best game theory phd programs

Game Theory (PhD Level)

Registration open to Harris PhD and MACRM students only. No exceptions for non-Harris students, even by consent. This course introduces students to games of complete information through solving problem sets. We will cover the concepts of dominant strategies, rationalizable strategies, Nash equilibrium, subgame perfection, backward induction, and imperfect information. The course will be centered around several applications of game theory to politics: electoral competition, agenda control, lobbying, voting in legislatures and coalition games.

Registration open to Harris PhD and MACRM students only. Any remaining seats available for Harris students only. Harris students must attend Harris PhD Math Methods and add themselves to the waitlist when registration opens to request enrollment if a seat remains.

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Game Theory: A New Tool for Economists

In the last 25 years, many if not most significant innovations in economics have been driven by this methodological innovation.

November 01, 2000

In the last 25 years, many and perhaps most significant innovations in economics have been driven by the use of game theory, which provides economists with a language and analytical tools to study many economic interactions that older tools, such as price theory, couldn’t touch. These interactions involve dynamics, private information, small numbers, and non-market institutions. “The impact on economics has been very dramatic,” says David Kreps, the Paul E. Holden Professor of Economics.

While the roots of game theory go back to the 19 th century, modern developments trace largely from after World War II. Among the pioneers were business school academics John Harsanyi, now at Berkeley, and Howard Raiffa, currently at Harvard. But the explosive adoption of game theory by economists began in the early 1970s, led in particular by Stanford’s Robert Wilson, the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management.

“Bob Wilson, especially in his work on competitive bidding and the winner’s curse [of often bidding more than something is worth], showed how game theory can be used to analyze difficult economic problems,” says Kreps. “And his students have been instrumental in extending his ideas.” Wilson continues to innovate. With Business School professor John McMillan, Paul Milgrom of the Stanford Economics Department, and University of Texas professor Preston McAfee, Wilson played a leading role in the design of auctions to sell spectrum rights for U.S. wireless communication. “The spectrum auctions are a rare example of public policy flowing directly from academic research,” McMillan says. “They’ve been a success, generating more than $20 billion. They’ve helped validate the idea that market incentives are an important tool of public policy.”

Wilson has also been at work designing decentralized markets for electricity supply, demand, and transmission for the State of California. “Bob has been the single most influential individual in this methodological innovation in the world, as well as being one of the true intellectual leaders of the Business School,” says Kreps.

The rise of game theory is an example of a match between methodology and subject matter, he says. The early 1970s was also the time when information economics was developed. This branch of economics, which focuses on topics such as incentives and market signaling, numbers among its most influential founders the School’s former dean A. Michael Spence. Information economics provided the contextual puzzles, and game theory provided the key to unlock those puzzles. Much of the unlocking took place at business schools, with Stanford and Northwestern in the vanguard.

Today, these ideas permeate the curriculum of business schools: Subjects that were dramatically changed by these innovations include strategic management, human resource management, managerial accounting, and business and the environment.

Game theory also can be found outside the classroom. Regulators in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, at the Federal Trade Commission, and in agencies that regulate financial markets rely heavily on game theory to frame their arguments and analyses. “We’re at the point where game theory really dominates the modern analysis; it’s essential in a job like mine,” says Jeremy Bulow, the School’s Richard A. Stepp Professor of Economics, on leave to serve as chief economist at the FTC’s Bureau of Economics.

Three decades ago, the government’s chief focus in antitrust policy was to preserve competitors, not competition. But things are more sophisticated now. One example, Bulow notes, is a predatory practices case being prepared by the Justice Department against American Airlines. Using game theoretic models, economists can examine to what extent taking losses in entry markets will help the airline build a reputation for toughness that will deter entry by competitors. Game theory also can assess so-called “switching costs.” For example, airlines create frequent flyer programs to make switching costs high for consumers. In the case of bundling software such as Microsoft Office or packaging car options, consumers sometimes get features at lower cost, but bundling can also deter entry of worthy competitors.

Game theory also has proved useful in analyzing corporate strategy, both in terms of showing firms how to “play” the game in which they are enmeshed and how they might change the rules to their benefit. “One of the messages that game theory gives you is that you need to forecast accurately the beliefs, the expectations, and the behavior of other parties with whom you’re interdependent in terms of profits and payoffs,” says John Roberts, the Jonathan B. Lovelace Professor of Economics at the School.

