Parameters

A word of warning: In perfect agreement with the vast majority of software projects, the code of the VirtualLabs tends to evolve much faster than the technical documentation... Therefore, this page may contain outdated or incomplete information - please bear with me or, even better, leave your questions, comments and corrections on the talk page.

Clicking on the Params button of the VirtualLabs applets opens a panel to change various parameter settings:

Panel to set the game parameters

This panel depicts the game parameters for 2×2 Games.

The parameters are divided into different categories: Game, Player, Population, Structure, Misc and possibly PDE. For a brief description of each parameter group click the tabs on the image above or follow the links below.

Game

Group of parameters that characterizes the interaction between individuals.

Player

Group of parameters describing the propagation of strategies.

Population

Group of parameters specifying the size of the population and the updating procedure.

Structure

Group of parameters defining the structure of the population.

Misc

Group of parameters determining the initial configuration, mutation rates, migration rates etc.

PDE

Group of parameters to control and fine tune the numerical integration of partial differential equations. This is not available for all types of models/games.

The buttons along bottom of the parameter panel apply or discard new settings.

Cancel

Closes the parameter panel and discards changes of the parameters leaving all settings untouched.

Revert

Discards parameter changes and reverts all parameters to the current setting of the simulation engine.

Apply

Applies and verifies new parameter settings. Parameters that did not pass verification are adjusted to acceptable values. Details concerning parameter adjustments are provided on the Console.

OK

Applies new parameter settings and closes the parameter panel.

Game

This group of parameters is game specific and is varies for the different types of virtual labs. Generally you will find here parameters that determine e.g. the costs and benefits of cooperative behavior and the initial frequencies of the different strategies or the range of initial strategies, respectively.