Prisoner's Dilemma or Game: Flash installation + 2 joysticks + projetor. INTERPARLA Festival, Spain

Co-workers & Funding

Prisoner’s Dilemma or Game was conceived in partnership with Ivan Valadares and sends us to a playable digital application through images projected on a wall and arranged from a computer. Interaction is possible through the control of two joysticks, and two players must cooperate in order to finish the three available levels. These levels consist of three different platforms/maps: fleeing from the police (labyrinth), responding to a questionnaire and eliminating the agent in power in combat through collaboration. This application was inspired in the classic prisoner
’s game introduced by game theory and emphasizes aspects related to logic and mathematics, facilitating an understanding that cooperation is fundamental for progress in a board game.

Prisoner’s Dilemma or Game emerges as a non-zero-sum game in which the total points distributed between the players depends upon actions chosen in the game. The action goals result is the maximization of points, which is not so much a matter of defeating the opponent. This game has the following structure: we start with two prisoners who were incarcerated and suspected of committing a crime together. Unless one of them confesses, there is no way to convict them. The party responsible for their imprisonment offers a price to whoever confesses the crime. If one of the prisoners confesses the crime, the other will receive a lengthy sentence. If both confess the crime, they will be imprisoned for a shorter period of time. Finally, if both remain silent, they will be freed due to a lack of evidence. The game is fast and requires a certain degree of diplomatic skills. The digital application is created in three languages of choice: Portuguese, Spanish, and English.