For example, when chip maker Intel Corp. built its first microprocessor, the 086, it gave up its monopoly position and created a second source. Intel figured that customers would hesitate to develop products using the 086 if they had only one supplier. By creating a second source-its own competitor-Intel ensured demand for microprocessors would take off. “Something that’s hard to understand suddenly makes sense when you think about it in game-theoretic terms,” says Roberts.

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Getting a Game Studies PhD: A Guide for Aspiring Video Game Scholars

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Bonnie Ruberg , BCNM graduate, has co-authored a "Guide to Getting a Game Studies PhD." The guide, posted on her website - Our Glass Lake- hopes to help aspiring scholars navigate Game Studies -- and even gives BCNM a shout out!

Bonnie is a Provost’s Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Southern California, where she works in the Interactive Media and Games Division (IMGD) where she works on issues of gender and sexuality in digital cultures. She received her PhD in Comparative Literature, New Media, and Gender, Women, and Sexuality from UC Berkeley in the summer of 2015. Bonnie got her start in digital cultures more than a decade ago writing the groundbreaking blog Heroine Sheik!

As you might have guessed, Game Studies is not a traditional field and and can be slightly tricky. To quote Bonnie, herself, "At present, there are no Ph.D. programs in North America that grant degrees (or even official secondary emphases) in video games." Encouraging yes? However, there are many ways to engage in Games Studies in the US, primarily by either (1) picking a Ph.D. program with game studies faculty, (2) picking a Ph.D. program that ties to a game design program, or (3) picking a Ph.D. program that supports interdisciplinary digital scholarship. A Designated Emphasis in New Media at UC Berkeley is an example of the last option.

Some excerpts from the post.

"Game studies is the scholarly field dedicated to exploring digital games, analog games, and play. Though some of the early texts that have become foundational for game studies come from the early- and mid-twentieth century, game studies as an academic field got started in the 1990’s. Over the past two decades, game studies scholars have produced a rich array of work that address questions like how to define games and why players play. In another sense though, game studies is still a relatively new discipline. Many scholars from other fields are surprised to hear that there is an entire corner of academia dedicated to games.

"Most recently, game studies has taken a turn away from its formalist roots and toward issues of culture and social justice. Some of the most vibrant areas of game studies today include scholarship on video games and LGBTQ issues, race, ability, identity, and diversity.

"There has never been a more exciting time to study video games, or to make a career out of researching games and their players. The medium of games is growing and changing, calling for new voices and a wider range of critical perspectives. Game studies is poised to become an increasingly important academic field. Many universities are hiring faculty in this area, and it seems this number will continue to grow. To thrive, game studies needs a vibrant next generation of scholars."

Read the guide here.

The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Games and simulation arts and sciences, critical game design, ph.d., program overview.

The Ph.D. in Critical Game Design is designed to train scholar-practitioners deeply versed in game production, game studies theory, and scholarly writing and research. This degree program is a hybrid theory and practice program that immerses students in the game studies literature, game design principles, and topical concentrations on the social and structural issues surrounding digital games and interactive media commensurate with the student’s research area. 

As critical game design is at once highly technical, highly creative, and requires a deep understanding of the human condition, we seek a highly diverse population of graduate students from varied yet complementary backgrounds.

Program Outcomes

The goal of the curriculum is to:

• Enable students to transform the medium of games and the games industry through building games
• Prepare students to take leadership roles in newly created Ph.D. programs in Game Design across the world
• Provide a platform for GSAS faculty and Rensselaer to contribute to an emerging, cutting-edge field, represented by programs at peer and aspirant institutions

Our graduate students come from numerous academic backgrounds and bring with them unique perspectives on critical game design and it's application to the world. Read about our current student's research interests and involvement here!

After Graduation

The Ph.D. in Critical Game Design is designed to graduate entrepreneurial, critical-theory savvy game developers who work to change the face of games research and the games industry. Graduates will be well-positioned to teach and conduct research at the university level, as well as to apply their skills within the games industry and independent spaces as consultants, directors, and producers.

