What data do players rely on in social deduction games?

Abstract

The prisoner’s dilemma is a well-studied game, with much information available about successful strategies. In this work we explore how players make decisions within an iterative version of the game, played against varying opponents in a closed environment. We present an app-facilitated social deduction game for eight or more players based upon the prisoner’s dilemma (PD). Players sat along a table and played PD, with the results causing players to move up or down the table, potentially facing a new opponent each round. We highlight which sources of information were most important to players when deciding whether to betray or cooperate, as well as deciding whether their opponent was trustworthy. Based upon player-reported data, we find players used five sources of information in the social deduction game. Data suggests that facts provided to players about their opponents are often overlooked in favour of information gained during social interaction or from events that occurred previously in the game.