Types and Priorities of Multi-Agent System Interactions

Multi-Agent Systems may be classified as containing No Direct Interactions, Simple Interactions or Complex, Conditional Interactions between agents. This paper argues and illustrates that models with simple interactions, even though possibly less fascinating for the Multi-agent system theorists than complex interaction models are, deserve more attention in the Multi-agent system community. Simple interaction models may contain social learning and reciprocal relationships. Maybe most importantly, Simple interaction models enable cross-scale connections by linking local to global actors in their local and global 'life worlds'. Classification-ACM-1998: J.4 [Computer Applications]; Social and behavioral sciences - Sociology