The Gamer's Dilemma

My Masters project - Emergent Cooperative Gameplay - focused on multiplayer systems design by implementing well-known and predictable systems in game theory into a video game.

For this project, I implemented a version of the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma. In short, the Prisoner's Dilemma is game (in the strict mathematical sense) where there are two prisoners in seperate rooms, unable to communicate with one another. A police officer gives each of them the same options: they can stay silent or they can rat the other person out. If they both stay silent, they both serve some time, and if they both betray each other, they both serve a lot more time. However, if one betrays the other, they have the chance of going free and sending their partner in crime to jail for a long time.

You can see the Prisoner's Dilemma illustrated in the below matrix:

When played among humans, players tend to betray each other at twice the rate they stay silent. The lure of going free usually causes both players to suffer more than if they has just stayed silent.

However, if the Prisoner's Dilemma is played multiple times among the same pair, their choices will eventually skew from betraying each other to cooperating with each other. This is known as the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma.

For the project, I used the above Prisoner's Dilemma matrix in a two-player action/shooter hybrid, where players were confined in a small area that would steadily fill with enemies. Dropping bombs eliminated enemies and gave the players points. The below matrix shows how the Prisoner's Dilemma was adapted to the game:

I did all of the artwork, scripting, and testing, using only Torque 2D to help provide a framework for developing the game and handling the assets.

If you are interested in more information, including a more in depth explanation of the thesis, please check out the site I created specifically for my Master's project.