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name

• name A field that can take arbitrary labeling text (commas may confuse reading of the CSV file, avoid their use)
• This field is for the arbitrary labeling of recorded experimental data - the 'name' chosen for each period is simply carried through to the final experimental output file, and does not affect the experiment otherwise. In the output file produced by your experiment, this name will appear by that period's data. During one's data analysis this field may be helpful in differentiating various treatments.
• The name field defaults to the empty string (nothing) and may be left out of the config file without issue.

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percentChangePerSecond == [NaN] or [0,Inf]. A field set to Not-a-Number or a real number bettween zero and infinity, inclusive.

• When the period is in discrete time the percentChangePerSecond field is not applicable, set this field to NaN.
• When the period is in continuous time this determines the rate at which players can change their strategy. For example, when this field is set to percentChangePerSecond =".1" the players can change their strategy via the selector by a maximum of 10% per second, implying it takes ten seconds to reach the user's selected target strategy.
• When percentChangePerSecond="NaN" changes in strategy are reflected instantaneously on screen and with other players.

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Discrete Time Settings

subperiods

• In the config file which defines a game, experimentalists first choose the period length; the number of seconds the period lasts. (Here is an example of a sixty second game).
• In a Discrete Time Period - Subjects are free to change their strategies at any time during the discrete time subperiod, but only the strategy selected at the end of the subperiod is used to calculate payoffs. Subjects do not observe the strategy choice of their counterpart(s) until the period’s end.
• Progress Bar - subjects have an intuitive progress bar communicating how much of the subperiod remains
• The subperiods fields defines the discretization of the game.
• A Few Examples:
  • With subperiods set to 0, the period runs in continuous time.
  • With subperiods set to 1, we are running a one-shot game.
  • With subperiods set to 6, you have a six-shot game.
• Note: subperiods establishes the number of subperiods in the game, NOT the length of the subperiod. If n=subperiods and T=length, then

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Grouping

Here we tersely discuss some things to keep in mind when working with the groupSize and numGroups. For a more conceptual discussion of how ConG thinks about groups and matching subjects in a period or game, for one & two population games configurations, arbitrary groupings configurations, and other fancy stuff -- please see our full Groupings pages.

matchtype

• This field can be either "self" or "pair".
  • matchtype=self - When the field is set to "self" the players play strategies against the average of their own group. Thus changing their own strategy will change (though perhaps imperceptive so) the strategy of their opponent.
  • matchtype=pair - When set to "pair" players play their strategies against the average of another group. (for a few conceptual examples of this, again please see the Groupings page)

groupSize

• groupSize - [1,n] Integer field which determines the number of players in each group. The group size is determined by dividing the number of players by groupSize.
• That is
• The number of subjects must be evenly divisible by the number selected in groupSize. An error or other failure will ensue otherwise. For example if we start a game with ten subject, we must set groupSize to 1, 2, 5 or 10. Any other selection not evenly divisible will result in some sort of error or failure.

numGroups

• numGroups - [1,n] Integer field which determines the number of groups formed in the period.
• numGroups will work with a ragged number of subjects. For example, if we start an experiment with 10 subject and set numGroups to 3, this means ConG will create two groups of 3 subjects and one group of 4 subjects.

Important Note - groupSize & numGroups can NEVER be used in the same period definition row - that is; if, for some reason you need to have both groupSize and numGroups columns in your game definition config file, in each row only one column may have a an interger, the other field must be blank.

• It's probably best to just use one or the other.

Example of an Okay Config File:

period	paid	length	subperiods	groupSize	numGroups	. . . .
1	TRUE	300	0	3		. . . .
2	TRUE	300	0		3	. . . .
3	TRUE	300	0	2		. . . .
4	TRUE	300	0		6	. . . .

Example of a Not-Okay Config File:

period	paid	length	subperiods	groupSize	numGroups	. . . .
1	TRUE	300	0	3		Okay. . . .
2	TRUE	300	0	1	3	ERROR||
3	TRUE	300	0	2	3	ERROR||
4	TRUE	300	0		6	Okay. . . .

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