What is "cooperative game"

n. (context game theory English) Informally, a game formalized using a function that assigns to each coalition of players a real number representing the payoff that the coalition can gain if it is formed, without specifying how the outcome is divided among the participants of the coalition; upon the execution of the game, each player can be a member of at most one coalition.

In game theory, a cooperative game is a game where groups of players ("coalitions") may enforce cooperative behaviour, hence the game is a competition between coalitions of players, rather than between individual players. An example is a coordination game, when players choose the strategies by a consensus decision-making process.

Recreational games are rarely cooperative, because they usually lack mechanisms by which coalitions may enforce coordinated behaviour on the members of the coalition. Such mechanisms, however, are abundant in real life situations (e.g. contract law).