Talk:Optional prisoner's dilemma

Contested deletion

This article should not be speedy deleted as being recently created, having no relevant page history and duplicating an existing English Wikipedia topic, because it refers to a new subject in game theory. Despite the fact that it has a few things in common with the basis of other games, it does not mean that it is a duplicated nor irrelevant article.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Yoneman (talk • contribs) 04:09, 25 February 2017 (UTC)

I've declined this for speedy deletion, it is not obviously the same subject and would need looking at a lot more carefully before deletion. However, even though there are sources provided confirming this is a different game, I struggle to understand what the objective difference is between "remaining silent" and "abstain from playing". SpinningSpark 18:24, 25 February 2017 (UTC)

Thanks Spark. You are right, when the standard dilemma is interpreted in that manner, where the prisoner must choose between "remain silent" or "betray", it might be difficult to get the point of having the concept of abstention, as "remain silent" and "abstain" might mean the same thing. However, it makes a lot of sense when you consider the game in its generalized form, where players opt to cooperate or defect. In this case, the main difference between those dilemmas is that in the standard PD, the player (prisoner) is always forced to interact (compulsory game), while in the OPD, a third strategy is added to refer to the cases in which the player decides to "skip the game interaction". It is noteworthy to mention that if we use the traditional explanation of the PD game, it is still possible to differentiate the OPD from the PD, since it would be the same as saying that prisoners are now allowed to reject the "bargain offered by the prosecutor". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Yoneman (talk • contribs) 19:51, 25 February 2017 (UTC)