S-modular games, with queueing applications

The notion of S-modularity was developed by Glasserman and Yao [9] in the context of optimal control of queueing networks. S-modularity allows the objective function to be supermodular in some variables and submodular in others. It models both compatible and conflicting incentives, and hence conveniently accommodates a wide variety of applications. In this paper, we introduce S-modularity into the context of n-player noncooperative games. This generalizes the well-known supermodular games of Topkis [22], where each player maximizes a supermodular payoff function (or equivalently, minimizes a submodular payoff function). We illustrate the theory through a variety of applications in queueing systems. © 1995 J.C. Baltzer AG, Science Publishers.