ABSTRACT

An n-person game is an abstract model of a social interaction in which there are three or more decision makers, each with a choice of two or more ways of acting and well-defined preferences among the possible outcomes, which depend on the strategy choices of all the players. If the decision makers are not able to negotiate binding and enforceable agreements regarding their actions and the apportionment of any resulting payoffs, then the appropriate abstract model is an n-person non-cooperative game. This type of model is used to analyse multi-person interdependent decision making where binding and enforceable agreements are impossible and there are therefore no prospects of coalition formation. In everyday strategic interactions, negotiation and coalition formation are often impossible, and they are sometimes explicitly forbidden where they might otherwise be possible. For example, the antitrust laws in the United States and the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Act in Britain are expressly designed to ensure that certain economic games are played non-cooperatively.