Chapter 19: Games as Game Theory Systems

These are the main problems: How does each player plan his course—i.e., how does one formulate an exact concept of a strategy? What information is available to each player at every stage of the game? What is the role of a player being informed about the other player's strategy? About the entire theory of the game?—Oscar Morganstern and John Von Neumann, Theory of Games and Economic Behavior

Introducing Game Theory?

Perhaps you thought that this entire book was about game theory. If that were the case, what does "Games as Game Theory Systems" mean? Actually,game theory is not what it may appear to be. It is not a general term that means theoretical approaches to games. Game theory means something quite specific: it is a branch of economics that can be traced back to the work of two mathematicians, Oscar Morganstern and John Von Neumann. The classic text in the field is Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, published in 1942.

Game theory is the mathematical study of decision making. It looks at how people behave in specific circumstances that resemble very simple kinds of games. The founders of game theory intended to create a new kind of mathematical approach to the study of economics. Morganstern and Von Neumann were writing during a time when Marxism was very much in vogue in the field of economics, and Theory of Games and Economic Behavior was, in many ways, an attempt to replace the ideological approach of Marxism with a more rational and scientific set of techniques. Although it caused quite a sensation when it was introduced, the promises of game theory were never quite fulfilled, and it has largely fallen out of favor as a methodology within economics. But game theory can still be quite useful for game designers.

The theory of games is a theory of decision making. It concerns how one should make decisions and, to a lesser extent, how one does make them.You make a number of decisions every day. Some involve deep thought, while others are almost automatic.Your decisions are linked to your goals—if you know the consequences of each of your options, the solution is easy. Decide where you want to be and choose the path that takes you there.When you enter an elevator with a particular floor in mind (your goal), you push the button (one of your choices) that corresponds to your floor.[1]

As a formal game design schema, Games as Game Theory Systems looks at games as systems of rational choice. It is potentially useful to game designers for two chief reasons.

First, it analyzes situations that resemble simple games in a very detailed way. Even more importantly, as game theorist Morton

D. Davis points out in the previous quotation, game theory specifically focuses on relationships between decisions and outcomes. We know from our earlier discussion of interactivity that actions and outcomes are the building blocks of meaningful play. Within this schema, we explore questions of how players plan their course of action within a game and how they formulate strategies and make decisions. From decision trees to degenerate strategies, we will look closely at the application of game theory concepts to the design of meaningful play.

[1]Morton D. Davis,

Game Theory: A Nontechnical Introduction (Mineola: Dover Publications, 1970), p. 3.