man-man Posted:

Prisoner’s Dilemna is always kinda interesting (to me at least) in the way that even allowing the prisoner’s to confer won’t solve the problem if they give their answers separately – they still can’t trust that the other will do what he said he would, and in either scenario betrayal gives them the better outcome. (Asking ghax what he did only helps if he’s honest, and it’s entirely in his interests to lie)

Might be able to break out of the box if you added some weighting of the chances that the other player will choose to co-operate with you – if they’re someone you trust or you’ve had the time to plan things out with them then they’d be more likely to co-operate, but even then the fact remains that they’ve got nothing to lose by stabbing you in the back.

I think the way these get solved in reality is the additional benefits/penalties not in the original setup. Benefits like earning a reputation of trustworthiness or gaining the other “prisoner”s trust, penalties like a later revenge by the other player or guilt from screwing them over. Take those into account and you might be able to get a “co-operate” column that’s worth choosing.

This is why I’d say an honest “I choose villain” path with the promise of sharing afterwards. As long as you go in only hoping for half the prize and realizing that you still end up ahead that way, everyone is happy in the end. Of course there is a reason that communism never works out Log in to see images!