The impact of heterogeneous preferences on multi-issue repeated social dilemma games with correlated strategy in structured populations

Ji Quan, Ran Lv, Shengjin Cui and Xianjia Wang

Applied Mathematics and Computation, 2025, vol. 505, issue C

Abstract: Individuals frequently engage in a multitude of concurrent games. Owing to the complexity of the interactions and the inherent diversity in players' preferences, this paper introduces a multi-issue game model tailored for structured populations characterized by heterogeneous preferences. The model incorporates several dimensions of preference diversity, including the relative weight accorded to different games, and the form of preference and distribution patterns within the population. Through numerical experiments, we reveal that structured populations foster cooperation in the context of two-issue repeated social dilemma games. Two predominant preference distribution patterns are compared. The first assumes a random uniform distribution, implying that preferences are distributed evenly across the population. The second is a special distribution, in which players with similar preferences are more likely to form clusters or groups. Our findings underscore that when preferences carry equal weight across the two games, cooperation flourishes most robustly. Furthermore, the binary forms of preference and the excessive variance of preferences in the populations both hinder the emergence and sustainability of cooperative behaviors. Notably, when delving into the impact of preference distributions, we discern that special distributions are less conducive to cooperation compared to their uniform distributions. Overall, this study enriches our comprehension of cooperative phenomena in complex, multi-dimensional gaming scenarios by incorporating heterogeneous preferences.

Keywords: Social dilemma games; Multi-issue; Preference; Heterogeneity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:apmaco:v:505:y:2025:i:c:s0096300325002358

DOI: 10.1016/j.amc.2025.129509

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