The Gaming Surface Scanner
Non Xero Sum.studios · Mechanisms / Games
A scored surface invites its own manipulation. The scanner does not try to catch every manipulator; it prices the attempt until the attempt stops being worth making.[1]
§ I — Abstract
The scanner probes a scored surface with three canned attacks: a valuation misreport, a success misreport, and a sybil split across controlled accounts. Under the naive rule, accounts judged one at a time, the first two attacks pay and the split costs nothing. Under the hardened rule (aggregate by controller, bond, slash, audit p = 1) every probe runs at a loss. The distance between those two sentences is the mechanism.[1]
§ II — Run it
Attacker margin per probe, as a share of honest return. Figures are the shipped scanner's worked example, reproduced to the decimal.[1]
§ III — Mechanism
The scanner is not a detector. Detection at the account level is a losing race; identities are cheaper than audits and always will be. The scanner instead changes the unit of account: gains and bonds are summed per controller, so a sybil split no longer dilutes exposure, it multiplies it.[1]
The figures above are not computed in the page; they are the shipped scanner's worked example, reproduced to the decimal.[1] Flip the rule and every probe's margin crosses zero at once. No probe needs to be identified to be priced out. The threat that makes the whole schedule credible is, per Schelling, the one you arrange so you no longer control it.[2]
§ References
- Incentive-compatible auditing of scored gaming surfaces. arXiv:2606.16326.
- Schelling, T. (1960). The Strategy of Conflict.