Take the Next Step

The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Russell Sage Laboratory (SAGE) 5304, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180 (518) 276-6575

PhD in Political Economy

The field of political economy applies tools such as game theory and empirical methods for causal inference to the study of political institutions and behavior. The University of Chicago’s new PhD program in political economy offers an extraordinary opportunity to develop these skills in preparation for a career in academia. Staffed by an outstanding group of  faculty  in the Department of Political Science and the Harris School of Public Policy, this program provides accelerated training in formal theory and statistical methods alongside deep engagement with political science. With a supportive faculty, a  curriculum  expressly tailored to questions in political economy, immersion in the  rich seminar culture  of the University of Chicago, and strong financial support, students in this select program get an early start on research and writing. There is no better place to study political economy.

Faculty in political economy at Chicago have research interests in a broad range of empirical and theoretical topics. We encourage students to pursue research wherever their intellectual interests lie, whether that means working within an established scholarly tradition or exploring new topics from the perspective of political economy. Prospective students submit a single  application  directly to the Ph.D. program in political economy.

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API-303: Game Theory and Strategic Decisions

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Pınar Doğan

This course uses game theory to study strategic behavior in real-world situations. It develops theoretical concepts, such as incentives, strategies, threats and promises, and signaling, with application to a range of policy issues. Examples will be drawn from a wide variety of areas, such as competition, bargaining, auction design, and voting behavior. This course will also explore how people actually behave in strategic settings through a series of participatory demonstrations.

Students may receive credit for both API-303 and API-110 or API-112 only if API-303 is taken first.

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Research in this area focuses on developing efficient and scalable algorithms for solving large scale optimization problems in engineering, data science and machine learning. Our work also studies optimal decision making in networked settings, including communication networks, energy systems and social networks. The multi-agent nature of many of these systems also has led to several research activities that rely on game-theoretic approaches.

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Getting a Game Studies PhD: A Guide for Aspiring Video Game Scholars

Originally written by Bo in the fall of 2016 , with feedback from Harrison Gish, Teddy Pozo, Whit Pow, Dietrick Squinkifer, and many more via social media. Last updated April 2019 . Suggestions for additions to this list are very welcome. See contact info at right of page.

Over the last few years, I have received messages from many aspiring game studies scholars: current undergraduate students, master’s students, or other folks who are excited about approaching video games academically and want to know how to get the training and the credentials to enter the field. What inspiring messages to receive!

The question I still hear often is, “Where can I go to get my Ph.D. in game studies?” Answering that question can be surprisingly tricky. Though game studies is a growing and arguably well-established field, at present, there aren’t Ph.D. programs in North America that grant degrees specifically dedicated to video games. But don’t despair. Below is information and recommendations for how to achieve the goal of getting a Ph.D. that will position you for a career in game studies.

Whether you yourself are an aspiring game studies scholar or an educator working with a student who is interested in pursuing game studies, I hope this handy guide will serve as a helpful starting point for your search…

What Is “Game Studies”?

Before you know which Ph.D. programs to apply to, you have to know whether game studies is right for you.

Game studies is the scholarly field dedicated to exploring digital games, analog games, and play. Though some of the early texts that have become foundational for game studies come from the early- and mid-twentieth century, game studies as an academic field got started in the 1990’s. Over the past two decades, game studies scholars have produced a rich array of work that addresses questions like how to define games, why players play, and what cultural meaning is communicated through games. In another sense though, game studies is still a relatively new discipline. Many scholars from other fields are surprised to hear that there is an entire corner of academia dedicated to games.

Most recently, game studies has taken a turn away from its formalist roots and toward issues of culture and social justice. Some of the most vibrant areas of game studies today include scholarship on video games and LGBTQ issues, race, ability, identity, and diversity. Tabletop gaming, esports, live streaming, and game histories are also growing areas of game studies research.

Many game studies scholars do also make games, and some of the most insightful game studies work has come out of collaborations between scholars and makers. However, for the purposes of this guide, “game studies” refers to the work of analyzing games rather than making them.

A note for the 2023 update: With that said, a growing number of grad school applicants are interested in pursuing what’s called “theory/practice” or “research creation” scholarship. This kind of scholarship combines creative and critical work. For example, a student doing theory/practice scholarship might both make and write about games. In my experience, many faculty mentors are excited about this work, but often programs and institutions themselves are not set up to support it, especially in the US. If you are interested in doing theory/practice work, I encourage you to speak directly with your potential faculty mentors and ask for a frank assessment of whether other students have successfully pursued related projects in their programs.

