Heterogeneous donation game in geographical small-world networks

In this paper, we study a heterogeneous donation game in geographical small-world networks. Cooperators provide benefits to their neighbors at some costs. Defectors pay no cost and do not distribute any benefits. The total contribution of a cooperator is fixed and he/she distributes his/her contribution unevenly to his/her neighbors. The amount that a cooperator contributes to a neighbor depends on their geographical distance. Our results show that, the cooperation level reaches the highest when cooperators give distant neighbors more help, but only to a certain extent. We analyze the time evolution of cooperator clusters and the length of cooperative links. Besides, we study the effects of the density of shortcuts on cooperation. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.