Evolving group coordination in an N-player game

Abstract

The evolution of coordination is an important consideration in living systems. Throughout the natural world examples of coordination can be found. These include fish schooling, birds flocking and animals hunting in packs. This paper examines the issue of coordination and how groups can coordinate their actions in a competitive setting. A number of existing game theoretic representations of coordination have been proposed. Much of the existing research has studied two player coordination games. This paper will investigate the emergence of coordination through an n-player game. The use of signalling, communication and norms is common when attempting to address the topic of coordination, yet in this paper we will not apply any of these approaches. This paper investigates the effect of group structures on the evolution of coordination in a population of self interested individuals. The results will demonstrate the importance of these group structures when attempting to evolve coordinated actions. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.