Gaming

What is the nature of gaming in game theory?

If we take game as a basic form of making meaning, certainly the treatment of games in game theory does not encompass all possible ways to experience games. As Gregory Bateson says (cited by Poundstone), "Von Neumann's 'players' differ profoundly from people and mammals in that those robots totally lack humor and are totally unable to 'play' (in the sense in which the word is applied to kittens and puppies)" (168). Game theory is obsessed with being at least one step ahead of the opponent, which require one to think in advance of the other on their behalf. We might say that this type of thought leads to an eclipsing of the other, but, then again, it is this same thinking that goes into giving someone a really good gift. How do game theory go about accounting for what others are thinking/desiring/scheming? According to Von Neumann, once players enter into a game (or at least the games he's interested in), they are automatically assumed to play on behalf of self-interest and a healthy distrust of the other players (who are also out for themselves)--the occurrence of anything resembling gift exchange is discarded as useless and irrational. Carrying this mentality into prisoner's dilemmas (which would not be dilemmas at all in an established gift economy), we see that a rational fear of the other can lead to just as destructive an outcome as would irrational hatred. (My so-called opponent and I can easily help each other, but fear and rationality lead to second-guessing about that option--defection--that would help one of us and hurt the other...it's uncertain whether fear drives rationality or rationality drives fear, but the connection seems evident enough). I'm also interested in thinking more about the metaphysics of gaming in game theory, which seem founded upon the assumption an unproblematic, absolute separation between my side and your side (i.e., a victory is always a victory and a loss is always a loss, and the outcome experienced by one side has no consequences for the outcome experienced at the other side).

In thinking toward a strategy for policy formation that contrasts from game theory, one of the important points of comparison will be the concept/form of the game (perhaps comparing the games of game theory with the games of Man, Play and Games). The "theory" of game theory is (in)formed by the visions of "game" that it assumes/forwards.