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Who can count as a player in a game theory model?

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A colorful payoff matrix for a normal form game in game theory, showing strategy options-support, oppose, evade-for both party A and party B. Each cell contains cartoon figures representing each party's action and lists percentage payoffs for A and B. The bottom-right cell is labeled saddlepoint, highlighting the equilibrium. — game theory Table 1
The normal-form table illustrates the concept of a saddlepoint, or entry, in a payoff matrix at which the expected gain of each participant (row or column) has the highest guaranteed payoff.

In game theory, a player is defined as any party capable of making decisions that are interdependent with the decisions of others.1

Crucially, a player does not have to be an individual human being. Depending on the model, a player can be:
* A nation2
* A corporation2
* A team or group comprising many people with shared interests2
* Biological entities, such as animals or plants, whose behaviors are analyzed in terms of evolutionary stability rather than conscious choice13

In these models, players are the entities whose strategic choices interact to determine the outcome of a situation. Whether the participants are humans, organizations, or biological populations, the core requirement is that they act as decision-making units whose interests may be aligned, opposed, or mixed.12