Simulating Open Source Software Communities Through Collective Games

According to the Open Source Initiative, Open Source Software (OSS) can be defined by ten criteria. The most important and relevant ones are the free redistribution of the software, the inclusion of the source code and the authorization to modify and redistribute the work. OSS products are a vital part of how we understand Internet. But, for most people, it is still complicated to understand what is an Open Source Software Community. In this thesis, we have analysed how these OSS communities work, how they are structured and how they get the results that made them popular. Furthermore, a tool that simulates many of the features of OSS communities has been implemented. This platform permits a user to feel how is joining one of these communities and working with other community members to solve a complex problem through collaboration. This thesis has allowed us to remark the importance of collective games in simulating the dynamics of OSS communities. These communities are formed by members who have to come together to develop a product. Thus, the notion of collaboration is essential; as in the collaborative games where the players have to cooperate to reach a solution. This project also helps us illustrate the collective games approach through the Sudoku game, which is the game chosen to develop the simulation platform. To perform it, we have used intelligent agents which roles are to act like members of a real community. The result is that a human user can join it and play in different roles to understand the operation of OSS communities