Recursive Markov Process for Iterated Games with Markov Strategies

The dynamics in games involving multiple players, who adaptively learn from their past experience, is not yet well understood. We analyzed a class of stochastic games with Markov strategies in which players choose their actions probabilistically. This class is formulated as a $k^{\text{th}}$ order Markov process, in which the probability of choice is a function of $k$ past states. With a reasonably large $k$ or with the limit $k\to \mathrm{\infty }$, numerical analysis of this random process is unfeasible. This study developed a technique which gives the marginal probability of the stationary distribution of the infinite-order Markov process, which can be constructed recursively. We applied this technique to analyze an iterated prisoner’s dilemma game with two players who learn using infinite memory.