Game Theory Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Game Theory - Research Paper Example Game theory is useful for many purposes. First, one must ask, what is game theory? â€Å"Game theory uses mathematical tools to study situations, called games, involving both conflict and cooperation. Its study was greatly stimulated by the publication in 1944 of the monumental Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Before we get into the details of game theory, it is first important to make clear a few definitions. A â€Å"game† consists of a competition between two or more parties, although in decision theory, it is possible to have a one-person game. A â€Å"player† is a party competing in said game. The state is the information known by a player at a certain point during the game. A strategy is a rule which defines how the player will play the game. The payoff is the value assigned to the result of play, i.e., the outcome—the results of which might be distinct for every player. The main concept behind game theory is that, in a game, each player is trying to maximize their resultant payoff. â€Å"The game theoretician is concerned with the mathematical model and with conclusions he can draw from assumptions (in particular about utilities represented by payoffs) that stay put, not with assumptions that capture the entire spectrum of human conflict behavior.† ... with assumptions that capture the entire spectrum of human conflict behavior.†2 At each stage of a game, a wide array of moves is presented to each player. Then, they each decide the move that would be the best choice, to the best of their knowledge, in order to achieve the highest payoff. There are always rules for selecting the proper moves at any point in a game which can be figured out before a game is played—which is called a strategy. Subsequently, it also follows that a game which is very complex, involving many decisions at varying stages can be represented by the strategy of each player. But, the result of any particular strategy really depends on the other players’ moves. Someone on the defensive might be able to calculate the lowest payoff or end result for each strategy (presuming that the particular strategy is somewhat of a secret), selecting the strategy that would result in the best (or highest) payoff. Basically, it is worth noting that one should account for the fact that many players will try to act as rationally as possible, hopefully making corollary decisions which would be deemed ration. To such an end, the main goal is to find a certain set of strategies (one per player) that maximizes each player’s payoff. However, such a selection of strategies should probably be rejected if it is not equilibrium. Equilibrium is basically reached when none of the players can attain a higher payoff by way of utilizing a different strategy, given the decisive actions of the other players. The model which has thus far been described is pretty abstract, although, technically speaking, this theory can be applied to a quite huge range of scenarios—and could be thusly applied to warfare, business, sports, or even politics. Truly, the possible uses of game

Enterprise social networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Enterprise social networks - Essay Example Social media acts as a great equalizer. The educational institutions can utilize the social media and promote themselves without spending money and small colleges can also become popular instantly. There are many small colleges and educational institutes who have posted videos of their courses and online classes to create small advertisement with the resources available within the institute and uploaded them on YouTube or Facebook. Those videos received huge number of likes and the institutions became popular instantly. This study is based on utilizing social media networking for higher education and students in the universities and colleges. The cost for promotion through social networking sites is negligible and it is very easy to understand and handle. This will surely reduce the internal cost of the universities and colleges. Introduction The concept of enterprise social networking involves the usage of social networks or various social relations on the internet for various busin ess or personal purposes. Enterprise social networking basically works on the Web 2.0 platform. It is since 1990s the inception of social networking sites were seen in the world market. The first website motivating this concept was Theglobe.com in the year 1995. This website was only accessible by the registered users, but the website became available for general public usage from 1998. Since then many networking sites have come up for providing a common platform to share information (Uhomoibhi, 2006, pp. 4-14). However, the challenge was that internet, computers and related technology were not so much in use. People could neither easily afford them, nor were they considered important in daily lives of grown-up or any student. Eventually after the penetration of technology, World Wide Web and lightening fast speed of information, social networking mediums surfaced once again (Ernst & Young, 2012). The development of social networking and its rising popularity has been observed in th e 2000s. Nowadays social sites like MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and many more have become synonyms for social media industry. The popularity associated with social media is growing with the passing days and it is connecting more and more people on the basis of their preferences, similar purchase habits, likes and dislikes. Whether it is some news ticker that is promoting the view or news of some anchors or journalist on Twitter, social media is utilised everywhere and in every way. The latest insights revealed by a famous research firm Nielsen on social media networking and marketing states these above mentioned facts. USA claims to have 80 percent of the blog and social media users among the American countries (Nielsen, 2011). The time consumption of the students, youngsters, and also elders on the social media is increasing every day. For example about 60 percent of the customers who use more than two to three digital means definitely use social media as a means of resea rch when they go out to buy products or avail services (Nielsen, 2011). The brief introduction above clearly explains the scenario of the global market and also the penetration level of social media in our daily lives. Social media has penetrated in every field and industry. However, to narrow down the analysis, the discussion in this study would specifically include the usage of social media by students in schools, institutions, colleges, etc. A literary analysis of social media strategies and its four pillars would support the discussion further. Apart from this the probable role that social media can play in educational sector specifically in schools, university would also be evaluated.