Complete Vs. Perfect Information
Complete and perfect information are importantly different. In a game of complete information, the structure of the game and the payoff functions of the players are commonly known but players may not see all of the moves made by other players (for instance, the initial placement of ships in Battleship); there may also be a chance element (as in most card games). Games of incomplete information arise most frequently in social science rather than as games in the narrow sense. For instance, Harsanyi was motivated by consideration of arms control negotiations, where the players may be uncertain both of the capabilities of their opponents and of their desires and beliefs. Games of incomplete information can be converted into games of complete but imperfect information under the "common prior assumption." This assumption is commonly made for pragmatic reasons, but its justification remains controversial.
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Famous quotes containing the words complete, perfect and/or information:
“Each of us is incomplete compared to someone else, an animal’s incomplete compared to a person ... and a person compared to God, who is complete only to be imaginary.”
—Georges Bataille (1897–1962)
“So much of our lives is given over to the consideration of our imperfections that there is no time to improve our imaginary virtues. The truth is we only perfect our vices, and man is a worse creature when he dies than he was when he was born.”
—Edward Dahlberg (1900–1977)
“English literature is a kind of training in social ethics.... English trains you to handle a body of information in a way that is conducive to action.”
—Marilyn Butler (b. 1937)