Yahoo! Another request. This one is from Shaners of TheResistanceArmy.com. I hope I do it justice.
Shane suggested the term “zero-sum game.” Now since I haven’t done a quote for awhile I decided to combine zero-sum game with a movie quote.

Bud Fox: How much is enough?

Gordon Gekko: It’s not a question of enough, pal. It’s a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn’t lost or made, it’s simply transferred from one perception to another.

Watching this movie, Wall Street, was the first time I learned about zero-sum games. I don’t think I appreciated the term till I took a game theory class in college.

Essentialy a zero sum game is just as Mr. Gekko describes it. A game or situation with a winner and a loser such that if you add the winner’s take to the loser’s loss you end up with zero. Most games are zero sum- the wins cancel out the losses.

Now not all games or situations are zero -sum. There are also non-zero-sum games and situations. A classic game theory non-zero-sum game is the prisoner’s dilemma. A game in which the sum of the outcomes can range from negative to positive depending on how the players “play.”

Imagine two partners are accused of a crime. If they both deny committing the crime neither will go to prison. If they both testify against the other they will each spend 5 years in prison. In the third scenario, the one that makes the game interesting, one testifies, one denies. In this case one partner goes to prison for a long time and the other for less time or not at all.

Obviously the best game play is for the partners to work together and not testify. But they will be tempted to testify to protect themselves from a lengthy prison term.

A less sinister example can be found on the playground. One kid has a basketball and the other a soccer ball. The kid with the basketball wants to play soccer and the kid with the soccer ball wants to play basketball. They decide to trade balls. In this game both kids win. They both get something they want and give up something they didn’t want.

I think life is better played as a positive-sum game.

Play the Prisoner’s dilemma and test your strategies