Product Description
Game theory has become increasingly popular among undergraduate as well as business school students. This text is the first to provide both a complete theoretical treatment of the subject and a variety of real-world applications, primarily in economics, but also in business, political science, and the law. Strategies and Games grew out of Prajit Dutta's experience teaching a course in game theory over the last six years at Columbia University. The book is divided into three parts: Strategic Form Games and Their Applications, Extensive Form Games and Their Applications, and Asymmetric Information Games and Their Applications. The theoretical topics include dominance solutions, Nash equilibrium, backward induction, subgame perfect equilibrium, repeated games, dynamic games, Bayes-Nash equilibrium, mechanism design, auction theory, and signaling. An appendix presents a thorough discussion of single-agent decision theory, as well as the optimization and probability theory required for the course. Every chapter that introduces a new theoretical concept opens with examples and ends with a case study. Case studies include Global Warming and the Internet, Poison Pills, Treasury Bill Auctions, and Final Jeopardy. Each part of the book also contains several chapter-length applications including Bankruptcy Law, the NASDAQ market, OPEC, and the Commons problem. This is also the first text to provide a detailed analysis of dynamic strategic interaction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

An ideal beginners guide to game theory
This book is the perfect mix of slow enough for beginners and math-enough for those that are more advanced.The examples used are clear and easy to follow.There are problems worked out in each chapter and plenty of additional exercises, so that a person can check their understanding.

Also, as the book continues, it gets complicated enough that those with a more advanced understanding can still find it challenging.Still, even with the more difficult math, there isn't a massive increase in jargon usage.

The examples are actually something that most people can relate to.I really think, with the most basic of math and statistics, a person could conceptually - and in practice - get something from this piece.Definitely a great text if you have a mixed class of students.

very good book
the book looks like brand new. very clean, and is carefully packaged.
suitable for beginners in game theory or topic review. recommend!

Open Yale text - very good reference
I am taking Game Theory through the Open Yale online course, and this is one of the recommended texts. If it has been a few years since you took your math and economics, you may find this heavy going. But, with the lectures and the class notes one can work through it.

The text is well organized, covers all the major topics you would expect, and complements the lectures well. It is definitely geared toward multiple constituencies and is suitable for economics buffs as well as politics and MBA types. Cases range from classic games to the WWI trenches to business and economics. Very engaging.

Highly recommended
This is definitely a very good introduction book. It is very accessible, while at the same time formalized enough to make it a good reference book.

It explains the results derived in a very intuitive manner, which I like a lot about this book. There is a straightforward, intuitive explanation provided for (almost) every result. The main points of every chapter are also outlined very nicely, the book has a great structure.

Another good thing is that the author quite often states straightforward questions right after claiming some result, like "..which leads us to ask...", or "...this begs the question of..." This is nice because it helps you keep track of what it is we are actually looking for or the general direction of the whole chapter.

The chapters are small, which I think is good because it allows the reader to get a sense of accomplishment rather often, great for motivation.

Unfortunately, there are no answers provided to the questions. If you are not bothered by that, then no problem. But I don't have that kind of dicipline, and I suspect most people don't, which is mostly why I took off one star. But on the other hand, I guess most other game theory texts don't provide answers either, so maybe I shouldn't hold it too much against it. All in all, it's a terrific book and game theory such a wonderful subject, so I can't but recommend it.

A great book for those interested in Game Theory
This is a great book for getting a good start in game theory.The proofs are laid out very clearly, which makes the whole book much easier to follow.Many of the more difficult topics are explained through exampleswhich makes the subjects more interesting, easier to follow, and better forlater application on your own.I have gone through quite a number of gametheory texts in the last few years and this one is by far the best I haveseen for someone just starting out.I recommend this text highly foradvanced undergrads and grad students who are just getting going in thesetopics.The dynamic game section was especially nicely done! ... Read more

Product Description
Since 1922, "Harvard Business Review" has been a leading source of breakthrough management ideas - many of which still speak to and influence us today. "The Harvard Business Review Classics" series now offers readers the opportunity to make these seminal pieces a part of your permanent management library. Each highly readable volume contains a groundbreaking idea that continues to shape best practices and inspire countless managers around the world-and will have a direct impact on you today and for years to come. Business is like war: The best combatant wins while the worst loses, right? Not necessarily. Companies can succeed spectacularly without destroying others. And they can lose miserably after competing well. Exceptional businesses win by actively shaping the game they're playing, not playing the game they find. "The Right Game" shows you how to do this - by altering who's competing, what value each player brings to the table, and which rules and tactics players use. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Brief overview of how game theory applies to businesses
This book is tiny but useful, so you don't want to skip a page.
"The Right Game" gives a brief overview of how Game Theory applies to business. They hit the main points byfirst going through a diagram of the players in a business survival and then by defining the interaction using PARTS; Players, Added Value, Rules of interaction, Tactics, and Scope.
For an added bonus, they give real world examples of how successful companies, like Nintendo, Monsanto, BellSouth, used the rules of game theory to their best advantage.
Overall, give this book a try if you're curious about Game Theory.

Here are some things I've learned.
* Win-Win strategies are better than Win-Lose. Example. It's better for a newcomer to capture only 10% of the market, then to strive for 100%. That way, the incumbents accommodate rather than retaliate, which helps the newcomer survive. This is called Judo Economics.
* Uniqueness is not a prerequisite for success. Imitation can be healthy.
* Cutting prices kills profits. So look for alternative tactics to compete.

Introduction into the field of Game Theory
Harvard Business Review article, published in July-August 1995, by Harvard Business School professor Adam M. Brandenburger and Yale School of Management professor Barry J. Nalebuff.

"Unlike war and sports, business is not about winning and losing. ... The essence of business success lies in making sure you're playing the right game." The authors predicts that 50 years after the introduction of game theory by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern ('Theory of Games and Economic Behavior', 1944), "game theory is about to change the game of business." They use the introduction of General Motors' credit card in 1992 as an example for win-win situations. Win-win strategies can give several advantages: (1) There is greater potential for finding new opportunities; (2) They are easier to implement; and (3) The new game is more sustainable. The authors turn to the game of business which is all about value: creating it and capturing it. They introduce the 'Value Net', with the same players are Michael Porter's five competitive forces, as a schematic map designed to reprent all the players and the interdependencies among them. This 'Value Net' prompts you to explore all the interdependencies in the game. In order to change the game, you first need to draw the 'Value Net' for your industry and, second, identify all the elements of the game. According to game theory, there are five elements: players, added values, rules, tactics, and scope - PARTS for short. Brandenburger and Nalebuff discuss each of these elements in detail, including examples. But they warn readers: "Changing the game is hard. There are many potential traps." The authors discuss five of them, but provide another warning: "there is no silver bullet for changing the game of business. It is an ongoing process. ... There is, after all, no end to the game of changing the game."

Game theory is far from simple and it requires you to open your mind or even change your mind-set. This article provides a good, simple introduction, but for further guidance you probably have to go for Brandenburger and Nalebuff 1997-book 'Co-opetition'. I would like to recommended 'Wharton on Dynamic Competitive Strategy' (1997). This article is recommended to MBA-students and beginners in the field. The article uses simple US-English. ... Read more

Product Description
In the second edition to the acclaimed Game Design: Theory & Practice, designer Richard Rouse III balances a discussion of the essential concepts behind game design with an explanation of how you can implement them in your current project. Detailed analysis of successful games is interwoven with concrete examples from Rouse s own experience. Game Design: Theory & Practice, Second Edition thoroughly updates the popular original with new chapters and fully revised text. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Excellent book.
This book is entertaining as well as informative.Not only will you receive an introduction to every aspect of game design, but you will also come away from this book with a very important perspective on the history of video and computer games.I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning how to design computer games.

For Beginners, and it's Longwinded
For what it's worth, I'm a professional in the game industry.I haven't written many reviews here on Amazon, but I thought this one deserved some attention.

I'm going to focus on some of the things I didn't see in other reviews.

First off, the back of the book says its level is "Intermediate to Advanced," when it really should read "Beginner to Intermediate."It's nowhere close to what I might call "Advanced."Anyone who plays videogames as a hobby should be able to read and understand 90% of this book, no problem.

Secondly, this book only needs to be about 1/3 of the length it is.The author repeats himself over and over and over, and it's obvious he likes to hear himself talk (he also plugs the games he made any chance he gets, but that's a separate issue).On the bright side, it's a good book to speed read/skim because chances are you won't miss much if you do it.I recently got through his section on design docs, where he says that frequently the quality of your doc is measured by how heavy the doc is (not by the quality of its content), and, well, he's certainly taken that to heart.

