Stategic behaviour in multiagent systems

我们目前正在目睹一种新的开放计算系统范例的发展，这一范例以因特网为代表。 这些系统中的异质参与者（我们称之为代理人）通常具有不同的信息和兴趣。 特别是，在许多情况下，这些代理人是自私的，会采取行动，以促进自己的目标，而不管别人的愿望，也是不合理的假设，一个系统的设计者能够迫使这些代理人的行为在一些社会最佳的方式。有趣的应用程序与这些属性的范围从新的电子市场和拍卖，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.