BlocklyPrisonersDilemma

https://github.com/alexhkurz/BlocklyPrisonersDilemma

An example of how to tie a Blockly DSL to a backend that can be communicated with via HTTP requests.

The example provides a very rudimentary DSL for designing a strategy that plays the iterated prisoner's dilemma. There are currently only 2 players allowed. The implemented payoff matrix is based on payoffs $3>2>1>0$. The game always runs for numberOfRounds rounds.

Some Limitations:

• The DSL is quite minimal; many interesting strategies cannot be expressed.
• The number of rounds is fixed but should be probabilistic.
• The number of players is 2.
• Sometimes, only the second player gets the result of the game.
• There is no support for tournaments or for keeping stats.

Functionality

• Register (makes you known as Player 0 or Player 1 to the server).
• Design a strategy by dragging blocks from the toolbox to the workspace.
• Send Blocks to server. After Player 0 and Player 1 sent their strategy, the server plays them against each other. The result is sent back to (at least) one of the players.
• Leave allows another player to join.
• It is possible to Save Blocks and to Load Blocks.

To see what it does

Go to http://35.91.83.141/ in two different browsers.

You can design a strategy and play an iterated prisoner's dilemma against your opponent.

This has been tested only for Tit-for-Tat and only for two players.

To install locally

Fork this repo.

Requires nodejs.

cd src/server
npm i
node server.js

Once you followed the steps above, you should be able to access http://localhost:3000/

To deploy at AWS

This is just a rough run down.

Create an AWS instance (I selected all the default settings as of Oct 2023).

In a terminal on your machine log into your AWS instance:

ssh -i blocklyPrisonersDilemma.pem [email protected]
# Install and start apache
sudo yum update -y  
sudo yum install httpd -y  
sudo systemctl start httpd
sudo systemctl enable httpd
# Install node
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-javascript/v2/developer-guide/setting-up-node-on-ec2-instance.html
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.5/install.sh | bash
. ~/.nvm/nvm.sh
nvm install --lts
npm install pm2 -g

To connect the apache server with the nodejs server we need a config file. Create my.conf

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName 35.91.83.141
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    <Location />
        ProxyPass http://localhost:3000/
        ProxyPassReverse http://localhost:3000/
    </Location>
</VirtualHost>

Copy files to AWS

scp -r -i blocklyPrisonersDilemma.pem my.conf [email protected]:/home/ec2-user
scp -r -i blocklyPrisonersDilemma.pem client [email protected]:/home/ec2-user
scp -r -i blocklyPrisonersDilemma.pem server [email protected]:/home/ec2-user

In your AWS instance run:

sudo mv my.conf /etc/httpd/conf.d/
cd server
npm install
pm2 start server.js