Third, he's one of those authors that uses the pronoun "she" instead of the colloquial "he", so be prepared.I thought it humorous that he preaches that we should know our audience when making a game or writing a document, yet there's a very very high chance that an overwhelming majority of the people reading this book are and will be male.Sometimes during his examples he makes it seem like there are whole studios filled solely with women.

Overall, if you're really new to the industry this book might be a good primer, but if you're prone to reading Gamasutra, then you're wasting your time.

Despite what may seem like scathing remarks, I'm giving the game a respectable three stars.It's not a bad book, but the above comments make it a more difficult read than it should be.It's like playing a "7" game; not horrible, but not what it could be.The author gets extra points for at least hitting every relevant game design topic, if only at the surface level.

Great book for every game designer...
That's really great book for every game designer or someone who wants to be one, but also a good one for all other people working on game, so that they can understand design work. Just don't expect programming or animation or other topics from it, it's about "game design" not "game software design" or "game graphics design" or others. It's also very important that author actually IS game designer of commercial games, and included example of design document of one of his released games (The Suffering) - some really good material there, that one is really worth it!

Great interview and practical examples book.
The editorial review is kinda deceiving, so I'll just write what's missing on it: The book tries to balance between theory, practical examples and interviews.

Which may be great to some, but not that great to others.

The book is basicaly structured in this way:
30-50 pages of Theory
5-15 pages of a practical example (something about the theory on an actual game)
15-40 pages of Interview (with some famous game designer... which might be good if the reader knows their games, and might be bad if the reader doesn't, since not much of it is exactly "game designer" content).

That structure is repeated through over and over the book's 677 pages.
But don't get me wrong, the content is still very good. Cover lots of stuff from developing the game concept, to more technical stuff like AI, Multi-playing, Level design and playtesting.

So, a good book that covers lots of stuff on game design without going too deep in specific stuff.

Excellent resource for students
I am currently using this as my Game Design textbook. As a student, it provides not only mere theory, but valuable interviews with upstanding designers. It is clear, and a joy to read. ... Read more

Product Description
Game-theoretic reasoning pervades economic theory and is used widely in other social and behavioral sciences. An Introduction to Game Theory, by Martin J. Osborne, presents the main principles of game theory and shows how they can be used to understand economic, social, political, and biological phenomena. The book introduces in an accessible manner the main ideas behind the theory rather than their mathematical expression. All concepts are defined precisely, and logical reasoning is used throughout. The book requires an understanding of basic mathematics but assumes no specific knowledge of economics, political science, or other social or behavioral sciences.
Coverage includes the fundamental concepts of strategic games, extensive games with perfect information, and coalitional games; the more advanced subjects of Bayesian games and extensive games with imperfect information; and the topics of repeated games, bargaining theory, evolutionary equilibrium, rationalizability, and maxminimization. The book offers a wide variety of illustrations from the social and behavioral sciences and more than 280 exercises. Each topic features examples that highlight theoretical points and illustrations that demonstrate how the theory may be used. Explaining the key concepts of game theory as simply as possible while maintaining complete precision, An Introduction to Game Theory is ideal for undergraduate and introductory graduate courses in game theory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

A Useful Book, However...
I bought this book as a required coursebook for a class on game theory. At first, I hated this book. There are no solutions to the exercises contained within the book, as another reviewer has noted. If you want to self-teach, you may struggle.However, after performing due diligence, I found that there exists online a pdf of solutions to most exercises within the book, available for free.

I can not speak for whether this book is best in comparison to others, because I have not read others, nor would I have the in-depth knowledge to compare, as this is not my field.

What I can tell you is that I have learned a lot from this book, but only once I found the self-published solutions manual from the author, available here:

[...]
If you buy this book, that's pretty necessary if you plan to go forward alone.

Unnecessarily complicated, scarily mathematical
Was unfortunate to get that as a compulsory text book for a graduate course. Nearly lost my mind reading it had to supplement this book with a few others.

I do admit that game theory has a lot to do with mathematics but this book unnecessarily in my opinion uses a sea of useless symbols, expressions and definitions using hardcore mathematics which were really hard to follow, and can easily be expressed using intuitive language. Granted i am not the most mathematically minded individual and may be this is the reason. The bizarre structure of the book and lack of answers to the problems and exercises did not make it any easier.

I kept the book after passing the subject (thank god), hoping that it will grow on me, nothing yet. The bottom line if you are mathematically challenged like myself steer clear of this abomination, the travesty of a text book.

Excellent! A true introduction
This book manages to teach game theory in depth while avoiding any mathematics beyond rudimentary calculus and set theory. It was used as the basis for an undergraduate course that I took, and none of the texts I've used as a graduate student can compare in terms of clarity. This is a book that takes its time, letting ideas sink in rather than abandoning students who don't grasp new concepts right away. The problems given are interesting, and many have clearly-written solutions available online.

If you are looking for a more advanced text, then Ken Binmore's recent Playing for Real stands out above the crowd.

Check the website
If you really want to know if this is the book for you, just go to the author's website (a Google search of Osborne game theory ought to bring it up).The text and solutions to many of the problems are available there.

Unreadable and Useless
I had the misfortune of having this book as the required text for a course. It was expensive, unreadable and useless. Osborne avoids basic mathematics to the extent that he uses symmetry to find the turning point of quadratics. This is extremely frustrating because while he shuns basic mathematical techniques and ideas that can make matters simpler, he presents basic game theoretic ideas in a dense, abstruse mass of mathematical symbols. I have a lot more experience in pure mathematics than in economics, but even I found all the symbols and arcane functions difficult to digest, especially when the idea being presented could be expressed FAR more clearly and concisely using a few words.

There are no proofs, very few theorems and very few realistic applications. The book is neither suited to those mathematically inclined individuals who are interested in the theoretical game theory nor to those interested in real life applications.

If you love mathematics, stay away from this book, the lack of proofs and rigour will frustrate you. If you hate mathematics, stay away from this book, the abstruse symbols and obfuscated explanations will frustrate you.

By far the worst textbook I've bought. ... Read more

Product Description
All of life is a game and evolution by natural selection is no exception. The evolutionary game theory developed in this book provides the tools necessary for understanding many of nature's mysteries, including co-evolution, speciation, extinction and the major biological questions regarding fit of form and function, diversity, procession, and the distribution and abundance of life. Mathematics for the evolutionary game are developed based on Darwin's postulates leading to the concept of a fitness generating function (G-function). G-function is a tool that simplifies notation and plays an important role developing Darwinian dynamics that drive natural selection. Natural selection may result in special outcomes such as the evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS). An ESS maximum principle is formulated and its graphical representation as an adaptive landscape illuminates concepts such as adaptation, Fisher's Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection, and the nature of life's evolutionary game. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A little bit disappointing
I am not a biologist, but an engineer interested in evolution and mathematics.
The mathematics of the book is very easy, the only (very) confusing issue are the indices.
The G-function is introduced a bit ad-hoc, but as a definition, this might not matter much. It is very clear, that by allowing the strategy to vary, one can get optimal (at least stationary) values. The strategy dynamics are introduced in a rather confusing way, without much of an explanation.

For the rest, it seems, that 80% of the book are numerical examples, which seem to prove mostly, that with nonlinear differential equations, the behaviour of (e.g.) stationary points can vary quite a bit, if the coefficients in those equations are changed.

Maybe a professional biologist gets a lot out of this book, but for the interested layman it offers little (except upteen numerical examples, see above)

Mathematical Darwinism
First, full disclosure: I am a colleague and friend of the authors, Thomas L. Vincent and Joel S. Brown, and I reviewed the entire book during its writing.

Game theory is a fairly recent development in mathematics, having been introduced in the 1940's.Evolutionary Game Theory is more recent yet - Maynard Smith and Price put it on the map with their publication in Nature in 1973 on the Logic of Animal Conflict.Maynard Smith then more fully elaborated the application of matrix games to evolution with his 1982 volume, Evolution and the Theory of Games.Vincent and Brown trace their contribution to the pioneering developments of Maynard Smith, but in this volume, they go much further.As I reviewed the eleven chapters as they were first written, I felt the privilege of observing, first hand, the construction of a great edifice.In this edifice, the dynamics of ecology is dovetailed with the dynamics of heritable strategies.The tool that accomplishes this is the fitness generating function, known as the G-function.Particularly brilliant is the invention of the virtual strategy, a scalar or vector "place holder" in the G-function.The great virtue of the virtual strategy is that it represents any focal individual taking on any strategy within the entire strategy set of the species.The fitness generating function then determines the fitness for that virtual strategy within the biotic and abiotic environment defined by the set of arguments (e.g., resident strategies, their population sizes, abundance of resources, etc.) defining the G-function.With G-function in hand, Evolutionary Game Theorists now have a mathematical Darwinism - a formal mathematical expression of Darwin's three postulates: a) like begets like; b) organisms struggle for existence; c) heritable traits help determine the outcome of the struggle.With the G-function, we can predict both the dynamics of heritable strategies and the adaptive outcome of natural selection.

