Part 4: The Game

Download and play the Gamer's Dilemma (but first read this page!)

Brief Overview

The Gamer's Dilemma is a 2D two-player game based on the space shooter genre where players use bombs to destroy endless waves of enemies. The game implements the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma by forcing players to make the choice each round of using their energy to create a bomb or to redeem the energy for points.

Rounds end each time the energy timer (orange and blue semi-circle meters around the edge of the play field) fills up.

Controls

Players can move Up, Down, Left, and Right within the circle and can either use their energy to Bomb or Store.

Modified Prisoner's Dilemma

The original prisoner's dilemma had to be transformed into a decision matrix that consisted of two seperate mechanics (bombs to kill enemies and redeeming energy for points) while still keeping the numerical balance necessary (3-3/5-0/1-1) between those choices.

Not included in the above matrix is the fact that touching an enemy will destroy it but remove ten points from the player's score. There are also a relatively unchanging number of enemies on screen throughout the whole game (exception being when a large number of enemies are destroyed by bombs).

The final points distribution takes into account: the number of enemies on screen, average number of enemies destroyed in a particular radius, the radius of a bomb, how well players avoided enemies, and at what speed they made their choices (which affects how many enemies are on screen).

Timer and Other Variables

A number of variables were introduced in the Gamer's Dilemma that do not exist in a pure Prisoner's Dilemma, reflecting changes needed when porting the system to a game for entertainment. Below is a list of the most important variables:

• Player Movement
• Distractions, such as enemies or watching a timer, affected player memory when taking into account previous choices the players made
• Touching an enemy removes ten points from the player's score. Score (and thus success in the game) is affected by how well the player avoids enemies.
• Rounds are timed: players must choose to bomb or store within a set time limit or else the system will choose for the player (defaults to storing)
• Visual feedback disparity between bombing and storing may affect the likeliness of a player choosing that option

There were many other minor variables that could influence the gameplay. A full break down of them are in the results section of my Master's thesis, which you can download.

Continue to Part 5: Results