The “Prisoner’s Dilemma” of SoT.

@avirex-idyll it'll probably constantly be a little bit of both, if you're playing with friends you know well? you'll probably cooperate, if you're playing with randoms? it could really go either way, and i see that lasting for as long as this game exists.

PS: There will always exists that one player who says they will be in the crows nest while you carry your hardworking a*s to get some loot so that guy can cash in.

@avirex-idyll i personally hope you're right, but the realist in me is saying i will always run into the one guy who dosn't want to cooperate, and just wants to troll me, even in the big events such as skeleton strongholds.

@personalc0ffee probably dosn't, it makes for a cool forum post title though don't it?

@avirex-idyll It’s a nice idea but unfortunately the prisoners dilemma doesn’t apply in this case because there are discrete resources.

The prisoners dilemma assumes that if the teams compete they both end up with a worse situation than if they cooperate but that’s not the case. In competing, one may end up worse off, and one better (I steal more chests than you)... or they may both end up with the same split as if they had cooperated in the first place. We both attack and then run away with two chests each.

The only way they could end up in a worse situation by competing is if one of the cheats gets lost at sea or there’s a timer on the vault.

Conversely, if there are an odd number of chests, they can never get an equal share by cooperating.

What your post does raise though is a very good question. What’s the benefit of altruistic behaviour?

The answer is always a harmonious community. I don’t attack you, because I hope you won’t attack me one day.

Hope is worth as much as gold.

The prisoners dilemma is fairy applicable to this game, in my opinion.
First, CC is where, say in the case of a pirate fortress, two crews cooperate to kill the boss and split the loot. CD would be where after cooperating one crew sinks the others ship outside, or kills them in the vault and takes more of the treasure (or both). DD would be an all out brawl over the treasure, resulting in many deaths and very few successful treasures as other crews come and kill both the ships parked outside.

You’re right that in a one off game both players average result is best if they defect, so we should observe the DD outcome, despite CC being a strictly better result.

However, I believe this can be overcome. Defect is the best strategy in a one-off game, but if the crews are expecting to work together again in the future, defecting now heightens the chances of the other crew defecting in the future. Taking into account potential future games and the gains from potential future cooperation could lead crews to be more cooperative.

@teamhilgo i'm talking about the guy who does that instead of say, helping with the sails, navigating, loading the cannons, or basicly anything they could be doing after only a quick look around from the crows nest :/, so on and island? yes have one person stay in the crows nest, while sailing? no, please no.

@teamhilgo why would you though? just have them go up every few minutes and take a quick 360 scan with the scope, if they don't see anything? have them come back down and help out on sails, or whatever

@avirex-idyll said in The “Prisoner’s Dilemma” of SoT.:

The “Prisoner’s Dilemma” shows that two completely rational individuals will not always work together even when it is in their best interest to do so.

http://people.fas.harvard.edu/~ipuri/dilemma.gif

The numbers listed will represent chest earned (more chest the better) per outcome.

Both Player A and Player B will want to maximize their profit. So they believe that the most optimal outcome would be for the other player to cooperate while they themselves defect, ideally leading to the most loot (5).

When in reality, what happens is both players end up defecting resulting in both only coming away with a single chest.

This is going to be put to the test come the launch of SoT, and even more so when it comes to large events like raiding skeleton strongholds. While I believe in the beginning many crews will opt to defect to maximize gains, eventually the SoT community will realize that cooperation between crews is where real profit can be made.

Let me know what you think? Will SoT crews start off divided and eventually come together or not?

u scared for loot ?
This chest are only for cosmetic items if i sunk ships i take this chest throw it over board. :D

@teamhilgo eh fair enough i guess, i still think the crows nest is basicly useless with how easy it is to keep lookout from the deck.

@avirex-idyll said in The “Prisoner’s Dilemma” of SoT.:

The “Prisoner’s Dilemma” shows that two completely rational individuals will not always work together even when it is in their best interest to do so.

http://people.fas.harvard.edu/~ipuri/dilemma.gif

The numbers listed will represent chest earned (more chest the better) per outcome.

Both Player A and Player B will want to maximize their profit. So they believe that the most optimal outcome would be for the other player to cooperate while they themselves defect, ideally leading to the most loot (5).

When in reality, what happens is both players end up defecting resulting in both only coming away with a single chest.

This is going to be put to the test come the launch of SoT, and even more so when it comes to large events like raiding skeleton strongholds. While I believe in the beginning many crews will opt to defect to maximize gains, eventually the SoT community will realize that cooperation between crews is where real profit can be made.

Let me know what you think? Will SoT crews start off divided and eventually come together or not?

Prisoner's Dilemma assumes the parties can't collude (they are isolated from discussion). It also assumes that there is a negative outcome if both parties betray their mutual benefit due to the promise of improved individual benefit. This game theory doesn't apply to any of the situations we have seen so far in SoT. The only remotely close thing would be two ships completing something like a Skeleton Fort with the intention to split the loot and then each of them betraying that notion trying to take all of the loot; but ONLY if in doing so it always happens that some of the loot is lost. This isn't really the case as @SnowBodhi pointed out.
I could sink your ship and kill your crew and take all the loot for myself, or at least more of the loot than I would have got by splitting it with your crew.