Using these pages
On this page you'll find a brief introduction to the game of
Prisoner's Dilemma, plus links to other Prisoner's Dilemma Web sites. Other pages contain information on playing the game,
and writing your own game strategy functions. Choose them from the
left-hand menu.
About Prisoner's Dilemma
Prisoner's Dilemma is one
of the simplest games ever invented, yet generates some of the most
complex interactions between its players.
The game is featured in The
Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins' book about the way our genes influence
our behaviour in order to optimise their chances of replication. In
the chapter entitled 'Nice Guys Finish First', the author describes how
cooperating with others can bring the best rewards for everyone, but only
if no-one tries to make a fast buck by cheating. The choice of playing
fair or double-crossing your fellows - and how to react when your fellows
double-cross you - is what Prisoner's Dilemma is all
about.
DNJ Dilemma comes in two editions, Standard and
Tournament. Both are accessible from the main menu.
In the Standard edition, you can either play against the
computer or watch the computer play against itself. When you play against
the computer you can either choose which game strategy the computer should use, or
let it choose one for itself (in which case it doesn't let you know which one it
used until
the end of the game!). When the computer plays against itself, you can specify
which strategies each 'player' should use, or let it choose its own. You can also
tell the computer to automatically play multiple games using a given strategy combination.
The Tournament edition of DNJ Dilemma pits a
selected computer strategy against one or more other computer strategies.
This is the version we'll use in the DNJ Online competition, to pit each
strategy against all its rivals in turn.
Both editions of DNJ Dilemma produce detailed
statistics of each game played.
Links to other Prisoner's Dilemma
Sites
Prisoner's Dilemma is taken very seriously in the fields of psychology
and sociology, where it's regarded as a 'standard model for the evolution
of cooperation'. As a result there are plenty of sites covering the theory
of the game, as well as providing their own simulations. Here's a brief
selection.
(Please note - DNJ Online has no control over the
contents of these sites, and takes no responsibility for them)
The
Prisoner's Dilemma Site. A basic introduction and simulation, plus a
good selection of links to other PD sites.
PD
Game Theory. A seriously in-depth look at the behavioural theories
behind Prisoner's Dilemma.
Potential
Solutions to the Prisoner's Dilemma. Descriptions of the classic PD
strategies - very useful if you're planning your own strategy functions.
And Finally..
... why Prisoner's Dilemma?
The modern version of the game was invented by the
American mathematician A. W. Tucker, who told students at Stanford
University a story about two criminals who are arrested near the scene of
a burglary. They are held separately, and each is asked to make a
statement.
Each criminal has two choices - stick to the code of
honour among thieves and say nothing, or betray his friend by making a
statement incriminating him.
If both criminals refuse to make statements then the
police have insufficient evidence for a charge of burglary, and they both
get minor sentences on a lesser charge of handling stolen goods.
If both criminals makes statements implicating each other,
then both get heavier sentences for burglary, though mitigated for having
helped the police.
However if one criminal makes a statement implicating the
other, while the other one refuses to talk, then the one who 'grasses'
goes free, while the one who stood by the thieves' code of honour gets the
heaviest sentence of all.
In the original Prisoner's Dilemma, the fewer years in
jail 'scored', the better. In DNJ Dilemma (and most other
simulations), the scoring system is turned round, with a higher points
level representing a more advantageous outcome. Thus a cooperate-cooperate
round scores 250 points for each player, a defect-defect round scores 50
points each, and a cooperate-defect round scores 0 - 400 (and vice versa).
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