Introduction to Cognition and Gaming

This course is offered in the Fall semester annually. More information will be posted when the Fall semester comes around.

Course Description: This is a highly interdisciplinary and broad-ranging course. As gaming becomes more well-respected, academics are becoming interested in the reasoning, cognition, and psychology behind it. Topics will include game theory, logic, human frailty, role playing, artificial intelligence, kinesics, theater, and human-computer interaction. We will look at video games from the viewpoint of the user and the psychology it entails, as well as from the designer as they attempt to make their game appealing.

Objective: My objective is to teach the basics of game theory, but more importantly, to serve as a practical primer to anyone interested in entering the gaming industry. In the beginning, topics will center around mathematical abstractions of games, and will progress toward actual games - role playing, board, and electronic. We will spend time dealing with game design as it is done in the real world, with big-budget games. Game design and construction is a huge topic, requiring many fields of knowledge. Besides programming skills, it is important to understand how to get the reaction you want from the end user, how to make an interface as transparent as possible, and how to look ahead in solving the difficult problems of the future, especially those involving AI.