Vincent and Brown begin, in Chapter 1, with an historical and philosophical overview of Evolutionary Game Theory and its relationship to the more traditional approach of Evolutionary Genetics.They then proceed to lay the mathematical foundations (Chapters 2 - 7), constructing the theory of Evolutionary Games and the G-function.These chapters each contain useful examples, teaching the student of evolutionary games how to apply the G-function.Noteworthy is that most all of the examples in these chapters represent continuous, as opposed to matrix games.In matrix games, which constitute the bulk of early development of Evolutionary Game Theory, and with which most readers are probably most familiar, strategies are discrete rather than continuous.However, the continuous games elaborated by Vincent and Brown (and now, many others) are of far more useful application in Evolutionary Ecology.Key contributions here are the precise mathematical definition of Maynard Smith's seminal Evolutionarily Stable Strategy (ESS) in Chapter 6, and the formulation of the ESS Maximum Principle in Chapter 7.This principle establishes the well-recognized properties of the ESS of invasion resistance and convergent stability, but also the fit of form and function - the ESS strategy is an adaptation - it maximizes individual fitness given the circumstances.

Chapter 8, which treats species concepts, speciation, and extinction, is particularly enlightening.Here the G-function shines!Under traditional approaches, a huge chasm, conceptual and methodological, separates microevolution and macroevolution. Vincent and Brown, armed with the G-function, unify the two: Microevolution is repeatable and reversible evolutionary dynamics within a G-function.Macroevolution is the production of novel G-functions.They demonstrate the versatility of the G-function approach to Evolutionary Game Theory in their discussion of three contexts for extinction (which is as integral to evolution as is speciation).Vincent and Brown introduce many key concepts in Chapter 8.Perhaps most important is their strategy species concept, which relies on their definition of the species archetype.They provide a particularly cogent definition of a species that is ecologically keystone (its presence promotes the persistence, in ecological time, of other species in the community), but they also point out that a species can by evolutionarily keystone - when its presence increases the numbers of species at an ESS. Using these developments, Vincent and Brown investigate mechanisms of speciation, including sympatric speciation, allopatric speciation, adaptive radiations, coevolution, Wright's shifting balance theory, and incumbent replacement.They conclude with a tour de force: a concise and brilliant discussion of the Procession of Life.As they aptly demonstrate, with the G-function approach to the Game of Life, theories such as Punctuated Equilibrium, oft cited as a contradiction of Darwinian Evolution, instead result naturally from Darwin's three postulates!

Chapter 9 is perhaps the least exciting chapter, but it serves the utilitarian purpose of melding the matrix approach to Evolutionary Game Theory with the G-function approach.This is, indeed, required reading for those who think matrix games are the only game in town.

Chapters 10 and 11 are well worth the wait and development.In these chapters, Vincent and Brown apply the G-function to an impressive diversity of problems arising in the beautiful metaphor of Hutchinson, the Ecological Theater and Evolutionary Play.Though the diversity of topics covered in these two chapters is impressive, as Vincent and Brown state, it represents only a subset of the problems that can be investigated with G-functions.Chapter 10 addresses "basic" issues of Evolutionary Ecology - a who's who of fundamental subjects.These include: Habitat selection and the ideal free distribution; Consumer-resource games, with examples on plant competition and root-shoot ratio; Carcinogenesis (a must read for all interested in Darwinian Medicine); Flowering time for annual plants; Root competition; and Foraging games.

Chapter 11 turns to the G-function as a fundamental tool for Applied Evolutionary Ecology.Here Vincent and Brown examine: Evolutionary responses to harvesting; Resource management and conservation; and Chemotherapy-driven evolution.They contrast management based on ecological enlightenment with that based on evolutionary enlightenment (prescriptions based on each emphasis are not always identical!).They point out the resemblance of control of a cancer with chemotherapy with control of a population through hunting.The analysis is striking, with the main message that if all cancer cells are not destroyed by a chemotherapy session, the survivors will evolve as the first step of what they call chemotherapy-driven evolution.If ever Evolutionary Ecologists were looking for a raison d'être, here they have it!

Life is a game
Evolutionary Game Theory, Natural Selection, and Darwinian Dynamics by Thomas L. Vincent and Joel S. Brown is a book that not only belongs among the classics of evolutionary theory, but should have pride of place on the shelf right after Darwin's Origin of Species and Maynard Smith's Evolution and the Theory of Games.

This book makes a novel, interesting and readable contribution to the proper understanding of Darwinian processes in evolution.Based on more than twenty years of collaboration between the authors, the book is a comprehensive review of Darwinian theory newly cast in an over-arching mathematical framework.Unlike Stephen Jay Gould's recent overview of evolutionary theory (The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, 2002, 1433 pages), Vincent & Brown's book is concise (382 pages), uncluttered, and supported by an elegant skeleton of mathematical theory.

Don't let the math dissuade you however.If you have read Origin of Species and have a familiarity with classic evolutionary games, you won't have trouble understanding this book.Text and numerous examples provide a clear conceptual explanation of equations throughout.

The book's premise is that life is a game and its players have strategies.Understood as such, the authors present fitness-generating functions (G-functions) that encompass strategy, population, and Darwinian dynamics to model evolutionary outcomes.The first chapter introduces this philosophy; the next six chapters develop the theory, presenting classic population models (Ch. 2) and evolutionary games (Ch. 3), then forging new theory through deriving G-functions (Ch. 4), modeling Darwinian dynamics (Ch. 5), finding the evolutionary stable strategies (ESS, Ch. 6) and developing their general ESS maximum principle (Ch. 7).

The authors are able to side-step population-genetics models (and notably, are able to explain WHY this is possible), and build a general model of Darwinian evolution.An immediate insight of their general model is the concept of flexible landscapes, which re-envisions the notion that natural selection cannot cross valleys on evolutionary landscapes, one of the fundamental criticisms of Darwinian theory since the New Synthesis. Exploration of Vincent & Brown's model illustrates that flexible landscapes can shift under evolving populations so that "valleys" are spanned by continuously uphill routes, re-forming behind evolving populations after they have passed.Further, Vincent & Brown derive the general conditions where flexible landscapes will or will not occur (frequency-dependent vs. -independent evolution respectively).

Armed with their general theory, Vincent & Brown are not content to stop after illuminating the valley conundrum, however, and go on in subsequent chapters to apply their theory to classic problems in evolution (Ch. 8; sympatric and allopatric speciation, co-evolution, the difference between micro- and macro-evolution) and ecology (Ch. 9 & 10; sex ratios, cooperation, ideal free distribution, consumer-resource competition), and even medicine (Ch. 10; the ontogenesis of cancer, chemotherapy) and ecosystem management (Ch. 11, evolutionary stable and ecologically enlightened resource management).

In short, Vincent and Brown have written a marvelous book; and from the day it was published, any evolutionary scholar who has not read it has been behind in the field, and has some catching up to do.It should also be read by ecologists, behaviorists, medical researchers and resource managers interested in evolutionary aspects of their work.

A Mathematical Approach to Evolution
Charles Darwin published his primary thesis 'The Origin of Species' in 1859. It was a masterpiece of logical deduction based on the observations he had made while serving as a naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Beagle on a scientific expedition around the world. His views were both orthodox for the day and flawed.

Only seven years later Mendel published the results of his research on genetics. Over time these sciences were merged together into what is now called the 'Modern Synthesis.' Genetics explains the why and the how of species begetting species, and how changes in the species are made when a change is made in the genes.

In 1944, with the advances in mathematics, von Neumann and Morgenstern published 'Theory of Games and Economic Behavior.' Over time the modern synthesis of the genertic approach to evolution has been fit into game theory to help understand how the randomness of genetic evolution can be predicted using game theory.

This book gives a rigorous introduction to the mathematics of game theory as applied to Natural Selection. The book presents the tools necessary for understanding many of Nature's mysteries. ... Read more

Product Description
Professor John Maynard Smith has written an account of a new way of thinking about evolution which has been developed in the last ten years. The theory of games, first developed to analyse economic behaviour, is modified so that it can be applied to evolving populations. John Maynard Smith's concept of an evolutionarily stable strategy is relevant whenever the best thing for an animal or plant to do depends on what others are doing. The theory leads to testable predictions about the evolution of behaviour, of sex and genetic systems, and of growth and life history patterns. This book contains the first full account of the theory, and of the data relevant to it. The account is aimed at senior undergraduate and graduate students, teachers and research workers in animal behaviour, population genetics and evolutionary biology. The book will also be of interest to mathematicians and game theorists; the mathematics has been largely confined to appendixes so that the main text may be easily followed by biologists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Classic and Still Great and Readable Book
With this book, John Maynard Smith initiated a major strand of modern theoretical biology! The book does not require sophisticated mathematical preparation, but it operates on a consistently high level of analyticalrigor. It is also very nicely written, with lots of biological examples.

