Evolution of Cooperation with Moore Neighborhood and Self-Playing Rule

Abstract

Evolutionary spatial game is a promising way to unravel the mystery of cooperation, and it has been well recognized that spatial structure could enable cooperation to persist. Schweitzer et al.’s lattice model provides an innovative method to solve the problem. In this paper, we conduct simulations using the same von Neumann neighborhood as in Schweitzer et al.’s study (2002) and observe the effect of initial population and lattice size on the evolution of cooperation. Then, we extend the model with a more complicated Moore neighborhood and self-playing rule for each central player. Simulation results not only provide new evidence for the persistence of cooperation in the evolution with spatial structures, but also investigate critical conditions for the spatial coexistence or the invasion of cooperators and defectors with the more complicated neighborhood.