Social Network
Links provide direct and indirect social benefits, but maintaining relationships has a cost.
Network Formation Game
Links0
Social welfare0
Pairwise stable?—
Diameter—
Player utilities
How this teaches game theory
Complete scenario, mode, and level guide
Network formation games make the network itself strategic: players create or remove links when the private benefit exceeds the private cost.
Computer Network
Connections reduce communication distance but consume infrastructure resources.
Trade Network
Trade links create access to partners while imposing transaction or maintenance costs.
Modes
Human Builds Network
Add or remove links manually and compare private utilities with social welfare.
Human + Stability Advisor
The app reports whether some pair wants to add a link or some endpoint wants to remove one.
Computer Formation
Repeated best-response moves create a locally stable network.
Levels
Level 1 — 4 Nodes
A small network where stars, paths, and complete graphs are easy to compare.
Level 2 — 5 Nodes
More possible links create richer strategic structure.
Level 3 — High Link Cost
Expensive edges encourage sparse networks and sharpen the tension between connectivity and cost.
Pairwise stability: no existing link should be worth deleting for either endpoint, and no absent link should benefit both endpoints enough that they would jointly add it.