Games
All you want to know about theory of games ... Read more

Product Description
Game theory has revolutionized economics research and teaching during the past two decades. There are few undergraduate or graduate courses in which it does not form a core component. Game theory is the study of multi-decision problems and such problems occur frequently in economics. Industrial organization provides many examples where firms must consider the reactions of others. But there are many other areas in which it is applicable - from individual workers vying for promotion to countries competing or colluding to choose trade policies. Bob Gibbons provides an introduction to the branches of game theory that have been widely applied in economics. He emphasizes the applications as much as the pure theory. This not only helps to teach the theory, but also illustrates the process of model building - the process of translating an informal description of a multi-person decision situation into a formal, game theoretic problem to be analyzed. The approach aims to serve as both an introduction to those who will go on to specialize as pure game-theorists.It also introduces game theory to those who will later construct (or at least use) game-theoretic models in applied fields of economics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Primer
When I saw that this book had no reviews I decided to write one, since it deserves a recommendation. It is really a very good text that can serve both as an introduction at undergraduate level or as a refresher. It is clear and comprehensive, covering all the basic game theory an economists would like to know. Moreover, the theory is illustrated with very interesting examples (cournot competition, job market signaling, efficiency wages etc.), boiled down to the right level of complexity. Naturally, you will not get much mathematical depth, but there are some proof-sketches. The exercises are challenging enough but unfortunately without solutions, perhaps the only minus. In summary, a great primer for a broad audience. ... Read more

Product Description
In the last few years game theory has had a substantial impact on computer science, especially on Internet- and e-commerce-related issues. More than 40 of the top researchers in this field have written chapters that go from the foundations to the state of the art. Basic chapters on algorithmic methods for equilibria, mechanism design and combinatorial auctions are followed by chapters on incentives and pricing, cost sharing, information markets and cryptography and security. Students, researchers and practitioners alike need to learn more about these fascinating theoretical developments and their widespread practical application. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Shotgun blast
If you are looking for a gentle introduction to Game Theory, then look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you need a fairly comprehensive overview of this complex subject, then this book offers a pretty good shotgun blast that is likely to address your specific areas of interest to some degree. As another reviewer pointed out, the theorems are not exhaustively proven (the authors seem to assume that you can fill-in the blanks they leave). The list of references for each chapter should be sufficient to help the more ignorant among us fill those gaps that are left. Readability is not excellent, but this is an otherwise fine addition to the library of any graduate level student or researcher in the field.

The information theory completes the game theory.
This book talks with several informations about the importance of an efficient calculation for the game theory. The applications of this theory are explicated with particular view about the modern developpement of economy. The proofs are no hard, founded on the method of finite differences, but it need to know the informatics for the calculation. ... Read more

Product Description
Game theory is the mathematical analysis of strategic interaction. In the fifty years since the appearance of von Neumann and Morgenstern's classic Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (Princeton, 1944), game theory has been widely applied to problems in economics. Until recently, however, its usefulness in political science has been underappreciated, in part because of the technical difficulty of the methods developed by economists. James Morrow's book is the first to provide a standard text adapting contemporary game theory to political analysis. It uses a minimum of mathematics to teach the essentials of game theory and contains problems and their solutions suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in all branches of political science.

Morrow begins with classical utility and game theory and ends with current research on repeated games and games of incomplete information. The book focuses on noncooperative game theory and its application to international relations, political economy, and American and comparative politics. Special attention is given to models of four topics: bargaining, legislative voting rules, voting in mass elections, and deterrence. An appendix reviews relevant mathematical techniques. Brief bibliographic essays at the end of each chapter suggest further readings, graded according to difficulty. This rigorous but accessible introduction to game theory will be of use not only to political scientists but also to psychologists, sociologists, and others in the social sciences. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great for the Novice
If you have never heard of Game Theory before and want to know how it can be applied to many real life situations in easy non-technical vernacular, this book is for you. It recognizes that highly technical definitions are only important for the high theorist and instead relates information on Game Theory almost as a story that can be understood by anyone interested in the topic. It's a great read and has definitely sparked my interest in the field.

Good concepts, bad writing
I am currently using this book as a text for a graduate level game theory course for political scientists.Although Morrow does a good job covering the important concepts, the writing is wordy, awkward, and confusing.It makes it difficult to follow some of the more complicated problems, especially when learning the ideas for the first time.I would only recommend this book for people who already have a grasp of the ideas and want to learn more and see examples -- not so useful for first-time game theorists.

Answer keys are a little bit questionable.
There are apparently two versions floating around (from the same edition and same printing) with different answer keys in the back for some of the more difficult problems.

Otherwise, this is the standard textbook for game theory for political science.I'm inspired to read Schelling!

Excellent graduate level textbook
This book is an excellent introduction to game theory for the politicalscience graduate student.Although some prior knowledge of economics andgame theory would certainly help, the early chapters in the book areexcellent in familiarizing the reader with basic formal concepts.

A fewcomments by the previous reviewer may be misunderstood by some readers. This is NOT a "general concepts" book - in other words this isNOT game theory for poets - not that I hold anything against poets.Thisbook does require some undergraduate level mathematics, mainly differentialand integral calculus.Those looking for rigorous formal proofs of alltheorems will be disappointed, but this is a technical book with anemphasis on demonstrating the application of formal tools to commonproblems in political science.Some of the material such as the chapter onperfect and sequential equilibria can be quite challenging.

If you merelywish to get a sense of what formal political science is all about and donot intend to actually fire up the old calculator, I suggest RobertAxelrod's excellent book "The Evolution of Cooperation".

Excellent introductory text: it's as technical as you want
One of the nice things about this book is it can be as technical or mathematical as you want.If you just want the concepts, you won't be jarred by lots of equations.But if you like the technical aspects,they're all there, especially in the appendix.

Great simple treatment ofeverything from basic Nash Equilibrium to more sophisticated concepts suchas Bayesian information analysis.

The only potential disappointment ofthis book is if you know game theory well and are looking for somethingvery sophisticated, this is not the book for you -- not because there'sanything wrong with this book, but because it wasn't designed for thatlevel. ... Read more

Product Description
A distinguishing feature of video games is their interactivity, and sound plays an important role in this: a player's actions can trigger dialogue, sound effects, ambient sound, and music. And yet game sound has been neglected in the growing literature on game studies. This book fills that gap, introducing readers to the many complex aspects of game audio, from its development in early games to theoretical discussions of immersion and realism. In Game Sound, Karen Collins draws on a range of sources—including composers, sound designers, voice-over actors and other industry professionals, Internet articles, fan sites, industry conferences, magazines, patent documents, and, of course, the games themselves—to offer a broad overview of the history, theory, and production practice of video game audio.

Game Sound has two underlying themes: how and why games are different from or similar to film or other linear audiovisual media; and technology and the constraints it has placed on the production of game audio. Collins focuses first on the historical development of game audio, from penny arcades through the rise of home games and the recent rapid developments in the industry. She then examines the production process for a contemporary game at a large game company, discussing the roles of composers, sound designers, voice talent, and audio programmers; considers the growing presence of licensed intellectual property (particularly popular music and films) in games; and explores the function of audio in games in theoretical terms. Finally, she discusses the difficulties posed by nonlinearity and interactivity for the composer of game music. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Read This First
Excellent writing.Very thorough research and insightful discussion.This book is appropriate to working game audio professionals and students alike.Also, if you are a game designer/producer and want to understand more about how to best leverage the power of music and sound design to improve the quality of your product - or are interested in learning more about how your audio contractors think, and how to communicate with them more effectively - insert quarter, press start, and prepare yourself for a powerful learning experience!

Read this first! ... Read more

Product Description
Quickly emerging from the fast-paced growth of mobile communications and wireless technologies, pervasive games take gaming away from the computer screen and back to the three-dimensional world. Now games can be designed to be played in public spaces like shopping malls, conferences, museums and other non-traditional game venues. Game designers need to understand how to use the world as a gamespace-and both the challenges and advantages of doing so.

This book shows how to change the face of play-who plays, when and where they play and what that play means to all involved. The authors explore aspects of pervasive games that concern game designers: what makes these games compelling, what makes them possible today and how they are made. For game researchers, it provides a solid theoretical, philosophical and aesthetic understanding of the genre.

