The Nobel prize being awarded to Thomas Schelling and Robert Aumann.
According to BBC online:
Professor Aumann’s work has centred on a different element of game theory, the question of whether co-operation increases if games are continually repeated.
He showed that co-operation is less likely when there are many participants, when interactions are infrequent, when the time horizon is short or when others’ actions cannot be clearly observed.
Does say a thing or two about online games, no?
Yes, you’d think he’s been playing Guild Wars like a madman.
How about ALL multiplayer games? I think that’s the point, really!
mmmhhhh… Actually I am not sure whether you can apply this to all multiplayer games. I guess that the aspect of infrequent interaction is not given when playing on a LAN-party… there definitely is a difference whether you can see (and propably know) your teammates or not.