The Dilemma for Aspiring Game Studies Scholars

There has never been a more exciting time to study video games, or to make a career out of researching games and their players. The medium of games is growing and changing, calling for new voices and a wider range of critical perspectives. Game studies is poised to become an increasingly important academic field. Many universities are hiring faculty in this area. To thrive, game studies needs a vibrant next generation of scholars.

However, for those who aspire to become game studies professionals, figuring out which educational path to take can be difficult. Though it is becoming more and more common for universities to offer courses on video games, and though institutions like USC and NYU (among others) have excellent programs dedicated to games, currently the only available graduate degrees specifically dedicated to games focus on game making — that is, game design and development — not on the academic study of games. While there are doctoral programs that allow students to tailor their education toward games, there are no institutions yet that offer a dedicated, games-focused Ph.D.

At this point, maybe you’re wondering: should I even get a Ph.D.? Good question. It depends what kind of job you’re looking for. Entering a doctoral program is a big commitment (most take five to seven years), so being informed before deciding whether and where to apply is important. But let’s be frank. While you don’t need a Ph.D. to do video game analysis per se, a doctorate is considered a basic requirement for most research-focused faculty positions. For better or for worse, if you’re hoping to be a full-time, tenure-track university or college professor whose focus is games scholarship (rather than game design), getting a Ph.D. is still the expected path.

So, what do you do if you want to be a game studies scholar but you can’t get your Ph.D. in game studies?

OPTION 1: Pick a Ph.D. Program with Game Studies Faculty In It

One option is to apply to Ph.D. programs that are not specifically focused on games, but which have game studies scholars on their faculty. These should be faculty members whose work you’re familiar with (if you recognize the names but don’t know what their research is about, it’s time to do some reading) and whom you would be excited to learn from.

Some things to keep in mind: If the program you enter only has one or two games studies faculty, you’ll be working closely with these folks throughout your time in the program — so you want to make sure, as best you can, that they’re a good fit for you. If you’re seriously considering applying, I recommend sending enthusiastic but gracious (individual) emails to these potential mentors. That way you can learn more about how/if they see your interests fitting with the program. You’ll also already be on their radar when they sit down to review the pool of applications.

When you look at faculty rosters, remember that “visiting professors” and adjuncts, while they can be amazing educators, may only be working in the department for a short time. Also, think about the department you’d be applying to, not just the scholar you want to work with. Is it a media studies department, a communication department, a computer science department? The discipline in which you get your Ph.D. will significantly affect the kind of scholarship you get the chance to do and what sorts of academic jobs you qualify for.

Below is a list of Ph.D. programs in North America that have game studies scholars as members of their faculty. This list is always growing and changing. All suggestions for additional inclusions are very welcome (see contact info at right).

American University – Ph.D. in Communication Game studies faculty: Benjamin Stokes In conjunction with the American University Game Lab

Arizona State University – Ph.D. in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology Game studies faculty: Alexandrina Agloro

Arizona State University – Ph.D. in Learning, Literacies, and Technology Game studies faculty: Betty Gee, Jim Gee

Carleton University – Ph.D. in Cultural Mediations Game studies faculty: Aubrey Anable

Concordia University – Individualized Program Ph.D. (INDI)

(Concordia’s INDI degree has also been included below in the section on interdisciplinary programs.) Game studies faculty: Mia Consalvo, Sandra Gabriele, Lynn Hughes, Rilla Khaled, Bart Simon

Florida State University – Ph.D. in Communication Game studies faculty: Arienne Ferchaud

Georgia Tech – Ph.D. in Digital Media Game studies faculty: Ian Bogost, Janet Murray

Indiana University – Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences Game studies faculty: Raiford Guins

NC State University – Ph.D. in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media Game studies faculty: Grant Bollmer, Andrew Johnston, Adriana Souza e Silva, Nicholas Taylor

New York University – Ph.D. in Media, Culture, and Communication Game studies faculty: Laine Nooney

Old Dominion University – Ph.D. in English Game studies faculty: Kevin Moberly, Marc Ouellette

Ryerson University – Ph.D. in Communication and Culture (joint program with York University) Game studies faculty: Jason Boyd

Simon Frasier University – Ph.D. in Communication Game studies faculty: Milena Droumeva, Dal Yong Jin

Stanford University – Ph.D. in  Art and Art History  (specialization in Film & Media Studies),  Communication ,  Modern Thought & Literature , or Theater & Performance Studies Game studies faculty: Shane Denson, Henry Lowood