Pervasive Games covers everything from theory and design to history and marketing.

designers, so that they can learn how to engage players' real-time experiences beyond the mobile phone or computer screen.

-Thirteen case studies with illustrative and inspiring examples make the entire pervasive games design space tangible.

-Provides practical design tips, potential pitfalls, design problems from real games, and inspiration from some of the most interesting pervasive game designers in the world, including Matt Adams, Frank Lantz, and others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Super book
This is an extremely smart and engaging book - it works as introduction and as authoritative overview, but it's lively and interesting and without any of the tedium one associates with that sort of volume!Very highly recommended for anyone with an interest in performance studies more generally.

Brilliant, Not Practical
I thinks this book is too theoretical or philosophical to get something practical.
I was able to feel the authors had tried to write down their brilliant view or insight in the book, but it was not possible to feel the in-field expert's power from the book.

A Catalog of Pervasive Games!
The first time I saw this book, it was in manuscript form on the laptop of one of the editors, next to whom I was sitting as a bus brought us to the airport from the a conference on live action roleplaying. I was immediately taken with the project: an attempt to catalog the variety of instances in which game-play has spilled out beyond the special "magic circle" of the gaming table, playground, or sports field and into "real life": live-action Pac-Man on the streets of Manhattan, Killer on college campuses, even races on reality television.

The finished product comprises 13 case studies describing a different sort of "pervasive game." Each case study is accompanied by a longer analytic essay, moving from the descriptive (what are pervasive games and where do they come from?) through the technical (how are pervasive games designed, run, and played?) to the philosophical (what are the ethical implications and aesthetic ramifications of pervasive games?). In order to make sense of the sprawling breadth of material that they have collected, the editors have divided the chapters into three parts, labeled "Theory," "Design," and "Society." More importantly, they provide an analytic framework based on the idea that pervasive games are best understood as extending play spatially, temporally, or socially. In other words, pervasive games are those in which the game somehow intersects with or infringes upon ordinary life. "Pervasive games," say the editors, "can take the pleasure of the game to ordinary life," and the "immediacy and tangibility of ordinary life to the game."

In spatial extension, the playing field is overlaid upon regular spaces: the whole world is the playground. Among the examples they present are the cases of the Manhattan apartment refurbished as an elaborate Myst-like puzzle palace (Mystery on Fifth Avenue), and a cellphone-enabled cat-and-mouse game in which players pretend to be heavily armed robot warriors roaming the streets of their home city (BotFighters).

In temporal extension, playtime spills out in everyday life. For example, one game in development allows players to "collect" Bluetooth identification signals emanating from devices around them as they commute, go shopping, and go through their daily routines. These signals can then be "identified" as different types of evanescent insects; the goal of the game is to amass the largest and most varied collection (Insectopia). In another example, participants in a live-action role-playing game (larp) played themselves in their daily lives as if possessed by the spirit of a dead revolutionary involved in a technomantic conspiracy (Momentum).

In social extension, outsiders or non-players are enrolled in the game in various ways. The editors discuss an enigmatic scavenger hunt in which players cannot be sure who around them is part of the game (Uncle Roy All Around You), and an art project at a Swedish university intended a poltergeist mystery for public consumption that wound up mainly being a mess for the janitors to clean up (Vem Gråter).

This book is an excellent starting point as an introduction to the "ludification of culture" that is attracting interest from scholars and observers of modern society; it belies easy pronouncements and prognostications about what games mean and what they portend. Its main value is in the taxonomy it provides for understanding the variety of forms and methods of pervasive gaming, but it also raises useful and interesting questions about the place of games, gaming, and gamers in Western culture. For example, the editors observe how many pervasive games are mediated by new communications technologies, and it is interesting to note the different ways in which such technologies are used: to enable coordination among players, to control the flow of events, and to "overlay" the game-space on top of the real world, for instance. It would be a good text for courses on game design, game studies, or the sociology of play, and it is a useful reference for game designers and scholars of gaming.

Wide subject, many voices
I've let this book simmer for a while. I'm not a big reader anymore; that is, I read a lot, but in the fragmented and impatient way I've been taught by the internet. Reading through several hundred pages in one go isn't for me, these days, if it ever was.

So I've attacked the book from several angles. Jumping into one chapter, checking out a reference to another, occasionally googling interesting games or reading up on the book's official blog. And, luckily for me, the book lends itself well to this form of reading. The text is full of interesting tidbits, fun and strange ideas that provide inspiration and matter for reflection. Jumping back and forth through the chapters also highlights a specific feature of the book: There are many voices, many situated authors, many discernibly different agendas*. These multiple frames of reference make for a multifaceted view of the pervasive games phenomenon.

While creators of pervasive games are often good at hyping their own games, making it sound like they've changed the lives of everyone involved and are on the verge of creating a social revolution, the editors let the projects speak for themselves; they describe the games objectively, cite research and questionnaire responses, and let the reader make up his/her own mind as to the quality and effects of the game. This is refreshing and relaxing after reading so many hyped-up articles about different pervasive projects. It also makes reading chapters like "Art and Politics of Pervasive Games" more rewarding; having facts** contrasted with vision and opinion make both parts stand out more clearly.

All in all, this is a brilliant book both for laymen, designers and researchers. I recommend it heartily, and remain a fan-boy.

* The weakest part, in my opinion, is the case study on "Mystery on Fifth Avenue", written by Eric Clough; Clough is the founder of 212box, the creators of the aforementioned mystery. While the project is interesting, the author is clearly in love with his own project, and describes it in such sickeningly-sweet syrupy language that the whole thing sounds like a Disney X-mas special.

** I'm not using the term "dry facts", because the book is too interesting.

Inspiring, rich and important
Pervasive Games, Theory and Design was a very inspiring read, Markus Montala, Jaakko Stenros and Annika Waern have succeeded in compiling their vast knowledge of this emerging genre in a great book. It is very rich in information and also practical; the book will be used as a reference by many professionals and amateurs in their efforts to work in this field.

I enjoyed the first Chapter Theory. The organisation in genres is very well done. The chapters Design and Society are very useful, the games are very well described.

I think the book is an important milestone and I would like to thank the authors for their hard work. Pervasive games are the future and this book definitely helps game designers, publishers, operators, marketeers, OEM's and others to think about these games and to create them. So, if you don't want miss out, buy this book and read it!

Maarten Noyons
[...] ... Read more

Product Description
In the early days of Pong and Pac Man, video games appeared to be little more than an idle pastime. Today, video games make up a $20 billion dollar industry that rivals television and film, and their influence is felt throughout all aspects of popular culture.

The Video Game Theory Reader brings together exciting new work on video games as a unique medium and nascent field of study--one that is rapidly developing new modes of understanding and analysis, like film studies in the 1960s and television studies in the 1980s.This pioneering collection addresses the many ways video games are reshaping the face of entertainment and our relationship with technology.In the volume, leading media studies scholars develop new theoretical tools and concepts to study video games.Drawing upon examples from widely popular games ranging from Space Invaders to Final Fantasy and Combat Flight Simulator, the contributors discuss the relationship between video games and other media; the shift from third- to first-person games; gamers and the gaming community; and the important sociological, cultural, industrial, and economic issues that surround gaming.

Accompanied by an extensive listing of all gaming consoles developed over thirty years since the birth of the video game in 1972, The Video Game Theory Reader is essential reading for scholars, gaming enthusiasts, and anyone interested in understanding the ever-changing world of digital entertainment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Well worth it
this is not light reading.There aren't any aliens to blast, cities to conquer, or my favorite, zombies to re-kill.Instead, this is fairly scholarly tome.It puts theories about why we really love blasting, conquering and re-killing.Not to be taken lightly but well worth the effort to read the science, psychology, marketing, and art behind our games.

Authoritative and interesting
The social impact of video games as a new media has been my focus this semester at the University of Minnesota and this book has been my bible.

The articles are not only informative and thought-provoking, but very interesting. As a long-time gamer, this was an opportunity for me to look differently at a medium I thought was purely for entertainment and really see the far reaching effect that video games have not only our media and consumer culture, but also on the individual's psyche and perception of the world around him/her.

If you're a researcher or just a gamer looking for a fresh perspective on this medium, you need to buy this book.

hit-or-miss
This book is an introduction to a nascent field within new media studies: video game theory, or ludology. As such, many of the essays contained herein are trying to get a grasp on what constitutes video game studies, period. Some of the questions broached are as follows:

What would constitute a formal analysis of a video game?
What features do all video games share (what can we classify as a video game, anyhow?)
Which approaches are best for the analysis of video games: semiotics, psychoanalysis, cinema studies, cognitive psychology?

