Navigating in a space of game views

Abstract

Game-theoretic modeling entails selecting the particular elements of a complex strategic situation deemed most salient for strategic analysis. Recognizing that any game model is one of many possible views of the situation, we term this a game view, and propose that sophisticated game reasoning would naturally consider multiple views. We introduce a conceptual framework, game view navigation, for game-theoretic reasoning through a process of constructing and analyzing a series of game views. The approach is illustrated using a variety of existing methods, which can be cast in terms of navigation patterns within this framework. By formally defining these as well as recently introduced ideas as navigating in a space of game views, we recognize common themes and opportunities for generalization. Game view navigation thus provides a unifying perspective that sheds light on connections between disparate reasoning methods, and defines a design space for creation of new techniques. We further apply the framework by defining and exploring new techniques based on modulating player aggregation in equilibrium search.