Stategic behaviour in multiagent systems

我们目前正在见证开放计算系统的新范例的成长，它体现在互联网上。这些系统中的异质参与者（我们称之为代理）通常具有不同的信息和兴趣。特别是，在许多情况下，这些代理都是自利的，并且会采取行动来推进自己的目标，而不考虑其他人的愿望，假设系统设计师能够强迫这些代理以某种社会最优方式行事也是不合理的。具有这些属性的有趣应用程序包括从新的电子市场和拍卖，到互联网服务供应的差异化调度。

We are currently witnessing the growth of a new paradigm of open computing systems, as embodied by the Internet. The heterogeneous participants in these systems (which we call agents) often have diverging information and interests. In particular, in many situations these agents are self-interested and will act to further their own goals, irrespective of the desires of others, nor is it reasonable to assume that a system designer is able to force these agents to behave in some socially optimal way. Interesting applications with these properties range from new electronic marketplaces and auctions, to differentiated scheduling for Internet service provisioning.