Just created a new game experiment and played it over IM with four unsuspecting friends.
It needs context and I need to suss out the details re: the buttons and their functions but here’s how it works:
I pinged four friends who were online with the message: “You there?” and once they all replied, I sent them this message:
You are standing in a square chamber with three other people. They are strangers.
On each wall of the room there is a button.
If you press BUTTON 1, you will earn 5 points.
If you press BUTTON 2, you will earn 3 points.
If you press BUTTON 3, nobody earns any points.
If you press BUTTON 4, the game ends.
If you pass, you earn 1 point.
If two or more people press the same button, that button will not function.
What do you do?
When they chose, I repeated their choice (ie: “You picked button 3″) and made a note to myself what they chose. When all four had made a choice, I announced what happened. In the first round, nothing happened. Two people wanted to end the game, the other two opted to prevent anyone from scoring points. We played two more rounds, each time I altered the functions of the buttons.
Round 2
The buttons have changed.
If you press BUTTON 1, you will earn 3 points.
If you press BUTTON 2, you will earn 3 points.
If you press BUTTON 3, everyone gains 1 point.
If you press BUTTON 4, the game ends.
If you pass, you earn 1 point.
If two or more people press the same button, that button will not function.
What do you do?
Round 3
The buttons have changed.
If you press BUTTON 1, you will earn 10 points.
If you press BUTTON 2, the highest score will lose 2 points.
If you press BUTTON 3, everyone loses 1 point.
If you press BUTTON 4, the game ends.
If you pass, you earn 1 point.
If two or more people press the same button, that button will not function.
What do you do?
At the end (which was prompted by one player pressing button 4, which always ends the game), I announced the final scores. I noticed nobody ever passed their turn to score the 1 point and most often people chose to try and end the game or screw the other players.
You should try this out with your own four random friends and see what happens.