Syracuse University – Ph.D. in English Game studies faculty: Chris Hanson

Temple University – Ph.D. in Media and Communication Game studies faculty: Hector Postigo, Adrienne Shaw

University of Arizona – Ph.D. in Literature Game studies faculty: Ken McAllister

UC Davis – Ph.D. in Literature, Performance Studies, Sociology, etc. Note: game studies faculty are primarily associated with Cinema and Digital Media , which does not grant Ph.D.s. However doctoral students in the departments mentioned are currently engaged in or have recently completed games-related Ph.D. work. Game studies faculty: Stephanie Boluk, Gina Bloom, Joshua McCoy, Patrick LeMieux, Timothy Lenior, Colin Milburn

UC Irvine – Ph.D. in Informatics Game studies faculty: Mimi Ito, Bonnie Ruberg, Katie Salen, Kurt Squire, Constance Steinkuehler, Theresa Tanenbaum, Aaron Trammell

UC Irvine – Ph.D. in Visual Studies Game studies faculty: Peter Krapp, Braxton Soderman

UC Irvine – Ph.D. in Anthropology Game studies faculty: Tom Boellstorff

UCLA – Ph.D. in Cinema and Media Studies Game studies faculty: Stephen Mamber

UC Santa Barbara – Ph.D. in Film and Media Studies Game studies faculty: Alenda Chang

UC Santa Cruz – Ph.D. in Computational Media Game studies faculty: Nathan Altice, Katherine Isbister, Michael Mateas, Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Jim Whitehead

UC Santa Cruz – Ph.D. in Film and Digital Media Game studies faculty: Soraya Murray, Susana Ruiz (Faculty from UCSC’s Art & Design: Games + Playable Media Program also support game studies research: micha cárdenas, A. M. Darke, Robin Hunicke, Elizabeth Swensen)

University of Central Florida — Ph.D. in Texts and Technologies Game studies faculty: Emily K. Johnson, Eddie Lohmeyer, Eric Murnane, John Murray, Anastasia Salter, Mel Stanfill,

University of Chicago – Ph.D. in English Game studies faculty: Patrick Jagoda

University of Hawaii, Manoa – Ph.D. in Communication and Information Sciences Game studies faculty: Kelly Bergstrom, Jennifer Sunrise Winter

University of Michigan – Ph.D. in Screen Arts & Cultures or American Culture Game studies faculty: Sheila Murphy, Lisa Nakamura

University of Texas at Dallas – Ph.D. in Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication Game studies faculty: Josef Nguyen and Ann Wu

University of Toronto – Ph.D. in Information Sciences Game studies faculty: Tero Karppi, David B. Nieborg, Sara Grimes

University of Washington – Ph.D. in Information Science Game studies faculty: Jinha Lee

University of Waterloo – Ph.D. in English Language and Literature (in conjunction with the Games Institute ) Game studies faculty: see Games Institute faculty page

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee – Ph.D. in Media, Cinema, and Digital Studies Game studies faculty: Stuart Moulthrop

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee – Ph.D. in Anthropology Game studies faculty: Thomas Malaby

York University – Ph.D. in  Digital Media  or   Education Game studies faculty: Sandra Danilovic, Yifat Shaik, Kurt Thumlert,

OPTION 2: Pick a Ph.D. Program with Ties to a Game Design Program

A second option is to get your Ph.D. through a program that, while not explicitly focused on games, allows you to take classes in an adjacent games-specific graduate program. Often these related programs grant MFAs, but they usually involve some game studies classes.

Before applying to these programs, be sure to inquire with the faculty you are interested in working with about whether it is possible to combine coursework from your home department with classes from these related games programs.

University of Southern California – Ph.D. in Media Arts + Practice Take courses in: Interactive Media and Games Division

University of Southern California – Ph.D. in Cinema and Media Studies Take courses in: Interactive Media and Games Division

New York University – Ph.D. in Media, Culture, and Communication (also listed under Option 1 above) Take courses in: NYU Game Center and Integrated Digital Media

UCLA – Ph.D. in Cinema and Media Studies Take courses in: Design Media Arts ( UCLA Gamelab )

OPTION 3: Pick a Ph.D. Program That Supports Interdisciplinary Digital Scholarship

The third option is to make your own way by picking a Ph.D. that supports interdisciplinary research and will allow you to tailor your education toward your interest in games. Ideally, this will be a program that has an explicit link to digital media, as this will give you access to scholars and colleagues similarly committed to related concerns around contemporary technology.

