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THE RATIONALITY ENGINE
Homo Economicus vs. Homo Ludens
Jonas Heide Smith ([email protected])ITU, 13/5-2005
THE RATIONALITY ENGINE
The game-gaming gap
Game Player
THE RATIONALITY ENGINE
• What are players like?• The common assumption: They are über-
selfish utility maximizers• True? no.• true? Yes.• Compulsory footnote: ”Selfishness” is a
tricky term.
THE RATIONALITY ENGINE
My suggestions:• It’s better to be wrong than unclear
(successful strategy in media studies and economics)
• Clarify assumptions and then analyze, analyze, analyze
• Test predictions on real players
THE RATIONALITY ENGINE
Analysis• Guiding questions:
– What will the players do?– What will be the result of aggregate player behavior?
• Technique:– Keep It Simple, Scholar
• Be as general as you can reasonably be– Describe victory conditions (that which the player is meant to
maximize)
THE RATIONALITY ENGINEExample: Spacewar• Objective: Win by
destroying the opposition• Sum-type: Zero-sum
– Cooperation: None– Communication: None
Player 2
Cooperate Defect
Player 1Cooperate Bad, Bad Bad, Good
Defect Good, Bad OK, OK
THE RATIONALITY ENGINEExample: Fire Truck• Objective: Win by collectively
steering truck• Sum-type: Zero-sum (players vs.
environment)– Cooperation: Full– Communication: Coordination
Player 2
Cooperate Defect
Player 1Cooperate Good, Good Bad, Bad
Defect Bad, Bad Bad, Bad
THE RATIONALITY ENGINEExample: Joust• Objective: Score points by
killing others• Sum-type: Non-zero-sum
– Cooperation: Unstable– Communication: Coordination,
promises
Player 2
Cooperate Defect
Player 1Cooperate Good, Good Bad, Great
Defect Great, Bad Mediocre, Mediocre
THE RATIONALITY ENGINEExample: Gauntlet• Objective: Score points by
killing others• Sum-type: Non-zero-sum
– Cooperation: None (?)– Communication: Coordination,
promises
Player 2
Cooperate Defect
Player 1Cooperate 2,2 0,3
Defect 3,0 1,1
THE RATIONALITY ENGINEType Player interests Challenge Sum type Examples
Cooperative
Exactly aligned Game environment or other team
Any Fire Truck (1978), co-op mode in Halo (2001)
Semi-cooperative
Collective goal shared but individual goals differ somewhat.
Game environment or other team and to a lesser extent the allied player(s.
Non-zero-sum game with allies, any type against game environment or other team
Joust (1982), Gauntlet (1985)
Competitive
Directly opposed. Competitive two-player games will never inspire in-game cooperative behavior while games with more players may inspire temporary coalitions between players.
The other player(s)
Zero-sum Pong (1972), Tekken 4 (2002)
THE RATIONALITY ENGINEWhat can YOU do?• Help analyze
– Pay particular attention to mixed-motive games (like Counter-Strike)– What to do with MMORPGs?
• Test it– Run tests– Help analyze data
• Let’s get that Nobel prize