This volume takes a few baby steps towards answering those questions. Gonzalo Frasca, for instance, makes the important argument that even the simplest games cannot be considered in mere narratological terms, but must be considered as a simulation. He then uses Roger Caillois's terms paidia and ludus to establish a tentative typology of video games.

Other essays, such as Mia Consalvo's essay on the Sims and Final Fantasy IX, are more shallow and contribute little beyond a superficial plot analysis and trite comments about how radical it is that a guy can have a girl avatar (and vice-versa) in a video game.

I found Patrick Crogan's essay on Combat Flight Simulator 2 and Pearl Harbor (the movie) especially insightful, as it drew some fascinating connections between Manuel De Landa, Paul Virilio, and the simulation representational ethos (as opposed to narrative).

In conclusion, this is a really hit-or-miss collection, which is perhaps to be expected considering how marginal video game studies currently is within the academy. Nevertheless, it contains some valuable contributions to this inchoate field between its covers, which will certainly help to legitimate game studies in the future.

A Fantastic Primer on Game Theories ...
The Video Game Theory Reader begins not with a bold statement or manifesto for interpreting video games but in a far more grounded manner with a foreword from Warren Robinett who is widely regarded with having revolutionised gameplay in 1978 with his design for the Atari 2600 Adventure game. Robinett opens with an obvious but inescapable question about the acceptability of video games: 'It is hard to say what ranks lower on the artistic food chain than video games. Comic books? TV sit-coms? X-rated films? These ratlike vermin at the bottom scurry to avoid the thunderous footfalls of the towering behemoths of the art world.' (vii-viii). Robinett argues that most new art forms require an 'enabling technology'-cinema had the motion picture camera-and now video games have the affordable home PC (preceded somewhat by dedicated gaming systems like the Atari, which seem to have come full circle with new console Nintendo, Playstation and Microsoft's Xbox systems). With the technology firmly entrenched and a large body of work (the games) available for analysis, it's time for the critics and theorists to pay attention. As video games become increasingly complex and, more to the point, socially entrenched, the humble video game has become a worthy subject for critical analysis and a new cultural studies field is emerging. Moreover, the fact that in the US, UK and Australia video games sales outstrip the box office takings for first release films indicates that video games are playing an increasingly substantial role in our leisure hours and social interactions. While editors Mark J. P. Wolf and Bernard Perron may be overstating the case somewhat in claiming that 'the video game has recently become the hottest and most volatile field of study within new media theory' (1) , this collection certainly goes a long way to ensuring that video game analysis will have firm critical footholds.

Wolf and Perron's excellent introduction goes a long way to illustrating that the field of video game study and theory does have both a lineage and its own proto-canon of important texts. As well as sketching the history of video game design and analysis, Wolf and Perron highlight four key elements of video games which distinguish them from the amorphous umbrella of new media: graphics, the changeable display almost always on a pixel-comprised screen; interface, the all-important connection between the game and player, which usually includes the graphics, but also speakers, microphones, keypads, joysticks, as well as onscreen elements such as sliders and menus; player activity, 'the heart of the video game experience' (15) and key to video game design; and algorithm, the program and procedures which must be to some extent unique for each different game.

Walter Holland, Henry Jenkins and Kurt Squire's first chapter 'Theory by Design' looks at the feedback loop between design, play and theory in the realm of 'edutainment'-educationally oriented games-and uses four case studies to illustrate how designing games-to-teach involves utilising, critiquing and extending video game theory. Wolf's own article in the collection looks at the role of abstraction in video games. He traces abstraction from a technological necessity, due to the processing and graphics power of the earliest game devices, to an exploratory artistic potential for current games which almost all now tend toward representational techniques and the digital holy-grail of photorealism. Alison McMahan's 'Immersion, Engagement, and Presence' then looks at methods for analysing 3-D video games as opposed to their 2-D predecessors, focusing on degrees of presence and immersion in different games and game types, including a useful case study of Myst III: Exile. Miroslaw Filiciak's 'Hyperidentities: Postmodern Identity Patterns in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games' (MMORPGs) looks at the phenomena of MMORPGs where hundreds or thousands of game users participate in a shared virtual environment and argues that MMORPGs actualise postmodern ideas of self more so than any other medium. Filiciak's chapter, while ambitious, tends to get stuck in explicating various postmodern theories of self rather than the specifics of MMORPG gameplay, making this the weakest chapter of the collection. By contrast, Bob Rehak's 'Playing at Being: Psychoanalysis and the Avatar' intertwines a rich knowledge and appreciation for the historical spectrum of video games with an equally broad knowledge of psychoanalysis and film theory to produce a provocative chapter which explores how the video game avatar operates from a mediated mirror stage through to far more nuanced and subtle notions of identity. Torben Grodal's chapter 'Stories for Eye, Ear, and Muscles: Video Games, Media, and Embodied Experiences' starts from the premise that video games are primarily 'different realisations of real-life activities' (129) and makes the argument that the best critical tools for engaging with video games are thus drawn from cognitive psychology. Maintaining a focus on embodiment, Martti Lahti's 'As We Become Machines: Corporealised Pleasures in Video Games' examines the oft-touted idea that video games and cyberspace fetishise a 'meatless' disembodied view of subjectivity. In contrast, Lahti argues that the technologies of video games complicate corporeal responses in a number of ways, not so much erasing the body as reincorporating it in a cybernetic system which to some extent actually re-emphasises the material body for game players. Mia Consalvo's 'Hot Dates and Fairy-Tale Romances: Studying Sexuality in Video Games' also delineates how video games can complicate aspects of identity, but this chapter focuses specifically on sexuality. Consalvo conducts tight focused readings of Final Fantasy 9 and The Sims, exploring the ways sexuality is portrayed, the potential for non-heterosexual readings and activity, with the latter especially interesting in Consalvo's examination of the massively popular The Sims. Markku Eskelinen and Ragnhild Tronstad 'Video Games and Configurative Performances' add performative perspectives from theatre and drama studies, highlighting the role of pleasure in reading video games. Gonzalo Frasca's chapter 'Simulation versus Narrative: Introduction to Ludology' follows in which Frasca outlines ludology-the study of video games not anchored to analyses of narrative-and shows how useful Espen Aarseth's ideas of cybernetic texts are in studying video games as simulations rather than representations. The following two chapters by Bernard Perron and Chris Crawford both focus on interactivity and narrative, the former from a more theoretical viewpoint and the latter more technical. The final chapter, Patrick Grogan's 'Gametime: History, Narrative, and Temporality in Combat Flight Simulator 2' examines similarities between gametime, gameplay and recent feature films, such as Pearl Harbour, and concludes that gametime is inherently ergodic; temporality is dictated by the episodic experiences of the game itself.

As this brief overview illustrates, the chapters in The Video Game Theory Reader range across a huge spectrum of academic disciplines, from new media studies to cognitive psychology to literary analysis and gender studies. Most of the articles are extremely well written, making firm arguments for the importance of analysing video games in contemporary society, and providing many theoretical tools with which future work can be performed. Video game analysis and ludology may be a newly emerging field, but The Video Game Theory Reader guarantees that it's a field which will have considerable theoretical groundings and provide important insight into contemporary popular culture. ... Read more

Product Description
When The Compleat Strategyst was originally published in 1954, game theory was an esoteric and mysterious subject, familiar only to specialized researchers, particularly in the military. Its prominence today can be traced at least in part to this classic book, which popularized the subject for amateurs, professionals, and students throughout the world. This is a reprint of a 1966 revised edition of the book originally published in 1954. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Mathematicians Beware
If you're interested in learning a significant amount of game theory, stay away. Williams's writing style is excessively verbose and, frankly, tiring. Williams takes ages to get even the smallest point across and devotes huge portions of the text to dealing with common-sense topics that really don't deserve so much attention. The many examples in the book are overly complex and poorly worded.

Aside from that, the book simply doesn't cover very much material. After reading over 300 pages of this book you will know less about game theory than someone who read 60 pages of Philip Straffin's book on the topic. This isn't helped by the fact that by restricting himself to elementary arithmetic, Williams is forced to skip over most of the important details of the workings of game theory. As a result, readers of this book will only understand how - not why - zero-sum games can be solved.

I recommend this book to adults who have a paralyzing fear of anything but the most basic mathematics. Younger readers will most likely find it tedious wading through the writing style and readers capable with math with be frustrated with the lack of mathematical rigor.

As an alternative, I wholeheartedly recommend "Game Theory and Strategy" by Philip Straffin. It's shorter, covers three-to-four times as much material, and offers a truly compleat understanding of the topic while requiring only high-school level math (no calculus!).

For mechanics not engineers
Game theory for the users not for mathematicians.

