Most people have played the group card game called Mafia. For those who are not familiar with it, here is a brief description of it:
Out of your friends you choose someone to narrate a story. Then cards are passed out with roles set to them, but you are not allowed show anyone else. Then there is a night cycle where everyone closes their eyes and the mafia choose someone to “kill”. Finally in the day the narrator makes a story for the events of the night before, and everyone votes on who they think is the mafia. Once the mafia is found or everyone else is “killed” the game is over.
As the mafia, you hold the most information in the game, as you are tasked with trying to everyone with no one knowing who you are. This relates to how selling used to be where the buyer had to be aware of of the seller, as the seller had all of the cards in their hand. Being able to push the buyer into a corner, the seller could then impose on them what they wanted the buyer to buy. Like in the game, the people selected as mafia hold all the knowledge of who is bad and can kill anyone they want.
There is a twist though. There are other roles in the game. There is the Sheriff, who can investigate someone at night to see if they are the mafia. And like how the internet has expanded giving buyers the ability to have the same amount of knowledge as the sellers, the Sheriff can then pull their leverage on the normal people in the game to get the Mafia voted off to win. In this type of world, one where everyone has information, and the seller must be aware of who they are selling to. No more pushing the buyer into a corner to get them to buy.
Thus Caveat Venditor.
BoweryJE22
I find this very interesting to relate this game to sales. I have never thought about it in this sort of way. I have played the game many times and sometimes I am very good and others very bad. I often try to vote off random people just cause so maybe I am a different type of buyer than most people?
This is a fantastic analogy for describing the concepts of Caveat venditor and emptor. I have played Mafia tons of times and never made that connection. It definitely describes the balance of power and the idea of knowledge as power. I agree that the internet has definitely opened up a whole new world for buyers and allowed for more of a power balance in the world commerce.
Mafia is a great game, but the tie in to one of the roles of the game was excellent. Sellers must be aware of who they are selling to, as anyone can just hop online to find out the information on a product. The “sheriff” needs to be able to relationally connect with his client to close the sale.