Positive feedback in a contest makes an early lead self-reinforcing, ending the contest long before it formally concludes.
Game design literature. The institutional version is cumulative advantage: an early lead in funding, attention or share compounds, so the contest is decided long before it formally ends.
In practice
- A grant scheme that funds applicants with the strongest track record produces, within five rounds, a field in which only the funded have one.
- A league where the richest club buys the best players and earns the most from winning has a contest that is decided structurally rather than annually.
- Standing
- The design-side statement of cumulative advantage.
- Subject
- Play & Game Design
- Essay
- Small worlds with visible rules