Abstract—We describe prerequisites for the emergence of the key concept of incentive
compatibility in the theory of active systems and mechanism design and give a survey of
approaches to this problem, which have led to stating the fair-play and revelation principles, and
of current trends in this branch of scientific knowledge. Potential difficulties and development
prospects are discussed.
Keywords: active system, mechanism design, incentive compatibility, fair-play principle, revelation principle, strategy-proofness, active planin