How to use EconPlay

- In order to use the platform you must first create a user account.

- Then you must log in to the platform using your Username and Password and create experimental sessions.

- When using a template game for the first time you should first read the full description of that game, which is accessible though the Available games menu.

To create an experimental session, first you need to set your 'session variables' in the following order :

- The category of experiment your are considering (e.g. games, public good, etc.)

- The type of experiment (e.g. 2X2 game, voluntary contribution, etc.)

- The number of subjects participating to the session, with a maximum number depending on the experiment type (40 players max).

- The number of players in each group, depending on the number of subjects participating in the session and on the experiment type.

- The number of treatments per session.

- Whether to include instructions and a questionnaire or not.

Whether to synchronize all players or not (N.B. If you choose to synchronize all players the session is likely to be slower).

- You must then set your treatment parameters and variables (number of rounds, information available to the players, payoff functions, etc.). These treatment parameters and variables depend on your session variables. For a full description of the treament parameters and variables in each available game on the platform, click on 'Available games'.

- You will be able to check all your session parameters (session variables, treatment variables, players matching, etc.) before saving your experimental session. Some theoretical predictions will also be displayed for each treatment, when available.

- Once the experimental session is saved, subjects will be able to logon with the session name (your Username + "_" + session number) and a player number which you will have assigned to them (same session numberfor all participants and one distinct player number for each participant) through this url : http://www.econplay.fr/players/. Should the connection be lost, a participant can log back in an ongoing session using the same player number through : http://www.econplay.fr/players/Relogin.aspx.

- Several tables and commands enable you to monitor and manage the session :

* You can monitor the session through the 'Manage' table (number of connected players, number of players done with the instructions, etc.)
* The 'Results' table displays real-time players choices
* Using the 'StartSession' command you can start a session once all players are connected. This command also starts the game when neither instructions nor a questionnaire are included.
* The 'StartGame' command runs the game when all players are done with the instructions or the questionnaire.
* The 'Stat Descriptives' command displays data graphs.
The 'ExporterTable' command saved the data from the two tables (Manage and Results) in an Excel file (MS Excel must be installed on your terminal).
* The 'Instructions' command displays the instructions as available to the players.
* The 'Questionnaire' command displays the questions that will be submitted to the players.

- NB: You cannot open multiple simultaneous sessions on the same computer in the same browser unless you create several user profiles for that browser (this option is available by default in the last version of Chrome).

- If you wish to browse the session template examples available for the various games you can connect to the platform (http://www.econplay.fr) as user : test (password : test), then select 'My account' > 'My sessions' in the menu.
NB: In these examples, players decisions have been randomly generated by the computer and you cannot create new sessions nor replace existing sessions under this profile. It is purely illustrative.