“Rational Game Theory in Philosophy
and Serious Video Games”
Numbers,
numbers!
Lori Shyba
Digital Media Lab
University of Calgary
Serious Games Research Roundup
FuturePlay: What will the next generation think of?
London, Ontario
October 11, 2006
Public domain or original art
+ review andIllustrations:
comments.
unless otherwise indicated
A romp through historical views of “Morality”
Glauconian Justice
External Solution to PD
Morality is a
contractual
transaction
between
scoundrels.
“Do wrong and
avoid being
found out.”
Glaucon the Cynic
Plato’s Republic
360 B.C.
Thomas Hobbes
Leviathon
1651A.D.
Civil society has a
moral obligation to
cooperate …
authoritarian
sovereigns impose
policing to enforce
justice. The “legbreaker” approach
to morality.
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Cooperate
Defect
“Keep the faith”
“RAT”
2
Cooperate
“The Prisoner’s Dilemma”
Mixed Motive Game.
0
Red circle: Unique
equilibrium is that rational
choice leads players to defect.
3
The corpus of human politics
is to move from the red circle
to the green circle. This can be
done with external or internal
intervention.
“Keep the faith”
2
5
Defect
“RAT”
5
0
3
Prisoners Dilemma Outcome Matrix
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Honoured Celebrities of Rational Game Theory
John von Neumann
Dr. Strangelove
Applied game
theory to model
Cold War
interaction
between the
US and USSR
as players in
zero-sum game.
Theory of Games and
Economic Behaviour
1957 (with Oskar
Morgenstern)
Peter Sellers in
Stanley Kubrick’s
Dr. Strangelove: or
How I Learned to
Stop Worrying and
Love the Bomb.
Peter Sellers as
Dr. Strangelove
Illustration: Colombia Pictures
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Honoured Celebrities of Rational Game Theory
Nash Equilibrium
A Beautiful Mind
The “What’s in
it for me?”
factor.
NE Sub-games
of positioning,
coalition, and
looting
interactions.
John Nash
1957
Introduced the
notion that
coalition and
positioning
strategies works to
get girls.
Russell Crowe in
a Beautiful Mind,
2001
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An example of Game Theory as an analytical tool?
Darfur is Dying — Case Study #1
Downloadable from: www.mtvU.com/on_mtv/activism
Sponsored by Reebock Human Rights Foundation
Developers: InterFUEL
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In the wrong hands
“Meet the Aggressor” Hypothetical Game, Case Study #2
Illustrations: Virtual Battlefield www.virtualbattlefield.com
Developers: Bohemia Interactive, under licence by the United States Marine Corp.
Startling revelations occurs when playing the same game
from oppressors’ point of view.
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Game Theory in Economics and Turbo Capitalism.
The Pipeline Pinball Energy Thrill Ride Game
Provincial Dilemma (PD)
For a mere $120 billion
investment (and rising)
1.6 TRILLION BARRELS of
Bitumen could be recovered
from the Oilsands.
Where’s the dilemma?
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The Pipeline Pinball Energy Thrill Ride Gameboards
Game is an allegory for:
1. Paradox of oil prices.
2. Jockeying for power
in the oilsands.
3. Accountability to
shareholders.
4. Our inescapable moral
imperative to reduce
greenhouse gasses.
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From DVD: Production still #1
The actors against 4 projected images of the PPETRG
Summary of ideas about Game Theory
1.
2.
3.
4.
Assuming the Prisoner’s Dilemma is the cornerstone of game theoretic
thinking, much of the corpus of human politics is the move from the
defect/defect quadrant of PD to the cooperate/cooperate quadrant.
Civil society has a moral obligation to cooperate. Can be through external
enforcement (leg-breaking) or internal enforcement (virtual meta-ethics).
Many serious games can be analysed within a NE subgame reduction of
coalition, positioning, and looting stategies. Illuminates context, subtext,
pretext and intertext of political, military, economic scenarios
Likewise, they can be analysed within an internal enforced system of
meta-ethics where when in doubt, follow the logic of the math.
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Bonus ideas about Serious Games
1.
2.
3.
4.
Computer simulations can enable us to observe and record rational
decision-making and examine their determinants in a way that is
easier than staging investigations in the real world.
Playing games like Darfur and Pipeline Pinball can bring an
understanding of what the future will hold in Africa or Alberta and
how priorities might have to be established or changed.
Video Games can provide opportunities for reflection by providing
experimental platforms to bring us face to face with our mistakes.
Cognitive psychologists, drama therapists, and creative artists agree
that “Make believe has always been an important way to prepare
ourselves for the real thing.” But what happens when it falls into the
wrong hands?
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Thank you!
•The Alberta Foundation for the Arts
• The University of Lethbridge
• The University of Calgary, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
• Queen Elizabeth II, Province of Alberta Grant
• The University of Calgary, Special Project Grant Committee
• The University of Calgary, CCIT iCentre
• The Alberta Petroleum History Society
• EMMEDIA Production Society
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