Part I. Introduction
I-1. Overview
1. What is this book about?
This book is a guide to implement and analyze Agent-Based Models within the framework of Evolutionary Game Theory, using a programming language called NetLogo.
Let us flesh out the main terms in the previous sentence. A model is an abstraction of the real world and, basically, agent-based models are models where individuals and their interactions are explicitly represented in the model (see fig. 1).
Agent-based models are most often implemented as computer programs, and the programming language we are going to use in this book is NetLogo. And finally, game theory is a formal theory devoted to studying interactions among individuals whose actions affect each other. In particular, evolutionary game theory studies populations of individuals who may change their actions in time.
In this book we are going to learn how to implement agent-based models in NetLogo, within the framework of evolutionary game theory, and we are also going to learn how to analyze these models using both computer simulation and mathematical analysis.
2. How is this book organized?
The book is divided into five parts:
Structure of the book
- Part I. Introduction
- Part II. Our first agent-based evolutionary model
- Part III. Spatial interactions on a grid
- Part IV. Games on networks
- Part V. Agent-based models vs ODE models
Each part contains several chapters; and each chapter corresponds to one webpage in the online webbook.
The following sections summarize each of the parts of the book. To do this, admittedly, we will have to use concepts that you may not be familiar with, just yet. Apologies for that, but do not worry. We will define and explain every concept we use here in the following chapters.
2.1. Part I. Introduction
This first part contains the following chapters:
Part I. Introduction
- Chapter I-1. Overview
- Chapter I-2. Introduction to evolutionary game theory
- Chapter I-3. Introduction to agent-based modeling
- Chapter I-4. Introduction to NetLogo
- Chapter I-5. The fundamentals of NetLogo
This very chapter you are now reading is “Chapter I-1. Overview”. The rest of the chapters in this first part are introductions to the three main components of the book: evolutionary game theory (chapter I-2), agent-based modeling (chapter I-3), and NetLogo (chapter I-4 describes the main features of NetLogo, while chapter I-5 is a tutorial on programming in NetLogo). These introductions are self-contained and independent, so if you are already familiar with any of these topics, feel free to skip the corresponding chapters.
2.2. Part II. Our first agent-based evolutionary model
In Part II we implement our first agent-based evolutionary model, which is a simple model of a well-mixed population. The term well-mixed population refers to a population where all individuals are equally likely to interact with each other. Part II includes the following chapters:
Part II. Our first agent-based evolutionary model
- II-1. O