While working on an article about the collapse of cooperation in game theory and trying to see if I could find a link that would be something that is reflected in modern video games I realized I was jumping the gun a little. I was getting ahead of how I am presenting all these articles and the evolution of my own understanding of the subjective. Outside of my psychology degree and my passion for games, I am very much a novice in the field so I am going to try and be careful when posting what I do.
Before going too far forward I wanted to take a step back and look at the Prisoner's Dilemma. The prisoner's dilemma is a standard example of a game analyzed in game theory that shows why two completely "rational" individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so. (wikipedia.com) Basically two people are going to have to make a decision on whether to cooperate or betray the other, when the reward for betrayal is a bigger payoff than cooperation but both people betraying one another is the worst net result.
Now let's bring this around to gaming. I am going to borrow the example from the blog from the TheRealHumanzeell's Cornell blog. I will be specifically applying it to Overwatch because I think the game has the popularity so it's a good ground to start on. Especially in its early days, a hero could be used by multiple people. Each team needs several classes and a good balance between tanks, damage dealers, and a support. If you ever played a game like it you will know how sometimes support is hard to get people to play. You do the least amount of damage, have the lowest kill count, and tend to get blamed for deaths. While a pain in the ass, the role is crucial.
The prisoner dilemma comes in when you are picking your team and you are at a point where two players have to pick support. If you pick the supporting roles your chance of victory is greater but you might not have as much fun. If you pick a damage dealer your chance of victory is far less but there is a greater chance of fun. I am skirting the mathematical model here but for accuracy we can assume another player is dealing with this same dilemma. Now if we say that fun is currency there is a good chance both sides will choose a DPS class and the game will go on, likely resulting in defeat netting less fun. While on the other hand one player picking a support while the other a DPS will mean the DPS will get greater enjoyment than the one playing support. Then the final scenario would be both players picking support, where they would have less fun but a better chance at victory. This is on average. I am aware people like support.
Here we see the prisoner's dilemma in games that we play. Where cooperation will lead to overall victory someone is going to be losing in the amount of fun they are having. This brings us back into Overwatch and how they have given some help to escape this dilemma. Although I would not say they maximised the amount of fun by an equal amount to for the support as the DPS they at least give accolades to them. There is almost always a healer up for voting at the end of each round and they tend to do okay on votes from what I have seen but some actual statistics would be cool to see. I would be betting the numbers aren't great due to the lack of kills.
The next time you are picking roles for a game or making a decision in cooperative play take a step back and you might realize you are in a prisoners dilemma. If you still aren't sure what this dilemma is check out this video.
Before going too far forward I wanted to take a step back and look at the Prisoner's Dilemma. The prisoner's dilemma is a standard example of a game analyzed in game theory that shows why two completely "rational" individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interests to do so. (wikipedia.com) Basically two people are going to have to make a decision on whether to cooperate or betray the other, when the reward for betrayal is a bigger payoff than cooperation but both people betraying one another is the worst net result.
Now let's bring this around to gaming. I am going to borrow the example from the blog from the TheRealHumanzeell's Cornell blog. I will be specifically applying it to Overwatch because I think the game has the popularity so it's a good ground to start on. Especially in its early days, a hero could be used by multiple people. Each team needs several classes and a good balance between tanks, damage dealers, and a support. If you ever played a game like it you will know how sometimes support is hard to get people to play. You do the least amount of damage, have the lowest kill count, and tend to get blamed for deaths. While a pain in the ass, the role is crucial.
The prisoner dilemma comes in when you are picking your team and you are at a point where two players have to pick support. If you pick the supporting roles your chance of victory is greater but you might not have as much fun. If you pick a damage dealer your chance of victory is far less but there is a greater chance of fun. I am skirting the mathematical model here but for accuracy we can assume another player is dealing with this same dilemma. Now if we say that fun is currency there is a good chance both sides will choose a DPS class and the game will go on, likely resulting in defeat netting less fun. While on the other hand one player picking a support while the other a DPS will mean the DPS will get greater enjoyment than the one playing support. Then the final scenario would be both players picking support, where they would have less fun but a better chance at victory. This is on average. I am aware people like support.
Here we see the prisoner's dilemma in games that we play. Where cooperation will lead to overall victory someone is going to be losing in the amount of fun they are having. This brings us back into Overwatch and how they have given some help to escape this dilemma. Although I would not say they maximised the amount of fun by an equal amount to for the support as the DPS they at least give accolades to them. There is almost always a healer up for voting at the end of each round and they tend to do okay on votes from what I have seen but some actual statistics would be cool to see. I would be betting the numbers aren't great due to the lack of kills.
The next time you are picking roles for a game or making a decision in cooperative play take a step back and you might realize you are in a prisoners dilemma. If you still aren't sure what this dilemma is check out this video.
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