{ "model": { "rank": 2768, "code": "thing-q44455", "model_id": "vr.tr.game-theory", "name": "game theory", "purpose": "Let an agent explain game theory and its main concepts, relay branches and applications from standard references, describe key results and their history, and distinguish game theory from decision theory and from strategy guides for specific games.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.KNW", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q44455/", "tier": 2, "score": 97, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "combinatorial game theory", "Rubinstein bargaining model", "bounded rationality", "Hobbesian trap", "Xiangqi Theory", "chess theory", "evolutionary game theory", "behavioral game theory", "Contingent cooperator", "game theory in communication networks", "delaying tactic", "algorithmic game theory" ], "aliasCount": 12, "merged": 12, "knownIn": 97, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q44455", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q44455", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T02:38:36Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q44455", "registryId": "vr.tr.game-theory", "name": "game theory", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.KNW" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q44455/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.game-theory", "name": "game theory", "purpose": "Let an agent explain game theory and its main concepts, relay branches and applications from standard references, describe key results and their history, and distinguish game theory from decision theory and from strategy guides for specific games.", "definition": "The mathematical study of strategic interaction among rational decision makers, analysing games in normal and extensive form, equilibrium concepts such as Nash equilibrium, cooperative and non-cooperative games, bargaining models such as the Rubinstein model, repeated games, evolutionary game theory, combinatorial game theory of perfect-information games such as chess and xiangqi, and extensions to bounded rationality and behavioural findings; game theory is applied in economics, political science, biology, computer science and security, including models of conflict such as the Hobbesian trap.", "what_it_is_for": "Not applicable; a field of study.", "affordances": [ "explain concepts and equilibria", "relay branches and applications", "describe key results", "distinguish from related fields" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Strategic interdependence", "Equilibrium concepts", "Cross-disciplinary reach", "Formal models" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; payoff matrices, game trees and equations.", "visual_identification": [ "Mathematics of strategic interaction", "Nash equilibrium, cooperative games, bargaining, repeated and evolutionary games, combinatorial game theory", "Decision theory concerns single agents; chess theory is practical strategy; operations research is broader" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "foundational book", "typical_range": "1944", "unit": "year", "note": "von Neumann and Morgenstern" }, { "quantity": "Nobel prizes for game theory", "typical_range": "several", "unit": "count", "note": "1994, 2005, 2007, 2012, 2014, 2020" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "non-cooperative game theory and Nash equilibrium", "cooperative game theory and the core and Shapley value", "bargaining theory including the Rubinstein model", "repeated games and mechanism design", "evolutionary game theory", "combinatorial game theory of chess, xiangqi and other perfect-information games", "behavioural game theory and bounded rationality" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "decision theory", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "centres on", "target": "Nash equilibrium", "why": "as a solution concept" }, { "relation": "is applied in", "target": "economics", "why": "and many other fields" }, { "relation": "models", "target": "Hobbesian trap", "why": "and other conflict situations" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "No regulation; standard textbooks and journals define the field" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Assuming rationality where behaviour deviates", "Confusing game theory with strategy guides", "Misapplying models to real conflicts" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What game theory is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition and concepts.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is game theory, and what are games, strategies, payoffs and equilibria?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about game theory, decision theory or strategy for a specific game?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "branches", "name": "Branches", "description": "Branches.", "findings": [ { "id": "branches-finding", "name": "Branches", "description": "Branches.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the main branches, from cooperative and evolutionary to combinatorial and behavioural game theory?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific branch?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "results", "name": "Results", "description": "Key results.", "rationale": "Mathematics.", "layers": [ { "id": "equilibria", "name": "Equilibria", "description": "Equilibria.", "findings": [ { "id": "equilibria-finding", "name": "Equilibria", "description": "Equilibria.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are Nash equilibrium, subgame perfection and related concepts, and when do they exist?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "models", "name": "Models", "description": "Classic models.", "findings": [ { "id": "models-finding", "name": "Models", "description": "Models.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do the prisoners dilemma, Rubinstein bargaining, the Hobbesian trap and other classic models show?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific model?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "apply", "name": "Apply", "description": "Applications.", "rationale": "Application.", "layers": [ { "id": "social", "name": "Social", "description": "Economics and politics.", "findings": [ { "id": "social-finding", "name": "Social", "description": "Social.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is game theory applied in auctions, markets, voting and international relations?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "science", "name": "Science", "description": "Biology and computing.", "findings": [ { "id": "science-finding", "name": "Science", "description": "Science.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is game theory used in evolutionary biology, algorithms and security?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits algorithmic game theory?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "History and limits.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did game theory develop from von Neumann and Nash to modern behavioural work?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the history of game theory?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "limits", "name": "Limits", "description": "Limits and bounded rationality.", "findings": [ { "id": "limits-finding", "name": "Limits", "description": "Limits.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do bounded rationality and experiments challenge classical assumptions, with findings attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits behavioural economics?