Chapters * Title * Contents * Introduction * Place * System * Design * Using * Future * Bibliography
Sections
* Using * Composite_Story * Behavior * Supply_and_Demand * Trade * Central * Externalities * Chicken * Monopolies * Geography * Money
Learning from Using MarketPlace
"It is hard to imagine that a chemist can put herself in the place of a hydrogen molecule. A biologist who studies
animal behavior is not likely to know what it feels like to be a duck. You are more fortunate. You are studying the behavior
and interactions of people in economically interesting situations. And as one of these interacting economic agents, you will be
able to experience the problems faced by such an agent first hand. We suspect that you will learn nearly as much about economic
principles from your experience as a participant as you will from your analysis as an observer." (Bergstrom and Miller,
1995)
What can be learned by playing with and talking about MarketPlace? This section attempts an answer to this question in
two ways. Firstly it asks "What sort of economic behaviors could possibly be observed in the game?" Secondly, it recounts
anecdotal evidence of economic behaviors being reflected upon in an initial pilot study. Additionally, it mentions some of the
interesting meta-issues concerning simulations in general that the game can be used to illustrate.
The initial pilot study was conducted with two groups. One consisted of high school students who were at MIT for summer
school--this group played in two three-hour sessions. The second consisted of high school students from Dorchester, an
inner-city district of Boston--this group played in three three-hour sessions. Each group was composed of seven or so people.
Attendance at the sessions fluctuated between three and seven people. Sessions lasted three hours. Sessions began with a short
(ten-minute) introduction to the system, after which players jumped into one or more practice games to get a feel for the
dynamics of the model. These games were followed by a discussion of what had transposed during the game.
Greg Kimberly/gregkimb@gak.com