Testing Reputation Mechanisms
While I was in London, I worked on some experience prototypes to test out a borrowing service. The first experience prototype looked at breadth by essentially implementing a borrowing/sharing service with myself as the mediator. Using insights from that prototype, I subsequently focused on the area of trust. Specifically, when going up to a stranger, what dynamics are involved in the negotiation and transaction? What information do they need, and what obstacles appeared? The insights I gained from these prototypes will inform the structure of my service.
Experience prototyping is necessary to validate or refute assumptions upon which I’m building this service. And since I’m focusing on real-world interactions, it’s necessary to work with real people.
An interesting option, however, was suggested by Karl Schroeder in his blog entry Rights Currencies, Reputation Economies, Dibs and MMORPGs. Namely, using game-spaces, such as MMORPGs, to prototype economic systems. The virtual nature of online games prevents or limits any real-world damage while presenting a relatively low barrier to entry (unlike, say, real-world economic systems which tend to require revolutions) and an opportunity for iterative testing.
We are in fact currently seeing some direct economic relationships developing between the virtual and real worlds: the online role-playing game Project Entropia is now allowing players to withdraw real cash from ATMs based on their in-game bank account.