Abstract
One of the crucial issues in multi-agent systems is the coordination of agents' actions. A simple way to coordinate the agents is to define norms in the system. Most of the research related to norms and multi-agent systems focuses on designing normative agents to ensure a social order inside the system. To achieve this goal, these studies make the assumption that non-normative behavior must be controlled using sanction mechanisms. This paper discusses the relevance of this assumption in certain specific contexts, and presents an alternative for controlling non-normative behavior, thus ensuring the social order. To illustrate our proposal, we introduce a concrete application involving traffic simulation at a road junction. Based on the statistical traffic results, we show how our approach helps to improve the realism of the simulation.