Date: 06/07/05 (Algorithms)    Keywords: java, web

Dear Group Member,


The Percepts and Concepts Laboratory at Indiana University would like to to invite you to participate in our interactive, on-line group experiments. The games are entertaining and should be intriguing to those interested in the sciences, gaming etc. Some of the games that we are currently working on include:

Forager: In this experiment, we are interested in how groups of people allocate themselves to resources. Your goal in a four-minute experiment is to pick up as many resources as you can by moving your icon with the arrow keys.

Spread of Innovations: This experiment explores how innovative ideas spread in a group. As you try to solve a puzzle, you see the solutions proposed by your neighbors, and they see your solutions.

Opinion Sharing: You rate things (e.g. faces, music, or paintings) and can see the ratings given by others. Over several rounds of ratings, does your group converge in its opinion or not?

In all of these experiment, you play with other humans when they are available or with artificial intelligence bots when no other humans are currently on-line. By playing our games, our GEE group benefits because we collect data on how collective behavior in human groups emerges, and you benefit by 1) learning about current research questions and methods in the social sciences, 2) sharing an engrossing, communal experience with others people (or bots!), 3) playing games that have deeper significance and more interesting dynamics than solitaire, tetris, or the typical fodder of on-line games. The experiments will run on any computer that has Java 1.4 or later, and can be found at:

http://groups.psych.indiana.edu/

If you like the experiments, please tell your friends or favorite news group, blog, or forum. The more people who are in our virtual world at any time, the more fun it is (and the more data we collect). Also, please reply to this email is you would like to be placed on our mailing list, or if you're willing to place a link to our site on your web page. If you find any bugs or have suggestions for improvements, please email Andy Jones or Allen Lee , and CC Rob Goldstone (rgoldsto@indiana.edu).



Thank you for being part of the global brain,

The Group Experiment Environments (GEE) team

Robert Goldstone - Director

Rowan Johnston - PR/Marketing/Research

Andy Jones - Programmer/Researcher

Allen Lee - Programmer/Researcher

Zoran Rilak - Programmer/Researcher

Michael Roberts - Artificial Inteligence and Computational Modeler

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/algorithms/55983.html