Artificial agents play the "Mad Mex trust game": a computational approach

Abstract

We investigate the "Mad Mex trust game," a game of trust which cannot easily be represented in a strategic form. We investigate such questions as: Will cooperative behavior emerge and under what conditions? What are some of the efficient and effective mechanisms for trust building in electronic markets? How will these mechanisms affect the emergence of trust and cooperative behavior? What are the key ingredients in building distributed trust and what destroys trust? This game constitutes a more realistic model of negotiation in electronic markets, particularly on the Internet.