Extracting Collective Probabilistic Forecasts from Web Games

Authors: David M. Pennock, Steve Lawrence, Finn °Arup Nielsen, C. Lee Giles

Game sites on the World Wide Web drew people from around the world with specialized interests, skills, and knowledge. Data from the games often reflects the players' expertise and will to win. We extract probablistic forecasts from data obtained from three online games: the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX), the Foresight Exchange (FX), and the Formula One Pick Six (F1P6) competition. We find that all three yield accurate forecasts of uncertain future events. In particular, prices of so-called "movie stocks" on HSX are good indicators of actual box office returns. Prices of HSX securities in Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy awards correlate well with observed frequencies of winning. FX prices are reliable indicators of future developments in science and technology. Collective predictions from players in the F1 competition serve as good forecasts of true race outcomes. In some cases, forecasts induced from game data are more reliable then expert opinions. We argue that web games naturally attract well-informed and well-motivated players, and thus offer a valuable and oft-overlooked source of high-quality data with significant predictive value.