Dictionary

Glossary of game theory terms.

Positive Sum

In a positive sum game, the combined payoffs of all players are not the same in every outcome of the game. This differs from constant sum (or zero sum) games in which all outcomes involve the same sum of all player's payoffs. A positive-sum game implies that players may have interests in common, to achieve an outcome that maximizes total payoffs.

updated: 8 December 2006
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