It is simply reality that among a fixed set of actors that they will use their understanding of each other when interacting. While the term oligopoly obviously has negative connotations since it is mostly used when referring to a small group of actors having control over a supply and the inevitable collusion that results, when the supply and demand sides are finite the collusion becomes collaboration.

“For mixed strategies, which are probability distributions over the pure strategies, the pay-off functions are the expectations of the players, thus becoming polylinear forms in the probabilities with which the various players play their various pure strategies.” – John Nash, Founder, Modern Game Theory

The players strategies leave a lasting impression on the marketplace, as not only can other actors determine their courses differently when dealing directly with them based on the past knowledge of their play, but other actors can also learn from the successes and failures of another actor. This distribution of knowledge is only available in a finite setting.

“For a good book has this quality, that it is not merely a petrifaction of its author, but that once it has been tossed behind, like Deucalion’s little stone, it acquires a separate and vivid life of its own.” -Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, Founder, Dirichlet Distribution Functions

Marketplaces therefore must recognize situations where the supply and demand sides are fixed, as that collaboration adds critical value to the marketplace in general.

“Prisoner of War guard companies, or an equivalent organization, should be as far forward as possible in action to take over prisoners of war, because troops heated with battle are not safe custodians. Any attempt to rob or loot prisoners of war by escorts must be dealt strictly with.” – General George S. Patton, General – United States Army