Lori ShybaDigital Media LabUniversity of Calgary

Serious Games Research RoundupFuturePlay: What will the next generation think of?London, OntarioOctober 11, 2006

“Rational Game Theory in Philosophy and Serious Video Games”

+ review and comments.Illustrations: Public domain or original art unless otherwise indicated

Numbers, numbers!

Glaucon the CynicPlato’s Republic

360 B.C.

Glauconian Justice External Solution to PD

+ review and comments.n

A romp through historical views of “Morality”

Morality is a contractual transaction between scoundrels. “Do wrong and avoid being found out.”

Thomas HobbesLeviathon 1651A.D.

Civil society has a moral obligation to cooperate … authoritarian sovereigns impose policing to enforce justice. The “leg-breaker” approach to morality.

+ review and comments.

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Red circle: Unique equilibrium is that rational choice leads players to defect.

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.

Cooperate“Keep the faith”

Defect“RAT”

“The Prisoner’s Dilemma” Mixed Motive Game.Cooperate

“Keep the faith”

Defect“RAT”

Prisoners Dilemma Outcome Matrix

2

2

3

3

5

0

0

5

Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour

1957 (with Oskar Morgenstern)

John von Neumann Dr. Strangelove

+ review and comments.n

Honoured Celebrities of Rational Game Theory

Applied game theory to model Cold War interaction between the US and USSR as players in zero-sum game.

Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove

Peter Sellers in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Illustration: Colombia Pictures

John Nash1957

Nash Equilibrium A Beautiful Mind

+ review and comments.n

Honoured Celebrities of Rational Game Theory

The “What’s in it for me?” factor. NE Sub-games of positioning, coalition, and looting interactions.

Russell Crowe in a Beautiful Mind,

2001

Introduced the notion that coalition and positioning strategies works to get girls.

Darfur is Dying — Case Study #1

+ review and comments.n

An example of Game Theory as an analytical tool?

Downloadable from: www.mtvU.com/on_mtv/activism Sponsored by Reebock Human Rights FoundationDevelopers: InterFUEL

“Meet the Aggressor” Hypothetical Game, Case Study #2

+ review and comments.n

In the wrong hands

Illustrations: Virtual Battlefield www.virtualbattlefield.comDevelopers: Bohemia Interactive, under licence by the United States Marine Corp.

Startling revelations occurs when playing the same game from oppressors’ point of view.

The Pipeline Pinball Energy Thrill Ride Game

+ review and comments.n

Game Theory in Economics and Turbo Capitalism.

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?

The Pipeline Pinball Energy Thrill Ride Gameboards

+ review and comments.n

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.

+ review and comments.

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The actors against 4 projected images of the PPETRG

From DVD: Production still #1

Summary of ideas about Game Theory

+ review and comments.n

1. 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.

2. Civil society has a moral obligation to cooperate. Can be through external enforcement (leg-breaking) or internal enforcement (virtual meta-ethics).

3. 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

4. Likewise, they can be analysed within an internal enforced system of meta-ethics where when in doubt, follow the logic of the math.

Bonus ideas about Serious Games

+ review and comments.n

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Video Games can provide opportunities for reflection by providing experimental platforms to bring us face to face with our mistakes.

4. 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?

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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