Suppose you started by acting nicely. Then the other player, even if he is not a reciprocator, would think it possible that you are one of the few nice people around. There are real gains to be had by cooperating for a while, and the other player would plan to reciprocate your niceness to achieve these gains. That helps you, too. Of course you are planning to sneak in a defection near the end of the game, just as the other player is. But you two can still have an initial phase of mutually beneficial cooperation. While each side is waiting to take advantage of the other, both are benefiting
...more
