Chapter 12 Nices Guys Finish First

In this chapter Dawkins explains an experiment preformed by a mathematician. He set up a program where different plays would play a game of Prisoners challenge. Several people were invited to enter in players to see which, at the end of 100 rounds, would have the most points. Though several complex players were submitted one that was most successful was Tit for Tat which would COMPLY on the first round then copy the opponent. In fact, "Nice" players (ones that cooperated on the first round) were universally the most successful.
After this game the mathematician preformed another round. He warned the programmers that the most successful ones had been nice. He got many more submissions, 88 of them. Many programmers made nice ones because they had preformed the best in the first round, many made mean ones preparing to take advantage of the all the nice ones they were expecting to be submitted. The winner was Tit for Tat.
Then the mathematician changed up the rules. Instead of being awarded points the players were awarded offspring and they played for 100 generations. At first the mean ones nearly drove the nice ones to extinction, taking advantage of them. However once the means were in large numbers they ended up screwing themselves over, so to speak, and were pushed back by the nice. At the end the player with the most offspring was Tit for Tat. This is because even though the nice players can be hurt in numbers they will form a small bastion where they are able to be nice to each other and then able to spread back out and conquer the mean who are destroying themselves from within.