[RESPOND PLEASE!] Conducting Research on Negotiations in TF2 Trading

[TC]

Hey folks. I'm a college student in the US taking a course on negotiations this term, and my professor is letting me do my term project on "Negotiations in Video Games". Essentially, I've been researching how negotiations play out in video games as opposed to 'real life' - in terms of the principles of negotiations.

The three games I've been researching are Team Fortress 2 (for the in-game trading system), DayZ, and the Minecraft Survival Games. I'm pretty familiar with how stuff works in all of these games, but it's critical that I get thoughts and opinions from others who play them. There's not exactly an abundance of academic research on this subject, so I need to be able to use something other than my own experiences as support for my writing.

That's where you folks come in. I have some questions I'd like to ask you about your experience with TF2 trading when it comes to negotiations. Answer them in as much detail as you like, the more the better. Also, let me know if you do not want me to quote you in my paper. Thanks!

Questions:

1) How do you arrive to a "fair" trade when trading items in TF2?
2) How do you think others arrive to a "fair" trade when trading items?
3) Please share any experiences you have that you think might be relevant.

Yeah, the questions kind of blend together a bit.

Last thing here - I uh, I kind of procrastinated on this project and it's due on the 20th, just a few days from now. So, the speedier you folks leave responses, the better.

Thanks so much! I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

[JORDAN]

1) You stand your ground saying "This is my price."
2) They whine until they get what they want.
3) 5 year old kids.

[Ribbon]

1. "This is my price. Take it, or die a in a horrible pit of firey doom. Maybe a puppy or two."
2. "This is my offer. Take it, or a die in a horrible pit of firey doom. Maybe a puppy or two."
3. Eh. We argue a bit over a price. Usually ends in one of us quitting the trade, though.

[Mister Fahrenheit]

1) Mostly depends on what I want to do with item. Usually use a guide (backpack.tf) or trading experience when buying and put an offer accordingly. But if buying to sell for profit, I search all the way down the list on outpost and stock up as many I can get to resell. If something I want for myself, I put an offer I would accept if I were a seller (sometimes a little more than market price if the seller is a high baller) and I only trade with people willing to accept. None of those "I really like this item and I bought it for 25% more than I should have so I am selling 50% more so I make profit" people or these kind of people http://www.tf2outpost.com/trade/4472240#my (still auto bumped btw)
2) Most sell for higher than they payed. Then come down when they give up, potentially missing good deals. Or they keep doing like guy above.
3) Almost 2 years of trading with Highballers, Lowballers, and everything in between.

[Zeyo]

1. Arriving to a "fair trade" technically at its core is really just finding a price that you both agree on. If a player wants something enough, they will be pretty flexible for the price. However, it is of course limited by the price shown on Backpack.tf. If Backpack.tf says that something is a certain price or within a certain price range, people will likely be more stingy with their metal and keys. They may overpay, however they're limited by Backpack.tf.
2. Just check Backpack.tf. Then, choose your price. It is best to stay within the pricerange Backpack.tf sets out, however should you decide to you can ask for a little bit extra, or any amount less, depending on how badly you want to get rid of it.
3. - With trading, most people treat Backpack.tf as the holy bible of trading.
- While most normal weapons are worth half of a scrap (the lowest form of currency), people usually buy and sell them for half of a scrap anyways.

[JarateKing (very rusty)]

1) If I'm there for profit then the values generally accepted by the community. If it's for personal use then whatever the other person will accept, up to the point where I'd either not want it for that much or I think I could manage to get the same thing cheaper from someone else.
2) Same methods as above probably.
3) Dealing with craft numbers and things below that mostly. Somehow making a profit even though I'll often end up overpaying since it's something I want.

[Maple]

1- Backpack.tf
2- "Gonna buy it for 1 scrap and sell it for 23.0001 buds!!11!"
3- Tf2outpost.

[TC]

Wow, guys, this is great! Thanks so much!

[MaskedWayne]

umm idk man

[Shark Guy]

1.Pick an item you want to sell.
*zap*
2.Search the items price on a website.
*zap*
3.Go to a trade server or the trade forums.
*zap*
4.Tell them what you are selling.
*zap*
5.Find a user to trade with.
*zap*
6.Negogiate(I think that is how you spell it).
*zap*
7.Profit.

[Xartes]

1) I use backpack.tf or another item-vlauing website and make sure my side of the deal is close to their side of the deal. I *always* do this as prices change all the time and the last thing I want is to get scammed with something I could have sold for a bill's hat.
2) It really depends on the type of person our trading with. I tend to go on the other person's account to look at their backpack and how many hours they've done. From this I can sorta guess what kind of deal they're gonna make. People with more hours and refined metal tend to give a balaced deal while people with around 100 hours and a few crates/weapons will usually see that all weapons are around the same price e.g. I've had a trade where someone wanted my genuine AWP for a market gardner.
3) The main experience I've had is when I was at around 250 hours and, in tf2 terms, that's not very long. I was trading botkiller weapons for normal weapons and got completely scammed, I only worked this out when I became a good trader! That's the reason why I always check prices on websites, both my items and the other guy's items, because in all honesty I try to make sure I don't scam people and vice versa as I could get caught out and get a bad reputation.

Hope this helps!

[Reality]

I craft spare weapons for miscs and stranges that I might think about later, but honestly, I am that guy who want to hear a sales pitch. If they are bold enough to sell me an overpriced item unabashedly, I sometimes cave in, assuming it is vaguely similar to what I was going for. I think the established market prices should streamline things, so I tend to pay a rec or so overprice so I don't have to waste time searching for the ideal trade that is only a few hours work "free drops" to make up in value.

Cooperation in game is game changing, and team fortress makes it easier than quake or UT. Even on a public server with people who don't have mics, one soldier can type, "hey scout can you use your bonk and stall the sentry around this corner so I can take it down freely" and save their team several minutes of momentum.

I test the water on any given server, although I don't even join servers that are advertised as having mods/roleplay hotspots, because I assume that the people who go there won't cooperate. If people don't work together on a 5cp pub though, I usually still play, since the enemy is affected as much. Everyone might be forging independent paths toward the objective, but you can still get some benefit out of each other, namely picking off damaged enemies/distraction/ and early warning as to where an enemy is based on a partner turning up in a kill feed.