Particular encounters acquire symbolic weight because players know reputation is at stake

Evidence

It should also be interesting to see whether each player can really discern when the other is “testing” his determination, “daring” him, and so forth; and it might be possible to study the process by which particular encounters become invested with symbolic importance, such that each player recognizes that he is establishing a role and reputation in the way he conducts himself at a particular point in the game. — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 381

Categorization

• XREF: Reputation-investment mechanism is exactly Gambetta’s point about how private protection markets price reliability; a single defiance signals across the whole network. — connects to: Reputation is the mafia firm’s core but fragile asset; Mafia skills emerged from reputation networks fostered in the rural western interior; Suggestive background stories can shift which equilibria players settle on — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 380 (+2 more)

Related

• Mafia skills emerged from reputation networks fostered in the rural western interior (similarity 0.86)
• Reputation is the mafia firm’s core but fragile asset (similarity 0.86)
• Players’ full giving histories are made visible to everyone in the group. (similarity 0.79)