Individual versus group success in round robin tournament of an ability-based two-player game

This thesis studies the development of cooperation and measures of success among self-interested agents in a defined ability-based two-player asymmetric game that is structured as a round-robin tournament. Our research is motivated by the notion that in many systems cooperative behaviour depends on some parameters that are usually not considered in existing research. These include: the balance between individual activity and interaction with others; the impact of agents' ability levels; and the need to maintain balance between individual and group performance. In this thesis, we examine all these issues by using a defined game-theoretic modelling and simulation framework. Our simulation experiments on six agent group compositions establish some patterns of how an agent's ability and strategy impact its individual and overall group performance. The results demonstrate that the design framework supports methodical comparative studies of strategy profiles with respect to specific individual and group performance measures.