Promotion of cooperation induced by nonuniform payoff allocation in spatial public goods game

A nonuniform payoff allocation mechanism is proposed for spatial public goods games where individuals are nodes on a scale-free network. Each individual is assigned a weight k(i) (alpha), where k(i) is the degree of individual i and alpha is an adjustable parameter that controls the degree of diversity in individuals' profits. During the evolution progress, the allocation of payoff on individual i is assumed to be proportional to its weight. Individuals synchronously update their strategies according to the stochastic rule with a fixed noise level. It is found that there exists an optimal value of alpha which yields the highest level of cooperation. Other pertinent quantities, including the payoff and the probability of finding a node playing as cooperator versus the degree, are also investigated computationally and analytically. Our results suggest that a suitable degree of diversity among individuals can promote the emergence of cooperation.