Asynchrony (game theory)

In game theory, asynchrony refers to a gameplay structure where interactions and decisions do not occur in uniformly timed rounds. Unlike synchronous systems, where agents act in coordination with a shared timing mechanism, asynchronous systems lack a global clock, allowing agents to operate at independent and arbitrary speeds relative to one another. This flexibility introduces unique strategic dynamics and complexities to the study of decision-making in such environments.^[1]

For example, in an asynchronous online auction, bidders may place bids at any time before the auction ends, rather than in fixed, simultaneous turns, leading to unpredictable timing strategies and outcomes.

External links

• Abraham, I., Alvisi, L., & Halpern, J. Y. (2011). Distributed computing meets game theory: combining insights from two fields. Acm Sigact News, 42(2), 69–76.

• Ben-Or, M. (1983). Another Advantage of Free Choice: Completely Asynchronous Agreement Protocols. In Proc. 2nd ACM Symp. on Principles of Distributed Computing, pp. 27–30.

• Solodkin, L., & Oshman, R. (2021). Truthful Information Dissemination in General Asynchronous Networks. In 35th International Symposium on Distributed Computing (DISC 2021). Schloss Dagstuhl-Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik. https://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2021/14839/pdf/LIPIcs-DISC-2021-37.pdf

• Yifrach, A., & Mansour, Y. (2018, July). Fair leader election for rational agents in asynchronous rings and networks. In Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing (pp. 217-226). https://arxiv.org/pdf/1805.04778.pdf