The challenge we address in this work is the control of complex systems based on the multi-agent paradigm. Our focus is on identifying what speci c questions arise when using the multi-agent paradigm in the control of complex systems context. We present here a solution under the form of an equation-free control architecture based on multiagent model simulation. The results of the implementation on a free-riding problem in p2p networks demonstrate that the proposed architecture can control such a network. Our contribution is to identify key questions that rise when using the multi-agent paradigm in the context of control of complex systems, concerning the relationship between the model entities and the target system entities.