Design, Game Theory, and the Fight for Attention

You don’t have to be a game theorist to know that attention is a limited resource.
Scroll through any app, and you’ll see it.
Push the notification.
Trigger the FOMO.
Nudge the user just enough so they don't leave.

In game theory, there's something called the Prisoner's Dilemma. Two players make decisions. If both cooperate, they both win a little. But if one defects while the other cooperates, the defector wins big. If both defect, both lose. You can already see how this applies to digital design. Brands are often tempted to play the short game. Capture attention at all costs. Use tricks. Overpromise. Distract. It works… until it doesn’t.

Eventually users wise up. They turn off notifications. Unfollow. Stop trusting.

But there’s another way to play. One that assumes the game isn’t over after a single interaction. A long-term, repeated game. The kind where trust builds. Where people come back, not because they’re manipulated, but because the experience respects them.

That’s where design comes in. Not just what something looks like, but how it works. How it feels. The choices you give someone. The friction you remove. The honesty in how you communicate.

Design isn’t neutral. It nudges people. It teaches them how to behave, how to feel, how to move forward. In a way, every product is a player in this big attention economy.

I think the brands that will last are the ones that don’t try to win every interaction.
They try to build relationships instead.

And maybe, just maybe, cooperation is still the winning strategy.