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But surely the social norm in favor of monogamy reinforces this feeling of jealousy; if people didn't expect their partners to be monogamous, partly because society expects partners to expect this of each other, people wouldn't feel as jealous when their partners failed to conform to a non-existent social expectation.

And when their partners do not fail to live up to the expectation, there is less jealousy. There is a reason the hippie movement is no more. I believe jealousy to be largely an inborn trait affecting individuals to various degrees with various effects.

The movie "Kinsey" had a wonderful scene where two scientists just could not escape the grasp of human nature. That is to say: jealousy. I think the majority of us could share their fate if put in the same position: two Men fighting over one Woman in what was supposed to be a scientific endeavor and/or an expression of sexual freedom, had now gone awry (the exact details are fuzzy to me).

That is the cold reality as I see it. Game or no game. Escaping that tight wretched fist lacking all remorse or sympathy is utterly futile. It doesn't care. It's worse than The Terminator. It doesn't need an outcome, but many of us do.