The effect of environmental information on evolution of cooperation in stochastic games

Stochastic games with and without state information

To explore the dynamics of cooperation in variable environments, we consider stochastic games^31,32,33. We introduce our framework for the most simple setup, in which the game takes place among two players who interact for infinitely many rounds, without discounting of their future payoffs. In each round, players can find themselves in two possible states, S = {s₁, s₂}. Depending on the state, players engage in one of two possible prisoner’s dilemma games. In either game, they can either cooperate (C) or defect (D). Cooperation…