Results are in! A total of 113 people entered the contest, and I encoded their answers in a computer program, similar to the one that Alexrod used to run his experiment. I ran each strategy against all the others 100 times, each game consisting of 20 rounds. The results are shown exhaustively at the end of this document. The encoding of your answers used "1" for Trick and "2" for Help, and they are listed in this order, left to right:
score
name
Opening move
Move if opponent tricked last time
Move if opponent helped last time
Move if opponent helped both of last two times
Move if opponent helped, then tricked
Move if opponent tricked, then helped
Move if opponent tricked both of last two times
1 = Tricked; 2 = Helped
For example, here are the encodings of some common strategies:
Angel 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Devil 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
TFT 2 1 2 2 1 2 1
There were three winners, and nine runners up; the runners up were Angels (bless
their hearts), but the three winners were, well, let's call them Tarnished Angels; they
were willing to be generous, but only up to a point: they turned the other cheek once, but not twice (the last 1 in the row occurs when the other player defected twice in the last two turns):
23106000 Peeps 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 Tarnished Angel 23106000 ratsumbabble 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 23106000 Sasha 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 22160000 amello 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Angel 22160000 becky 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 cbanders 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 ekgp 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 ifiwerehendrix 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 mvc 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 Platonist 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 RichardGere 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 squee 2 2 2 2 2 2 2Keep up the good work, "Peeps" and your two Tarnished Angel pals, you've earned a reward which you can collect by seeing Dr. Snyder, when you can take time away from your other philanthropic activities.....
It is interesting that in this particular mix of strategies, Tit-for-Tat did not do as well as more blantantly altruistic strategies; perhaps Core students as a whole are more altruistic in general, so that giving someone an "immediate payback" for transgressions is not optimal!
Devils and other bottom-feeders did poorly, as we can see in the last few rows of the tally:
10329000 chicken 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 10329000 Diane 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 10329000 lundea 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 9882000 krystina 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 9882000 lnavioli 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 9882000 mcl2011 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 9882000 Sara 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 7781000 cookie 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Devil 7781000 JamesTrussler 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7781000 tod23 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7781000 U31475938 1 1 1 1 1 1 1We can see that "chicken" earned his or her name, by immediately giving up on the half-hearted attempt to be generous in the opening turn, and not having the courage to "turn the other cheek"---and I find it entirely fitting that the lowest of the low was the ominous "U31475938," an apt illustration of the "banality of evil," a number instead of a name.....
================================== Generation 100 ================================== 23106000 Peeps 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 Tarnished Angels 23106000 ratsumbabble 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 23106000 Sasha 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 22160000 amello 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Angels 22160000 becky 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 cbanders 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 ekgp 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 ifiwerehendrix 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 mvc 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 Platonist 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 RichardGere 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22160000 squee 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22039000 CTA 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 21482000 ay 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 21482000 crath 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 21482000 ct19 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 21482000 dbj 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 21482000 funkychickens 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 21482000 gene234 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 21482000 Hannahf 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 21482000 hcwilder 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 21482000 jmcb 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 21482000 ksmay 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 21482000 LIC 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 21482000 mlmorgan 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 21482000 rjardon 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 20364000 226 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 Tit-for-Tat 20364000 ACE 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 afabio 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 arussell 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 ashack 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 BowChicaWowWow 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 breagan 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 db 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 happy 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 ilovehenrysaidonicole 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 Jenny 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 kaizer89 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 kbl 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 mbg 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 mnarang 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 mschneid 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 raku 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 rbenzion 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 ScottMohr 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 shivani 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 vickycas 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 20364000 willh 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 18764000 as136 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 18764000 clp317 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 18764000 JGGENE 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 18764000 justine 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 18764000 Katieh 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 18764000 mel 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 18764000 Odysseus 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 18764000 osoofi 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 18764000 P12345 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 18764000 RandyCouturesCat 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 18764000 SenoritaFabulous 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 18764000 SL 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 16624000 book 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 16624000 Klochery 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 13532000 921 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 13532000 Abigdeal 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 13532000 cmead 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 13532000 emn 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 13532000 kkkkkkkk 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 13532000 Lauren 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 13532000 rsmyth 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 13532000 sfon 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 13532000 sjchurch 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 13302000 gatewood 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 12546000 scuccia 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 11718000 ires 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 11440000 mchenryr 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 11068000 hgee11 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 10987000 adt 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 10987000 browneyelover 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 10987000 cassiel 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 10987000 dani 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 10987000 LFO 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 10987000 noeyebrowsnomercy 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 10987000 susizzle 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 10987000 UtleyMVP 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 10329000 chicken 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 10329000 Diane 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 10329000 lundea 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 9882000 krystina 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 9882000 lnavioli 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 9882000 mcl2011 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 9882000 Sara 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 7781000 cookie 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Devil 7781000 JamesTrussler 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7781000 tod23 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7781000 U31475938 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
To download the Discussion I handout in pdf form, click here .