Write a book on jet engines for engineers and you'll have chapters on the choice of alloy for the turbine blades and casing, formulae for fuel nozzle diameters, air flow and compression ratios, etc.Write a book on jet engines for mechanics, and it might be just as long, but have very different content, with types of failures and their causes, proper tool selections, techniques for cleaning internal components, etc.

"The Compleat Strategyst" is for people who (figuratively) turn wrenches in problems of decision-making.Were it for mathematicians, it would have long, convuluted derivations of axioms, and use sigma notation on 2 out of three pages.As a liberal arts major, it was a relief to find out that calculus appears nowhere in this book, as greek letters mixed in math disturb my digestion, and cause anxiety attacks.You'll need some math, but only what would show up in junior high school pre-algebra.The worst you'll run into are ratios with five or more elements and some long division problems, nothing that requires a recovery period.

What it does have is a first rate explaination of decision matrices for economists, historians, and poli-sci majors, along with other essential topics in game theory.The focus is basic, two-player games with only passing mention to anything other than zero-sum games, but within its limits, it is very good.Use of matrices to support decisions, the value of randomness in situations where strategies are of similar risk-benefit, and multiple strategy games are covered very well.Although basic, enough detail and examples are given, that the concepts can be readily applied to real world decisions.Any student of political science would do well to read this book and do the problems.

The book was first publish in 1954, and the illustrations and prose can be a little 'camp' at times, but younger readers will be mildly amused at the corniness of their elders, and have a brief glimpse of life during the Cold War, and the early post-WW II era.

Within in its limits, Great!But it is limited.

E. M. Van Court

Dated and Quirky -- not best intro
It's cheap, it's a classic, and it's got a sense of humor.These would
seem good reasons to choose this as your intro to game theory.
On the other hand, it's dated, the elaborate writing style can
get tiring, and most importantly the ideas are not communicated
very well.For example, there's quite a bit of focus at
the beginning on the formalism itself (the payoff matrix),
instead of tying to applications and intuition.

I highly recommend Philip Straffin's book on game theory as an
alternative.My son and I were reading The Compleat Strategyst
together and he found it a turn-off.We switched to Straffin's
book and are both enjoying it.The pedagogy is excellent, the
writing is clear, and there are many examples and exercises.
It not only gets the ideas across better -- it is also more
precise, with many explicit definitions, theorems, and proofs.
Game Theory and Strategy (New Mathematical Library)

Beware!
Warning:This book only tells you how to solve game theory problems, NOT WHY the solutions work!So you actually aren't truly learning game theory at all.It's really more an answer key than a primer on game theory.If that's what you want, fine, but if you're looking for an initial step on the road to UNDERSTANDING game theory, look elsewhere.

Games People Play
Funny thing about words:depending on context, they can evoke quite different moods.Take, for example, "matrix":when referring to a certain movie with Keanu Reeves and Carrie Anne Moss, most people react favorably.Used, however, when discussing mathematics, and the majority will feel something different, perhaps akin to fear and repulsion.On the one hand, this is understandable; working with matrices can be tedious grunt work with little of the theoretical beauty that much of math offers; on the other hand, it is the heart and soul of one particularly interesting branch, game theory.

J.D. Williams's The Compleat Strategyst is an introduction to game theory and by the end of the volume you will see your fair share of matrices, but this should not be overly intimidating.Williams knows that they can be unwieldy and does his best to simplify matters.But first, he introduces us to game theory itself.

Essentially, game theory is a mathematical method for calculating strategies.In most games, the theory will be too overly simple, but it does offer a lot of insights with practical implications in fields such as economics (for example, John Nash of "A Beautiful Mind" won his Nobel Prize for work in this field).The classic illustration, not really discussed in this book, involves the Prisoner's Dilemma:two men are held for a crime.If neither confesses, both go free;if only one confesses, he gets a light sentence and the other gets a heavy one; if both confess, they each get a medium sentence.What should the prisoner's strategy be?Silence can result in the best payout (freedom), but also the worst if the other prisoner confesses.Confession guarantees a sentence, but at worst, it will not be as bad as the one that can result from silence.

So what is the best strategy?Generally, if both prisoners act rationally, they will take the choice that results with the least "bad" result:That would mean confession, which at worst, results in a medium sentence (which is better than the long sentence that silence could lead to).Of course, things can work out differently in the real world.

In many games (though not the Prisoner's Dilemma), the player gets to play multiple times, in which case, the best strategy can actually be a mix of various strategies.The laying out of these various strategies and the various payouts is in the form of a matrix, a square or rectangular grid of numbers, with each row representing a strategy of player A and each column one for player B.

Even if this seems a little bewildering, Williams does a good job at explaining it, lacing his examples with plenty of humor (which I actually found only mildly funny, but it does lighten the prose).But no matter how good the writing is, eventually, the complexity of matrices can get overwhelming.It is here that one of the weaknesses of the book shows:due to its age (this edition was written in 1966), the use of computers is virtually ignored, although they could be very useful:the work here uses algorithms that can be reproduced easily on a computer.Then again, maybe it's more important to know the mechanics of game theory rather than relying on a computer.

Most of the math in this book is basic addition and multiplication, so if you're patient enough, you can learn this material even if you're not mathematically inclined.And even if you don't want to learn the more complex methods (or do the sample exercises), you can still get a lot of good insight from this book.The Compleat Strategyst may not help you win many games - at least directly - but it will give you an opportunity to think about them in a new manner.
... Read more

Product Description

The Video Game Theory Reader 2 picks up where the first Video Game Theory Reader (Routledge, 2003) left off, with a group of leading scholars turning their attention to next-generation platforms-the Nintendo Wii, the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360-and to new issues in the rapidly expanding field of video games studies. The contributors are some of the most renowned scholars working on video games today including Henry Jenkins, Jesper Juul, Eric Zimmerman, and Mia Consalvo. While the first volume had a strong focus on early video games, this volume also addresses more contemporary issues such as convergence and MMORPGs. The volume concludes with an appendix of nearly 40 ideas and concepts from a variety of theories and disciplines that have been usefully and insightfully applied to the study of video games.

Customer Reviews (1)

Review
I am currently busy with my MA degree in Drama and Film and this book is critical to my studies.It didn't take long to get here and now I'm able to further elaborate on certain points I've made in my thesis.Thanks for the great service!! ... Read more

Product Description
"This book collects the essential existing results in the fast-pacedfield of learning and evolutionary game theory together with new work bytwo leaders in the field. It will be essential to anyone doingtheoretical work on learning and games or using evoultionary game theoryin applied work." -- Larry Samuelson, Antoine Augustin Cournot Professorof Economics, University of Wisconsin

In economics, most noncooperative game theory has focused on equilibriumin games, especially Nash equilibrium and its refinements. Thetraditional explanation for when and why equilibrium arises is that itresults from analysis and introspection by the players in a situationwhere the rules of the game, the rationality of the players, and theplayers' payoff functions are all common knowledge. Both conceptuallyand empirically, this theory has many problems.

In The Theory of Learning in Games Drew Fudenberg and DavidLevine develop an alternative explanation that equilibrium arises as thelong-run outcome of a process in which less than fully rational playersgrope for optimality over time. The models they explore provide afoundation for equilibrium theory and suggest useful ways for economiststo evaluate and modify traditional equilibrium concepts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

This book is not about learning but the application of nonlinear dynamics
This book does not provide valuable information about learning systems. It demonstrates, that nonlinear dynamics can be used to describe a subclass of learning. I personally doubt, that this subclass is of great interest, because it neglects completely heuristic strategies in game playing. Besides this, nonlinear dynamics is only useful if the number of parameter of the system is small. I doubt, that these toy examples are sufficient to describe reality, e.g., economics.

Moreover, the organization of the book and the style it is written in, is in my view not favorable.

I guess, this book is for a very small readership that does not have to worry about the correspondence of a model with nature. But also from this perspective it can not be recommended, because it is not written well. Both thumbs down!

Learning Learning in Games
An excellent treatise on some important work in the theory of learning in games. Fudenberg and Levine provide a good coverage of standard myopic play dynamics with a special emphasis on ficticious play and replicator dynamics. I particularly liked the sections going through the Kandori, Mailath and Rob (1993) model as well as Young (1993) on the evolution of convention.

The treatments of dynamic systems analysis, elementary game theory, stochastic approximation theory, etc., are necessarily short. The appendices do not suffice for a reader without a reasonable background.

Nonetheless an essential read for anybody doing serious work in learning, or wanting to know what all the fuss is about.

