The tragedy of the coffeehouse - Costly riding and how to avert it

This study reports and analyzes the results of three trials of a one-shot c ollective game-a variety of the assurance game-conducted via the World Wide Web. In the first two trials, most players apparently mistook the assuranc e game for a prisoner's dilemma and consequently attained the worst possibl e outcome. After contemplating appropriate strategic considerations, player s who participated in the third trial attained a better outcome but did so in a surprising way. This report accounts explicitly for the unexpected res ults. Implicitly, it also reveals some potential for social experimentation in cyberspace.