Reputation-Based Conditional Investment Enhances the Evolution of Cooperation in Spatial Public Goods Game

Abstract

Most previous studies involving public goods games are investigated under a simplifying assumption that participators are compulsive in collective interactions and contribute unconditionally to the public pool. Nevertheless, how the conditional investment mechanism based on individual's reputation affects the evolution of cooperation in structured populations is still unclear. Here we introduce a reputation-based conditional investment rule for constituting participant groups into spatial threshold public goods game, where the public goods game can be conducted only if the participant number is not less than the threshold parameter. Interestingly, we find that large threshold parameter results in the optimal environment for cooperators' viability.