Topic 17: Tragedy of the Commons Experiment

Our group was the perfect example of the tragedy of the commons. I guess we didn't really discuss about our strategy before the game, which led to the eventual depletion of the fish. In the first round, everyone took as many as possible because we really wanted to eat the m&ms haha.... I really didn't think much about it because I only wanted to have fun, that's why I picked up a bunch of m&ms. I also kind of forgot about the rule that we need to duplicate however many fish we have left....so yeah..anyway i died out on the second round lol... I sacrificed myself on the second round and let the other two survive. The society obviously didn't reward me...because what else can I do,,, I'm dead. Everyone acts for self-interest. In other groups, they only caught a few fish the first round so they eventually still have a bunch of fish left. This is most likely not going to happen in the real world because everyone wants more for themselves and they won't think for others.... Therefore, our group's sample is actually more realistic...haha. Resources around the world can be depleted if people keep acting on self-interest. For example, coal and oil are all natural resources that can be depleted if we don't use them wisely.