Network structure, strategy evolution, and the game of Chicken

Cellular automata – lattice-like grids of interlinked cells – can be used to study system evolution. The cells are occupied by disputants with differing strategic interaction rules. After interacting, each disputant either retains its strategy or adopts that of a neighbor, depending on relative strategy success. In this article, we use networks to answer questions about strategy evolution in the game of Chicken. We identify the nodes of a network with cells of an automaton and consider nodes adjacent if they are neighboring cells in the automaton, allowing us to determine structural influences of strategy evolution.