arena_responses

Experiments

arena_responses controls whether other participants’ responses on a multiplayer trial are shown as they arrive, or hidden until everyone in the arena has answered. It only affects what participants see (the data space, the log space, and the correct/incorrect ticks in the participants strip); it never affects what is saved to results.

There is exactly one thing to switch on: when the cell contains end, each incoming response stays hidden and everything is revealed at once as soon as everyone in the arena has answered. Left empty (the default), responses appear in real time.

It is only read on trials that have an arena value; on single-player trials it does nothing.

Syntax

Write end in the cell of every trial whose responses should stay hidden until everyone in the arena has answered.

arena_responses
end

Leave the cell empty for the real-time default. Any value that contains the letters end switches the hiding on, and the match is case-sensitive, so write it in lower case.

Options

Value	Effect
empty (or column absent)	Responses are visible the moment they arrive.
any value containing end	Incoming responses are hidden: log entries, participants’ and personas’ responses in the data space, and the correct/incorrect symbols under the participant and persona icons. When everyone in the arena has answered, that trial’s responses, log entries and correct/incorrect symbols are all revealed at once.
any other non-empty value (e.g. visible)	Nothing is hidden, because the value does not contain end. Effectively identical to leaving the cell empty.

Nothing else is recognized: no list separator, no case conversion, no numeric values.

Defaults & missing values

Leave the cell blank, or leave the column out altogether, and responses are shared in real time: every participant sees each answer the moment it is given. Only a value containing end changes that, and only on trials that are part of an arena.

The setting that applies is the one on the row of the trial currently on screen; it can differ from trial to trial.

Works with

• arena: prerequisite. Without an arena value the trial is not a multiplayer trial and this column is ignored. It is also pointless unless the arena (through arena or the project’s arena settings) actually shows something that displays responses: the data space, the log space, or the participants ticks.
• Shared across the arena: the setting travels with the trial to every participant, alongside arena, arena_sequence and arena_advance, so everyone in the arena sees responses the same way.
• arena_advance: the reveal and the advance happen at the same moment, when everyone has answered. With a millisecond value in arena_advance the revealed responses stay on screen for that countdown; with manual the “I am ready” button appears together with the reveal.
• Data space organized by response: when the project’s arena settings group the data space by response, persona responses are never hidden, so end does not hide them there.
• Results: this column changes nothing about what is saved. end only delays what participants see; every response is still recorded as it is given.

Examples

Everyone answers privately; all responses appear at once when the last person answers, then stay visible for 5 seconds before advancing:

type	stim1	stimFormat	responseOptions	arena	arena_advance	arena_responses
test	How many dots did you see?	word	10;20;30	participants;data	5000	end

Real-time sharing (default): each response shows in the data space the moment it is given:

type	stim1	stimFormat	responseOptions	arena	arena_responses
test	Pick a card	word	A;B;C	participants;data

Hidden-until-end with a response log instead of the data space:

type	stim1	stimFormat	responseOptions	arena	arena_responses
test	Vote now	word	yes;no	participants;log	end

Tips & gotchas

Caution

Any value containing the letters end turns hiding on, so ending, friend and hidden_until_end all hide responses. The match is case-sensitive: End does not hide anything.

• There is no “force visible” value: any value that does not contain end behaves exactly like an empty cell. Writing something like visible does not do anything extra; real time is already the default.
• Only the current trial’s log entries are revealed: the reveal shows the log entries of the trial everyone just answered, so a hidden entry that arrives late for an earlier trial stays hidden.
• Teams answer as one: the reveal waits for one response per team, not one per person, so in team mode it happens as soon as every team has answered.
• Ticks under the icons are hidden too: with end, the green check and red cross under each participant icon are hidden until everyone answers, so accuracy is withheld along with the response text.