Instructions for Using the Web Page to Run the CSG

The CSG web page significantly reduces the amount of instructor hassle and time required to run the CSG. The most effort expended is at the start, when setting up team names, passwords, and company characteristics are required. After that, ongoing maintenance of each round takes only a few minutes.

Set-up:

Register for a new game. The game registration page consists of a short form that the instructor must complete. In order to register your game, you must have generated the cost file for the game (i.e., compprfl.zz, where here and later zz should be replaced by the two-character name of your game). You must also choose a login name and password, which the instructor will use later to access team pages and administration pages. Upon submission of the registration form, an administration home page will be created for the instructor, accessible only with the instuctor's password. A public game home page and private home pages for each team will also be created.

The initial team home page is a simple form which asks for a team password. In order to prevent security problems, it is strongly suggested that the instructor input passwords for each team. This is done by following the links from your game home page to each team's home page, and filling out the password form. This password, should be chosen by the instructor and written down for each team. These then must be communicated to the teams privately. Alternatively, the instructor can have each team choose its own password prior to the time that the instructor registers the game. Once the passwords have been entered, a permanent team home page will replace the temporary password entry page. At this point the next step is for each team to submit its first strategy.

NOTE: Once you register a game, neither the game name, the team names, nor the passwords can be changed. Choose these carefully and record this information in a safe place. Also, note that all game and team names and passwords are case sensitive.

Ongoing Rounds:

From the main CSG page, follow the link to your game, and then to "Administration." This is the instructor home page, which gives you access to all game data. To perform a run of the CSG for a period, click the "Input File Assembly and File Upload" link. Select your game and the period you want strategies assembled for in the pulldown menus. Hit the assemble button. This will create the input file, e.g. strain04.zz for period 4 strategy input file, and will also assemble the public statements from all teams.

You then will automatically be transferred back to your administrative home page. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on the period number under "Master Input Files for Periods:." This will show you the input file. Note that at the bottom of the input file, it indicates which, if any, firms have not submitted a strategy for the period. If a firm has not submitted a new strategy, the web page uses the team's previous-period prices, production quantities and maximum sales inputs. It sets capacity change to zero. These are defaults for teams with no new strategy submission. The instructor can override this by editing the strain??.zz file after downloading it, as described below. To download the strain??.zz file, go to the file menu and choose "save as." Save the file in the directory where the game software is stored under the correct period name. For example, round four's strategies would be saved as C:\NameOfCourse\CSG\strain04.zz. To run the game, open a DOS window to the drive and directory where the software and game files are stored. Type csg320, thereby starting the game, and respond to the prompts. The game should run smoothly using the input files generated by the Web page. If there is any problem or you need to make some changes, you can always examine and/or edit the strain files before you run the game (using an ascii text editor). Also using a text editor, you can create a flat ascii file called, for instance, readme04.zz, with any comments for the class such as when the next strategies are due, events that have occurred in the world of the game, and other administrative matters.

When the game is run and the output files are generated, go back to your administration page. Click on "Input File Assembly and File Upload" and scroll half way down the page, where there are three spaces for the names of output files to upload. If you know the drive and directory where these files are located, you can enter them in each space. If not, click the "Browse..." button next to each file field to browse your hard drive and find the market update, company update, and readme files (for round four, these would be mktupd04.zz, cmpupd04.zz, and readme04.zz). When you hit upload, the files will be placed in the correct spots on the public and private game pages.

The readme file is only placed on the private pages available to game participants. Occasionally, an instructor might want to make a comment on the public statement page. This is because market results and public statements are available to the public. If a team has violated antitrust laws with a public statement, the instructor might not want members of the public thinking that the violation went unnoticed or unpunished. On the Administration page is a submit statement box. Whatever instructor comments are written in the box will be displayed with the other public statements on the public page. For example, the announcement of a fine levied by the Department of Justice against a particular firm could be placed here.

The last step is to increment the period of the game by using the button on the Administration page. Make sure everything has worked properly before doing this. After you have incremented the period, the web page tells the students that they can submit strategies for the next period. If there was some error in running the game, such as a team submitting the wrong strategy for a legitimate reason, the instructor can regenerate the input files using the new information (taking care to choose the correct period). Note that the old input and output files for that round must be deleted from the relevant directory on your harddisk before the new files can be saved on the harddisk and the game rerun.

Part way through the game the instructor might want to publish cash levels or other information for each team (plus or minus some error, perhaps) to give the students some idea of their relative position. This can be accommodated on either the public statement page or the readme page. Note that readme files are replaced each period whereas students can go back and read previous public statements. The final period of the game works just like the others. The instructor might want the readme file to announce that the game is over and perhaps announce the names of the successful teams. The game summary program (gamesumm) can be run on the PC and the results disseminated by email, hardcopy, or posted as the last public instructor comment on the page.