The Strategy Shift: What Makes a Winner in the Prisoner's Dilemma?

For years, researchers have been digging into the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma, testing strategies from the famous Tit for Tat to advanced learning methods like neural networks. But, many studies use only a few strategies, making their findings questionable. In this work, scientists analyse 195 strategies across thousands of computer tournaments. They found no single strategy that excels in all scenarios.

However, certain traits make some strategies stand out. These traits include being nice, standing up for yourself, being generous, showing a bit of envy, being smart, and adapting to the situation. Interestingly, strategies perform best when their cooperation rate matches the overall tournament's rate. This sheds light on why Tit for Tat did well and why zero-determinant strategies often struggle.

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