Emergent Cooperative Gameplay
By: Elizabeth England
Supervisor: Michael McCoy
Master of Interactive Technology degree conferred May 5, 2008
Thesis / Project completed February 28, 2008

This thesis attempts to reconcile the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma with a game whose primary purpose is entertainment in an effort to reproduce a gradual trend from competitive gameplay to cooperative.  It involves the creation of a 2D game to provide a ground to implement the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma and collecting data from play testers to track their choices. This game centers on a reverse-shooter game mechanic, where players either store their energy to directly increase their score or unleash their energy to create a bomb and destroy enemies on the game field, increasing their score with each kill.  The players’ objective is to reach the highest score possible.

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