ComLabGames User Guide

This guide describes the current ComLabGames browser application for classroom experiments, workshops, and test runs.

The application has three main entry paths:

Moderator dashboard for registered moderators who upload games, start games in rooms, share room links, and monitor sessions.
Player room links for participants who join a moderator room, choose an open game, and play in their own browser tab.
Demo for observing reference games in one tab, with optional automatic play.

Current Workflow In One Sentence

A moderator signs in, selects a room, starts an uploaded game, shares the room link, and players join from that room link; the server creates and advances sessions as the required players arrive and submit decisions.

Core Concepts

Registered user: a signed-in account. In the current classroom workflow, registered users are moderators.
Moderator: the person who prepares games, starts them in rooms, shares links, watches sessions, and downloads logs when needed.
Room: a named entry space owned by a moderator. The default room is main.
Room link: the link players open. It shows the games currently open in that room.
Open game: a game that the moderator has started in a room and that players can join.
Session: one group of players inside an open game. Fixed-player games wait until the required number of players have joined before the game page is shown.
Player name: the name a participant uses inside a room and game.
PIN: an optional reconnect phrase for protecting a player name.
Demo: a one-tab reference-game view that can switch between players and run an automatic demonstration.
Test: a moderator workflow using separate player tabs, closer to a real classroom run.

Game Type Names

The user interface and this guide use teaching-oriented names:

Extensive Form Game: a tree game.
Strategic Form Game: a matrix game.
Free Form Game: stage-based pages with instructions, inputs, choices, auctions, or other custom flows.
Market Game: order, transaction, asset, and account based market games.

Older technical notes may use shorter names such as Tree, Matrix, FFG, or Market. The visible application should prefer the names above.

Chapters

Documentation Status

This guide documents the current browser workflow. The application is still evolving, especially the moderator dashboard and game-panel presentation. If a live screen differs from this guide, follow the live screen and ask course staff or the project maintainer to refresh the guide.