Playing with norms: tractability of normative systems for homogeneous game structures

Abstract

In this paper we study the connection between anonymous (normal form) games and normative systems for homogeneous concurrent game structures. We present a variant of the popular strategic logic ATL that allows for reasoning about norm compliance and the strategic ability of coalitions of agents. We broaden the notion of a normative system compared to earlier work and introduce two categories: individual and collective norms. Then we establish a technical link between these two notions, and between the notion of an individual norm and an anonymous game, as studied in recent work on algorithmic game theory. These connections enable us to show that model checking on homogeneous concurrent game structures with norms is tractable in the number of agents.