Beliefs that Entertain / Ashvin Gandhi, Paola Giuliano, Eric Guan, Quinn Keefer, Chase McDonald, Michaela Pagel, Joshua Tasoff.

Author
Gandhi, Ashvin [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2024.
Description
1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Details

Related name
Series
  • Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w32295. [More in this series]
  • NBER working paper series no. w32295
Summary note
Economic research on entertainment is scant despite its large share of time use. We test economic theories of belief-based utility in the context of video-game engagement. Using data on 2.8 million matches from League of Legends, we find evidence supporting reference-dependent preferences, loss aversion, preferences for surprise and suspense, preferences for clumped surprise, and flow theory from psychology. We then leverage our estimated model and an evolutionary algorithm to find the information-revealing process that maximizes player engagement. We find that the optimal version of the game has increased game play equivalent to 43% of the winner-loser gap.
Notes
April 2024.
Source of description
Print version record
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