It gets more interesting when there are many possible moves. That's why people are so fascinated by complex games like chess, or the board game Go, or some card games. But what the researchers found was that with difficult games, players find it hard to work out the best strategy and their actions become less rational.
This research is part of the field called game theory: the study of human strategic decision-making. Much thinking on how people play complex games is based on something called 'the equilibrium point', which is when players have a perfect knowledge of what they're doing and of what their opponents are doing.
But complex games mean people don't have this perfect knowledge, and it can make their playing seem chaotic and hard to predict. When you add more than two players then of course the game becomes even harder to understand. Trading on the stock market is an example of a complex multi-player game – with important consequences for all of us.
Economists base financial predictions of the stock market on equilibrium theory, assuming that traders are infinitely intelligent and rational. So the researchers at Manchester and Oxford believe their work can help us make better economic predictions in future.
Quiz 測驗 1. According to the article, what might be too complex for the human mind to understand?
Complex games.
2. Which example of a simple game is given in the article?
Noughts and crosses.
3. Which word, used in the article, means the person you're playing against in a game?
Opponent.
4. What is the name of the study of human strategic decision-making?
Game theory.
5. Is the following true, false or not given in the article? Understanding how people play complex games can help us make better predictions about the stock market.
True.
Glossary 词汇表 board games棋類遊戲 chess（國際）象棋 Go圍棋 strategies策略 moves移動（棋子） noughts and crosses畫圈打叉的連三子棋 work out猜出來，推斷出來 card games紙牌遊戲 actions（下棋）行為 less rational不太理智的 game theory博弈論 opponents對手 chaotic混亂的 hard to predict難預測 the stock market股票市場 multi-player game有眾人參與的遊戲 base（動詞）以什麼為依據 predictions預測 traders交易人 infinitely極其；永遠
