game

Games are networks specific to a >group ("players") and can be classified according to the >configurations of communication, interaction and shared knowledge in the group. In games the result of actions of one actor depend on the actions taken by other actors. Game theory is the special field in economics which classifies and investigates the consequences of these patterns or the actions of the actors. The central question is whether and how states in groups materialize where no more incentives/causes exist to change the realized behavioral patterns. These patterns are identified as >equilibrium.

According to the fundamental premise of >bimodality, every game can be analyzed as "objective" structure of interactions via the interdependencies of results or as knowledge structure. An important aspect of the latter is to which extent the actors share common knowledge about the game. We call this knowledge the >language game which is the knowledge mode of the original game. Language games consist of subjective cognitive schemes, social rules, habits etc.

Classical game theory analyzes the results of the strategic interaction between actors who take rational decisions based on their referential knowledge about the game. Evolutionary game theory analyzes the results of recurrent games with a changing composition of the group, if every actors follows a fixed and idiosyncratic decision rule, and if the share of actors following a certain rule is dependent on the result of their action. In EE, these alternatives define the extremes of game configurations in real networks which always are mix of rule-governed behavior and conscious choice.

Basic References
There are some excellent web resources on game theory:
The Game Theory Website
Levine's introduction to game theory

Semantic Field
network
action   game   group
language games