A taxonomy of equilibria in probabilistic coalitions

A model is presented where uncertainty exists concerning whether agents work together in a coalition or work alone, capturing the uncertainty for group behavior in political, economic or distributed computing systems. The uncertainty is modeled as a probability of group formation and the performance of the system is modeled as payoffs in a simple game matrix. Both the level of uncertainty and the game payoffs determine the type of equilibria in the actions of the decision-makers. All equilibria are classified into one of three types where each type creates a different level of difficulty in the agents' decision-making.<>