A prediction game is a game which allow users to guess at the outcome of future events. Prediction games are generally operated online and are free for users to play. Points are awarded to players who most accurately predict the outcome of an event, and those points are converted into cash prizes.
Players, known as propheteers, can register (without the need to download any programs), start guessing, and earn cash points all in a matter of seconds. Propheteers will then begin competing with each other to see who can correctly predict events such as the outcome of a Major League Baseball game, who will be the next celebrity to enter rehab, or where the Dow Jones will close at on a particular day. Propheteers who correctly guess the outcome of an event are awarded points, which can be converted into cash payouts.
Some websites choose specific subjects for their players to predict the future on. For example, certain websites will offer only questions on political events, while others may be based entirely on celebrities. It has been found that predictive gaming websites catering primarily to sports fans have a strong following from the same types of players who enjoy fantasy sports. Knowledge of team statistics and player's rankings has proven to be a great competitive advantage. Similarly, fans of video sharing sites now have a video stock exchange where they can predict the popularity of videos. Players receive payouts weekly based upon the number of times a video has been viewed on the popular hosting sites.
Predictive games cover a wide variety of topics with thousands of questions to choose from.
Some gaming industry analysts are wary that this game may become highly addictive. Like Fantasy sport, on-the-job workers have on occasion spent so much time playing Prediction Games that office productivity could suffer a significant loss.
In India, prediction games are often considered illegal.
Many corporations are realizing the value of finding consensus from prediction games and using that to determine influence and conditional influence on real events. Faculty of Industrial engineering and management PDF format Wharmann and Ronen (2006)
Furthermore, questions that focus on users' opinions of a certain outcome are often seen as polls. The results derived from these polls are a good indication of how the actual outcome of the event will unfold.
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