Node Participation in Ad Hoc and Peer-to-Peer Networks: A Game-Theoretic Formulation

Ad hoc and peer-to-peer networks sometimes operate as voluntary resource sharing networks, relying on users’ willingness to spend their own resources for the common good. As the costs of such resource sharing (what we call “node participation”) outweigh the benefits perceived by the nodes, users are less likely to participate, compromising overall network goals. The contribution of this paper is to formalize some of the relevant tradeoffs as a first step toward the design of appropriate incentive structures. We formulate a game theoretic model for node participation and derive conditions that will lead to a socially desirable equilibrium. We also analyze the impact of threats posed by a rogue node in the network.