The Optional Prisoner's Dilemma in a Spatial Environment: Coevolving Game Strategy and Link Weights

TL;DR

This study explores how coevolving strategies and network links in an optional Prisoner's Dilemma within a spatial environment promote cooperation, highlighting the role of abstainers and cyclic competition in complex systems.

Contribution

It introduces a coevolutionary model with link and strategy dynamics in a spatial setting, revealing mechanisms that foster cooperation in challenging scenarios.

Findings

Abstainers help protect cooperators from defectors.

Cyclic competition emerges under certain conditions.

Cooperation can dominate fully in specific scenarios.

Abstract

In this paper, the Optional Prisoner's Dilemma game in a spatial environment, with coevolutionary rules for both the strategy and network links between agents, is studied. Using a Monte Carlo simulation approach, a number of experiments are performed to identify favourable configurations of the environment for the emergence of cooperation in adverse scenarios. Results show that abstainers play a key role in the protection of cooperators against exploitation from defectors. Scenarios of cyclic competition and of full dominance of cooperation are also observed. This work provides insights towards gaining an in-depth understanding of the emergence of cooperative behaviour in real-world systems.