Michael Lapinski ()
Gifts
1 – Signaling via public wish lists
Public wish lists can be interpreted in two ways.
The first interpretation; in Camerer’s terms, is that a gift that is exactly what you want or cash its efficiency value is 1. So if you are forced to give a gift off of a wish list, it can be assumed that it is something that the other party(ies) want exactly and has an efficiency of 1. If we continue and assume that this is a two stage game in which sooner or later you will reciprocate and be able to make your own wish list. Based on this and Camerer’s writing I conclude that these wish lists do not only place upper limits on how “practical” gifts should be but that they also place a lower limit on how “practical” the gifts should be. In addition to this they have many signaling aspects that I will describe next. Lastly they also eliminate the entire scenario of inefficient gift giving.
My signaling reasoning here is simple. If you create a wish list with very high priced items you send a signal that in order for others to get into the gift giving game with you they will have to pay a very high entry cost. This signal raises the bar in terms of entry for the entire game and basically sends the signal of “you have to pay to play”.
Taking it one step further and assuming that it is not a two round game and taking into account that in every round the price of the gift needs to increase. The end product of several rounds is that everyone who could afford to play ends up with gifts that are have much more utility and value than if the starting bar was undefined. The end product is also that participants who cannot afford to play never enter into the game and do not get anything out of the game. All in all it is an excellent way to limit your social circle of gift givers to people with a lot of money (provided you also do).
2 – Facebook
Even after joining Facebook I couldn’t find any gift feature so I cannot speak to the function of the gifts or their costs or function.
The significance of where gift money goes is very important in terms of warm fuzzy feelings and also signaling. If you give a gift to someone and it ends up being a donation on behalf of a person. That person gets the signal from you that you have something invested in your relationship and they get the warm fuzzy feeling that they donated to a charity and it also gives you that feeling that you are helping out that charity. When you give a gift of a very intangible item (ie some icon on Facebook) and them money goes to Facebook it tends to cheapen the entire experience and send a different signal. I interpret the signal as a regular gift that isn’t really doing any good for anyone but the party receiving it. What it does for the receiving party is signal their status (if the gift is public) among others because they have more virtual icons than others.
3 – Gift presentation
-Purpose of wrapping – A well wrapped gift with a ribbon and color coordinated paper that suits the occasion/season is pleasing to the eye and sends its own signal that yes this is a gift and yes this is a special occasion. Further gifts are by standard wrapped. There is also the anticipation that is created by hiding what is in the box that makes the occasion that much more special. No, I don’t think there is an equivalent to a wrapping on virtual gifts. The only semi-equivlent I can think of is when you receive a electronic postcard and you have to click on a link to open it, that could be considered a “wrapping”.
-Open source as a gift –This paper is making a very, very big stretch. Open source software is more of a handout with a loosely defined support hierarchy. The statement “Instead of seeing the situation as a kind of 'information retrieval' situation in which one person receives a piece of information from another, we should understand it as a mutual interchange where one gift is given for another.” Does not magically turn this into a gift. The authors should have compared the loose hierarchical support system more to a free information booth in an airport rather than a “gift” giving process.
Time spent on a gicft rather thanmoney