ComLabGames User Guide

This guide describes the current ComLabGames browser application for designing, testing, running, and reviewing strategic-behavior experiments. It is intended for moderators, testers, and participants.

The application has four main paths:

Design creates and manages game definitions.
Execution organizes games in rooms and monitors sessions.
Player room links let participants join and play in separate browser tabs.
Demo presents predefined reference games in one observer tab.

Current Workflow

A moderator opens or creates a game in Design, saves and validates it, adds it to a room in Execution, and starts it. Players join through the room link. Active Sessions shows current progress, while Run Logs preserves the run for review and analysis.

Core Concepts

Definition: the saved canonical description of a game.
Moderator: a registered user who designs games, manages rooms, monitors sessions, and reviews logs.
Room: a named player entry space. The default room is main.
Game set: an optional group of games inside a room.
Open game: a definition that has been started in a room and can accept players.
Run: one moderator start of a game definition.
Session: one group of players within a run.
Assignment: participant counts, Player Types, allocation, rounds, and execution policies.
Stage: a step in a game process, such as Instructions, a decision, or Results.
Page: authored content shown within a Stage to a specified Audience.
Image: a reusable presentation image stored inside one game definition.
Demo: a one-tab observer for predefined reference games.
Open test: a realistic test using separate player tabs.

Game Types

Auction: one or two sealed-bid, English, or Dutch auctions with shared presentation Stages.
Market Game: assets, accounts, orders, transactions, and periodic updates.
Strategic Form Game: decisions and payoffs in a matrix.
Extensive Form Game: sequential decisions in a tree.
Free Form Game: a custom directed process of Stages, Pages, routes, and Variable outputs.

Older technical material may use Matrix, Tree, FFG, MG, or MGD. The current application stores and executes a canonical definition, including after importing a legacy file.

Chapters

Documentation Status

The operating workflows and current five Design editors are documented. Run analysis is usable but remains the least settled area. Screenshots are illustrative and may lag small layout refinements; labels and behavior described in the text are authoritative for this snapshot.