The Game Not Chosen

The different equilibria that game theory proposes concerns plans of action. However, players may choose not only plans of action for given particular games but also what game to play. We propose different new equilibria of super-games that comprise choices of plans for what games to play and for how to play them. Nash theory allows for equilibria for games and for achieving inefficient equilibria in some games. Similarly, the theory should allow for equilibria for super-games: equilibria of the choice of a game. This paper concerns inefficient equilibria in some super-games of the choice of a game to play: possibly all players will stay with a particular game even though they will all benefit from moving from that game to another possible game.People may adhere to the equilibrium of war even when they have an option of peace: they may avoid peace negotiations out of ignorance of the need to change both the game and the strategy.