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comment by kyrvin
kyrvin  ·  3208 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Red vs. Blue

I'm either overthinking this or we're missing some vital piece of information.

If Red is compelled to play under penalty of death, then Red doesn't care what move he makes as he gets no points either way. From Blue's perspective, Red then has a 50/50 chance between moves 1 and 2. As such, Blue has to choose between a 50/50 shot at 3 points or 6 points, or a 50/50 shot at 5 points or 4 points. This is a question of how risk averse Blue is, since he averages 4.5 points either way.

If Blue has to pay Red to play, and assuming Red can refuse to play (thus denying Blue any points), then Red would demand 2 points to play at the minimum, as that's the only way Blue is guaranteed to win any points (move 1, 1 becomes 0 for Blue if Red demands 3 points). However, even if Red demands 3 points, It still comes down to how risk averse Blue is, does Blue choose move 2, winning either 5 points or 4 points and paying 3 points to Red, making his outcome either 2 points or 1 point, or does Blue choose move 1 and risk getting 0 points for the chance winning 3 points.

This seems to be a question of how risk averse Blue is since Red's payoff isn't determined by which move he/she makes.





wasoxygen  ·  3208 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Red doesn't care what move he makes as he gets no points either way

We suppose that Red wants Blue to win as few points as possible. If Red can negotiate a payment before each turn from Blue, both sides can strategize to end up with as many points as possible in the long run.

    This seems to be a question of how risk averse Blue is

It could be. In previous, simpler examples, the book says each player's priority is to avoid the worst possible loss. I am not sure if this is the only way it could work; perhaps a player could also prioritize having a chance to get the best possible outcome, without regard to the worst cases. These complications will probably become more important in more complex games.