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lwscott's picture

Player's Dilemma

After I finished playing it took me a few minutes to figure out why it was called Prisoner's Dilemma. Finally, I realized that the scenario is that Serendip and I are both prisoners being interrogated (or something like that,) and I can rat Serendip out by competing or I can chose to cooperate. If Serendip and I both cooperate then neither of us would rat the other out (about whatever crime we committed). If we both compete, and blame the other person, the interrogators will know that we're lying. If one of us competes and the other cooperates, the on that cooperates will get in trouble.

I find that I play a Prisoner's Dilemma type game when I play soccer. I can choose to take the ball myself and soccer (and risk losing the ball) or I can cooperate with my teammates and get an assist. It may be selfish of me to take the ball myself but if I don't trust my teammate, and I'm afraid they might lose the ball, I feel like I have no other choice. There is always a chance that I choose to "compete," choose not to pass, and lose the ball, (aka my teammate also chooses to compete). In soccer, you always have to consider what your teammates will. When I was playing the Prisoner's Dilemma I kept trying to guess Serendip's next move. In the end it's a matter of chance. Serendip has a 50% of choosing compete and a 50% chance of choosing cooperate.

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