games · social
Tragedy of the commons
Four people share one field.
Several people share one field. Each person can add more cows. Every extra cow gives that person more milk, but too many cows damage the field and reduce milk for everyone. Each person decides only for themselves.
The field is shared. How many cows do you add?
One extra cow helps you a little and hurts the shared field only a little.
When every person thinks the same way, the field is overused and total milk drops.
Each person is better off adding the cow, yet everyone ends up worse than if they had all limited themselves.
That is the tragedy of the commons: individual incentives damage the shared resource.