Cal to offer course in Advanced Starcraft Theory | Hacker News Reader

Cal to offer course in Advanced Starcraft Theory

crunchgear.com

69 pointsrockstar929 comments

Mind you this is a "decal", which are kind of like clubs in a sense, with student instructors that teach classes more for personal edification purposes than "omg legitimate course of study!"

Here's the course list for this semester: http://www.decal.org/courses/index.php

Other DeCals include: The Ethics of Star Trek, Bookworlds: Introduction to Mythological Creatures - Here There Be Dragons, and I Keeps it Real: Race Relations in Chappelle's Show

They do get credit for it though so I guess it's reasonably serious. According to the guy leading the course, there's some high level math involved, and:

"How to get a professor to sign off on a "gaming" class? Well, I did a few presentations, one to the sponsoring professor, to demonstrate the rigorousness, analysis and thought that this class can provoke. Then, I submitted various papers to the dean of the business school. After that, registered with various university offices ... it was a pain, trust me."

So it's not just some crazy whim.

I got credit at Berkeley for some pretty silly things let me tell you ;)

Sure, you have to have reasonable content, but for example, I had a friend who led a decal on Asian Soap Operas. Any professor can sign off on pretty much any decal, and she managed to get an EE professor to sponsor said decal, so its not as if the bar is all that high. ;)

still, it's like 1 or 2 units P/NP, so they only count really for the overall 120 unit requirement (though things may have changed in the past 7 years, who knows). when I was at cal, the hardest thing for me was making sure that I didn't go over the max unit limit (if you had > 8 semesters and > 200 units you were booted). luckily, I finished my degrees in four years so it didn't turn out to be an issue.

If my school had classes like this, I probably would have graduated. The best we had was a game theory class that ran once every couple years.

My school also has an intermittent game theory course, in economics. I think it is an underappreciated field in undergraduate curricula.

Even in combinatorial game theory, people tended to focus on simple games that could be solved.

My friend was considered doing work on game theory for more complex games like Starcraft. Apparently there was one research group at the University of Alberta, and not a whole lot elsewhere. However, I do know that Stanford has a videogame competition: in particular, you make games. http://graphics.stanford.edu/courses/cs248-videogame-competi...

I can actually imagine this being legit. It is after all, an in depth examination of a complex system. Vocational relevance was never the goal anyway.

Edit: " Is it more advantageous to attack in a line or to envelop your opponent’s army? Prove your point using flux calculations. "

Tis legit.

Checkout http://www.gomtv.net/ if you are interested in "studying" independently, but don't know Corean =). They flew an English speaking guy to Corea to provide live commentary on their league matches. Recommended!

Korea with a K ;)

Homework is play two games of Starcraft a week and submit replays. I wonder how much extra credit I can get...

Well, that game been around for longer than quite a few computer science theories, so I suppose a class on Starcraft is ok :-p.

Best RTS of all time. Don't make me 4 pool you.

I looked at the syllabus - I couldn't find the section where they teach you how to hurl abuse at other gamers while lanning.

This is a course about the theory of the game -- very analytical. Lots of math, apparently. What you're describing is much more art than science.

So if you wanted to get better at it, you'd take a studio type class where you and other enthusiasts would practice together, show off your technique, and "critique" one another.

What you're describing is much more art than science.

Which is funny, since this following phrase comes direct from the course syllabus.

  The primary goal is for students to learn, enjoy the art of competitive StarCraft, and have fun.

Seems like psychological warfare (when circumstances permit) would be a valid tactic given the above course objective.

I could quote Sun Tzu about robbing a whole army of their spirit, but at best I'd be paraphrasing... poorly.

Must... Take... Course!

Watch out for the rush to sign up. Why am I thinking suddenly of zerglings?

It's okay, they increased the cost from $150 to $200, so the rush will be more balanced now.

For some background information, the course instructor started a thread on a popular Starcraft forum:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=865...

Much discussion from the original posting 14 days ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=453235

I was just thinking that it would be fun to play Starcraft with some of the people on this site. Do any of you still play? I don't play a lot, but when I do, this is the account I use:

Server: ICCup Nick: craton

The powerset crew plays a good bit, we either use the lan or setup a virtual lan with hamachi.

I would love to take this course. Starcraft has got to be the only game that after 10 years I still frequently play.

Ever tried nethack?

nope I haven't ever played it.

so this is just game theory right, on -riods.

So basically in korea the major source of income is professional gamers? Ill dig that.

Did they realize that a person with say 2 hrs time every day for 3 months and 20 dollars to buy the game + some form reading time can figure this out on their own? Shit I just described every college course.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com