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should combinatorial game theory and bargaining be separate primary entries?", "How should textbooks and journals be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming models and practical game strategy; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "discipline or field of knowledge", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a game theory, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain game theory and its main concepts, relay branches and applications from standard references, describe key results and their history, and distinguish game theory from decision theory and from strategy guides for specific games.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: combinatorial game theory, Rubinstein bargaining model, bounded rationality, Hobbesian trap, Xiangqi Theory, chess theory, evolutionary game theory, behavioral game theory, Contingent cooperator, game theory in communication networks, delaying tactic, algorithmic game theory.", "12 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 97 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a game theory, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "read it and act on what it says" ], "howItIsRecognised": [], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "combinatorial game theory", "Rubinstein bargaining model", "bounded rationality", "Hobbesian trap", "Xiangqi Theory", "chess theory", "evolutionary game theory", "behavioral game theory", "Contingent cooperator", "game theory in communication networks", "delaying tactic", "algorithmic game theory" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 97 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 12 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one game theory from another, and a game theory from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a game theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a game theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a game theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a game theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a game theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a game theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a game theory sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a game theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a game theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a game theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a game theory from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a game theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a game theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a game theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a game theory passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a game theory between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a game theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a game theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a game theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a game theory, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a game theory is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a game theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a game theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a game theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a game theory says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a game theory contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a game theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a game theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a game theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a game theory and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a game theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a game theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a game theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "subject-and-method", "name": "Subject matter and method", "description": "What game theory studies and how it establishes anything.", "rationale": "A field is identified by its questions and its methods, and those are what distinguish it from the fields next to it.", "layers": [ { "id": "subject", "name": "Subject matter", "description": "The questions it takes as its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "subject-record", "name": "Questions and objects of study", "description": "What it is about, stated so a neighbouring field can be told apart.", "questions": [ { "id": "subject-record-q01", "text": "What questions and objects does game theory take as its own?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "subject-record-q02", "text": "Which questions does it share with a neighbouring field, and who claims them?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "method", "name": "Method and evidence", "description": "How claims are established and what counts as evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "method-record", "name": "Methods and standards of evidence", "description": "The methods used and what they are taken to establish.", "questions": [ { "id": "method-record-q01", "text": "By what methods does game theory establish claims, and what counts as sufficient evidence?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "method-record-q02", "text": "What kind of claim can this field not settle, and where should an agent look instead?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "institutions-and-classification", "name": "Institutions and classification", "description": "Where game theory is practised and how catalogues place it.", "rationale": "The institutional footprint is the evidence that a field exists as a field rather than as a topic.", "layers": [ { "id": "institutions", "name": "Institutional markers", "description": "Societies, journals, degrees and departments.", "findings": [ { "id": "institution-record", "name": "Bodies and venues", "description": "Where the field organises itself.", "questions": [ { "id": "institution-record-q01", "text": "Which societies, journals or degrees mark game theory as an established field?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "institution-record-q02", "text": "What would show that it is emerging or dissolving rather than established?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification", "name": "Classification schemes", "description": "Where library and research classifications put it.", "findings": [ { "id": "classification-record", "name": "Codes and their disagreements", "description": "The classification codes that place it, and where they differ.", "questions": [ { "id": "classification-record-q01", "text": "Which classification schemes place game theory, under what codes?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "classification-record-q02", "text": "Where do those schemes disagree about its scope?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a game theory came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a game theory and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a game theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a game theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a game theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a game theory is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a game theory, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a game theory, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a game theory is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }