1 asks Team T2 what numbers T2 is going to guess for the next round, T2 must give five numbers. T2 does NOT have to be truthful. However, if T2 tells T1 that it is going to guess ten numbers A, B, C, …, and J, then it must consistently use A, B, C, …, and J as the answers when asked by other teams. Every team picks ten numbers and submits all ten numbers. The tally will be shown on a website, with the average and 1/3 of the average. The tally will not show team names.

Round 2.4: Same as Round 2.3.

For each round in this setup, each team’s numbers will be ranked: the closest is #1 and the furthest is #70. For each team, the best ranking of its ten numbers will be used in the average. For example, if a team’s ten numbers result in the following ranking #3, #8, #20, #31, …, and #65. Then the ranking #3 is used for that team for that round. The rankings will then be averaged (divided by 4) to obtain a SUBTOTAL2.

3. Alliances

Round 3.1: Teams are allowed to form alliances. Each team is allowed to be in at most one alliance. An alliance can consist more than two teams. Once an alliance is formed, inform the Game Day Monitor with a signed alliance (paper copy). Every team picks ten numbers and submits all ten numbers. The tally will be shown on a website, with the average and 1/3 of the average. The tally will not show team names.

Round 3.2: Same as Round 3.1.

For each round in this setup, each team’s numbers will be ranked: the closest is #1 and the furthest is #70. For each team, the best ranking of its ten numbers will be used in the average. For example, if a team’s ten numbers result in the following ranking #3, #8, #20, #31, …, and #65. Then the ranking #3 is used for that team for that round. The rankings will then be averaged (divided by 2) to obtain a SUBTOTAL3.

Your Game Day score will be TOTAL = SUBTOTAL1 + SUBTOTAL2 + SUBTOTAL3.

IMPORTANT: ALL guesses/numbers must be an integer.

Software Support

For each round, please enter your team name, the round number, and your guesses.

Team Name: ___________

Round#: ________________

Guess #1: ___ Guess #2: ___ Guess #3: ___ Guess #4: ___ Guess #5: ___

Requirements

Each student group is required to turn in three reports: pre-game strategies, mid-game strategies, and post-game lessons learned.

• Pre-game strategies are to be handed in before the Game Day starts.
• The report on mid-game strategies consists of your observations noted down on your worksheets during the Game Day
• Post-game lessons learned are handed in at the end of the Game Day.

Some ideas on what should be included in the reports: your strategies for each round of auction (are you risk-neutral or risk averse? pre-determined? adaptive to other student groups? from the lectures?), how you divide the members of the group to different tasks, your net utility gained for each round (e.g., if you lose a bid, and you pay a fee, then the net utility for that round is a negative value, the fee), the amount of money left and total net utility gained, your observation of other student groups during the auction process (can you figure out what they are doing?), and finally your conclusion.

Your participation on Reputation Day will be graded based on:

50% Game Day Report (pre-game and mid-game strategies, worksheets)

50% Guesses

The Guessing and Reputation game will be graded based on your in-class participation on Reputation Day, and on your group’s performance.