  Leaving the joint enterprise when defection is unveiled is always a viable
option to avoid being exploited. Although loner strategy helps the population
not to be trapped into the tragedy of the commons state, it could offer only a
modest income for non-participants. In this paper we demonstrate that showing
some tolerance toward defectors could not only save cooperation in harsh
environments, but in fact results in a surprisingly high average payoff for
group members in public goods games. Phase diagrams and the underlying spatial
patterns reveal the high complexity of evolving states where cyclic dominant
strategies or two-strategy alliances can characterize the final state of
evolution. We identify microscopic mechanisms which are responsible for the
superiority of global solutions containing tolerant players. This phenomenon is
robust and can be observed both in well-mixed and in structured populations
highlighting the importance of tolerance in our everyday life.
