Game theory illustrated by an animated cartoon game

This is one of my favorite things on the internet, but it focuses on the positive side of the story which is that groups of people cooperating can defeat a bunch of people who cheat each other. That's a pleasant message. Unfortunately, I think the corollary is much more important. What this clearly shows is that on an extremely fundamental level, getting cheated or cooperating with people who act in bad faith is what creates the cheating. If you tolerate…

I've seen this once. But just now I noticed something: >the fewer "repeat interactions" there are, the more distrust will spread. Doesn't this explain quite well why big internet communities devolve into a cesspool? I'm not behaving like a jerk (or worse, a moron) if I know people around me will recognise and avoid me, but as the odds of that happening get closer to zero, it becomes more advantageous to fling shit.

I enjoyed playing through this. Once you play through this, you can go back to *2. Repeated games* and get the highest score against all the different opponents – But you must know who you are dealing with. • The copycat, never cheat them until the last round. • The always-cheat, don't ever play with them at all (you will lose a coin guaranteed). • Always-cooperate, cheat them each round, they won't learn. • Grudger don't cheat these guys either…

I wonder if modern media — with their incentive to run negative stories — skew perceptions such that ever-more folks think that it's strategically better to cheat, even if that's not actually true.