Evolutionary games on multilayer networks: A colloquium

TL;DR

This paper reviews how multilayer networks influence evolutionary games, especially cooperation, highlighting new phenomena arising from interdependent networks and their impact on social dynamics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of evolutionary games on multilayer networks, emphasizing conceptual differences, classifications, and emergent cooperative behaviors.

Findings

Interdependence can lead to counterintuitive evolutionary outcomes

Coupling strategies across layers promotes cooperation

Pattern formation enhances collective behavior in complex networks

Abstract

Networks form the backbone of many complex systems, ranging from the Internet to human societies. Accordingly, not only is the range of our interactions limited and thus best described and modeled by networks, it is also a fact that the networks that are an integral part of such models are often interdependent or even interconnected. Networks of networks or multilayer networks are therefore a more apt description of social systems. This colloquium is devoted to evolutionary games on multilayer networks, and in particular to the evolution of cooperation as one of the main pillars of modern human societies. We first give an overview of the most significant conceptual differences between single-layer and multilayer networks, and we provide basic definitions and a classification of the most commonly used terms. Subsequently, we review fascinating and counterintuitive evolutionary outcomes that emerge due to different types of interdependencies between otherwise independent populations. The focus is on coupling through the utilities of players, through the flow of information, as well as through the popularity of different strategies on different network layers. The colloquium highlights the importance of pattern formation and collective behavior for the promotion of cooperation under adverse conditions, as well as the synergies between network science and evolutionary game theory.