Good book
During the work on my master thesis ("Learning in strategicgames") i bought several books about the topic. This is the one ofthem. Chapters 1 and 2 (Introduction, Fictitious Play) are really goodintroduction into the subject. The following chapters evolve the theoryfurther giving some good ideas for practical implementation (I was writinga C programwhich had to be able to play the game and to learn). I wouldrecommend this book to anyone interested in relatively new field - Learningin games. ... Read more

Product Description
Engaging and highly readable, Games of Strategy is a clear and comprehensive introduction to the study of game theory.The third edition uses resonant, real-world examples to simplify complex theoretical ideas, helping students see the value of strategic thinking in a variety of situations.
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Customer Reviews (19)

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I used this book in my senior seminar class Game Theory.It was very helpful, especially the solved exercises at the end of each chapter, however don't make the same mistake I made in purchasing it.check out [...]to rent and sell your textbooks. when you do, be sure to use the Promo code CC127573 when you rent for an extra 5% off already great savings.OR if you're looking to make a quick buck try selling your old textbooks.Use the same code and receive an additional $5 on your sale!

Significantly cheaper than my school's bookstore.
Simple, quick, exactly what I ordered at a much better price (about $50 cheaper) than my college's bookstore.

Very Well Written for its Intended Audience
Now in its third edition, this book has become one of the standards used for a general introduction to game theory at the beginning college level. In this edition the authors (with the addition of David Reiley) have maintained their philosophy of using situations commonly understood by college students (dating, taking tests, historical situations) to illustrate the commonly understood games.

Virtually each chapter has been changed at least minimally, and some chapters have seen extensive changes that reflect more recent changes in game theory. One such area of major change is the treatment of information in games and its subtopic mechanism design. This area was a subject of research for which the 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded. These changes have required major rewriting of several chapters and the creation of a new chapter.

Consistent with the earlier editions, this book is very well written in a manor that the beginning college student can appreciate and the mathematical content is very low as is fitting for an introductory book.

Confusing for Any Student Regardless of Level
I am a doctoral candidate in economics and I gained exposure to this book while trying to help an undergraduate friend with her game theory course taught by one of the authors.From what I read, the body of the textbook is satisfactory, despite poorly formatted equations and numerical examples.

The failing of this textbook is however in the unnecessarily convoluted and poorly worded examples and exercises.The discipline is challenging enough as is and it is only made worse when it is so difficult to comprehend what the exercises are asking you to answer.This sounds rather harsh, but it's extremely frustrating to not be able use this textbook to demonstrate the material when I already have a solid understanding of it.I would have simply used another textbook, but as I mentioned the student was being taught by one of the authors.

An unsatisfactory effort from a very good economist in Dixit.I would recommend the Rasmusen text instead for an introductory game theory class.

readable, interesting
This book is readable and interesting.It would be good for econ or non-econ majors.Alittle odd in presentation. ... Read more

Product Description
A problem-oriented text for evaluating statistical procedures through decision and game theory. First-year graduates in statistics, computer experts and others will find this highly respected work best introduction to growing field.
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Product Description
The mathematical theory of games was first developed as a model for situations of conflict, whether actual or recreational. It gained widespread recognition when it was applied to the theoretical study of economics by von Neumann and Morgenstern in Theory of Games and Economic Behavior in the 1940s. The later bestowal in 1994 of the Nobel Prize in economics on Nash underscores the important role this theory has played in the intellectual life of the twentieth century.

This volume is based on courses given by the author at the University of Kansas. The exposition is "gentle" because it requires only some knowledge of coordinate geometry; linear programming is not used. It is "mathematical" because it is more concerned with the mathematical solution of games than with their applications.

Existing textbooks on the topic tend to focus either on the applications or on the mathematics at a level that makes the works inaccessible to most non-mathematicians. This book nicely fits in between these two alternatives. It discusses examples and completely solves them with tools that require no more than high school algebra.

In this text, proofs are provided for both von Neumann's Minimax Theorem and the existence of the Nash Equilibrium in the $2 \times 2$ case. Readers will gain both a sense of the range of applications and a better understanding of the theoretical framework of these two deep mathematical concepts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An easy start to a lifetime of intriguing strategies
This book is an appropriate gift for a teenager with a taste for mathematics.Highly accessible, requiring some algebra, but not much more, the book introduces the deceptively simple mathematical subject of game theory.First of all, it indicates what is =meant= by a game -- something more akin to rock, paper, scissors, than monopoly or chess.Game theory (in a way like chaos theory) is seriously mis-named; the games played tend to be ones that are simple models of economic choice or political strategizing.This is why research in game theory has led to the Nobel Prize in Economics for more than one person.

In any case, I used this book as a resource in a discrete math class for teenaged students who were extremely interested in math.It was intended for non-math majors in college, but I think it would work very well as enrichment in the high school classroom (or even middle school -- one can use it in developing an application for algebra).After learning the rudiments of game theory, I thought to apply the concept to =The Weakest Link=, and found that, as a game, it is far more complicated than what you'll find in this book.

Still, this is just a starting point.There are plenty of avenues to explore beyond what is covered in here, but one can get bogged down with all the different types of situations that have been treated in game theory. ... Read more

Product Description
This thoroughly revised edition of the critically acclaimed 'Game Theory and Experimental Games: The Study of Strategic Interaction' provides a user-friendly
introduction to the fundamental ideas of mathematical game theory together with a comprehensive survey of experimental gaming and other major applications in social psychology, decision theory, economics, politics, evolutionary biology, philosophy,
operational research and sociology.
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Customer Reviews (1)

A great eye opener
I had a lot of fun reading this book. It is a tremendously balanced approach to game theory - not claiming that game theory is the solution, but rather a generalized approach that itself has flaws. It was a great overview of the history of game theory, its practical applications and limitations, and its proper applications. While this book does dive into the logic (sometimes deeply) it is still approachable for the non math inclined. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in problem solving and theory. ... Read more

Product Description
In recent years game theory has swept through all of the social sciences. Its practitioners have great designs for it, claiming that it offers an opportunity to unify the social sciences and that it it the natural foundation of a rational theory of society. Game Theory is for those who are intrigued but baffled by these claims, and daunted by the technical demands of most introductions to the subject.

Requiring no more than simple arithmetic, the book:


* Traces the origins of Game Theory and its philosophical premises

* Looks at its implications for the theory of bargaining and social contract theory

* Gives a detailed exposition of all of the major `games' including the famous `prisoner's dilemma'

* Analyses cooperative, non cooperative, repeated, evolutionary and experimental games ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good for application to social sciences; bad for introduction
The second edition of this book has the benefit of significant improvements on the first edition. The first was criticized for being incorrect at times; the second book is revised and improved.Generally, the book gives a detailed examination of game theory including all the essential elements. Its applications to the moral, political, and philosophic ideas are well developed and extremely interesting."The book takes several detours to offer useful expositions of terms and debates such as methodological individualism, common knowledge, equilibrium, learning, morality, norms, etc." as the last review said. These detours prove worthwhile.

The book is difficult to follow and poorly organized, in my opinion. It takes significant work to find the essential ideas and suffers from a lack of "introduction". For those unfamiliar with game theory there are many introductory texts that give a better presentation of the basic ideas without having to work as hard. One of these I find particularly helpful is available online (I had found it for free): Game Theory by Turocy and von Stengel which was used as the introductory survey for the Encyclopedia of Information and Systems. Lawyers may find a short pamphlet produced by Kaplow and Shavell "Decision analysis, Game theory, and Information" quite a useful and practical introduction.The advantage of these texts is their length; both can be read within an couple of hours.Also, both of these provide a bibliography for further reading. For the mathematically inclined, the comprehensive treatment by Fudenberg and Tirole, Game Theory, is a classic for a reason.

This book is a worthwhile text and can spark significant thought and suggest great research; however, I fear it could scare too many off as an introduction to the (amazing) world of games.

Best critical introduction to game theory, for skeptics
This is an excellent book.An introduction to game theory for those who approach the field with some skepticism.The book gives you all the important essential elements of non-cooperative and evolutionary game theory but with a much deeper emphasis on understanding its essential methodological and philosophical underpinnings yet without too much formalism.The authors do a superb job of introducing the topics via a tour of important moral, political, and philosophical ideas and debates mentioning Marx, Smith, Hobbes, Habermas, Hume, Locke and others.The book takes several detours to offer useful expositions of terms and debates such as methodological individualism, common knowledge, equilibrium, learning, morality, norms, etc.I'd recommend this book for two types of people: (1) those who plan to read just one book about game theory (because you don't think it's your cup of tea); and (2) those who plan on learning game theory rigorously (so that you can get a picture of the forest before getting lost in the trees).
This is not just one of my favorite books amongst the several books that I have read on game theory and mechanism design, but also one of the most thumbed book in my entire book collection. ... Read more