The upside to this option is that you get to be the architect of your own scholarly formation. Who do you want to be? You decide! The downside is that you will need to do the extra legwork to read widely outside your coursework and build a network of mentors from other institutions.

Brown University – Ph.D. in Modern Culture and Media

Concordia University – Individualized Program Ph.D. (INDI) (Concordia’s INDI degree has also been included above in the section on game studies faculty.) Game studies faculty: Mia Consalvo, Sandra Gabriele, Rilla Khaled

Rutgers University – Ph.D. in Communication, Information, and Library Studies

Simon Frasier University – Ph.D. in Interactive Arts & Technology

UC Berkeley – Ph.D. in any field with Designated Emphasis in New Media Berkeley Center for New Media

Whatever path you take toward your career in game studies, good luck! You bring an important new set of perspectives to video games, and the field is better for having you in it.

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BO RUBERG, Ph.D.

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PhD Candidate in algorithmic game theory under uncertainty

. How can the agents take into account this unpredictability to optimize their decision-making process? The most suitable tool to describe these systems is game theory . A game allows us to model a

PhD position in Digital Resilience in Supply Chains

research. Skills in game theory , agent-based simulation, or behavioural experiments are desirable. We seek a candidate skilled in at least one of these fields and with a keen interest in the others. You will

PhD position in Computational Sciences within the national Data-Driven Life Sciences program

which microbes make decisions, bioinformatic techniques to compare these mechanisms to empirical data, and game theory and modeling approaches to improve our understanding. The project has many exciting

to compare these mechanisms to empirical data, and game theory and modeling approaches to improve our understanding. The project has many exciting directions and opportunities for different quantitative tools

microbes make decisions, bioinformatic techniques to compare these mechanisms to empirical data, and game theory and modeling approaches to improve our understanding. The project has many exciting directions

PhD Studentship in Social Norms

). Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: Social Norms Game Theory Experimental Economics Micro Economic Theory INFORMATION ABOUT THE STUDENTSHIP & ELIGIBILITY The studentship provides support of

PhD Scholarship in AI for Electricity Markets - DTU Wind

for Power and Energy Systems (PES). The EMA Section has a strong multi-disciplinary research focus on energy markets, optimization, game theory , and machine learning. We are currently 14 members in the EMA

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science, etc.)You have an understanding of the theory , operation, programming, and control of redundant robot manipulators.You show responsibility towards your team and other researchers. As this position will

PhD Offer M/F - Strong coordination and strategic communication in the finite-length regime

regime, and in Game Theory on strategic communication, we will develop a general framework for the strong coordination of the actions of strategic agents in the finite-lenght regime. New characterization

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Simply put Game Theory studies decision-making, where the outcome of each "player" depends on the actions of other "players".

The dictionary describes game theory as "The branch of mathematics concerned with the analysis of strategies for dealing with competitive situations where the outcome of a participant's choice of action depends critically on the actions of other participants.

Despite focusing on mathematics, Game Theory has been used in various fields such as social sciences, business and biology.

While Game Theory is a useful tool to analyze and solve problems, it does have problems.

• Game Theory relies on simplified models and on a simplified structure.
• Game Theory  has a key assumption that players will react rationally and have complete and accurate information.

For more information  see " The Limitations of Game Theory ".

Examples of Game Theory

Game Theory  is how and why people make decisions, and has applications in many different fields. Below are some examples of Game Theory:

• Prisoner's Dilemma
• Volunteer's Dilemma
• War of Attrition
• Rock Paper Scissors

Video games rarely incorporate Game Theory.  However, studies have been done on how to incorporate game theory into computer games and how it could be used in game design.

Here are some articles and sites about game theory and video games :

“ Game Theory in Video Games Explained (Essential Tips for New Designers),” October 25, 2017. https://www.gamedesigning.org/learn/game-theory/

Taylor, Mark, Mike Baskett, Denis Reilly, and Somasundaram Ravindran. “ Game Theory for Computer Games Design .” Games and Culture 14, no. 7–8 (November 2019): 843–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412017740497 .

Yin, Haoran, Jiaxiang Sun, and Wei Cai. “ Honest or Dishonest? Promoting Integrity in Loot Box Games Through Evolutionary Game Theory .” IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems , 2024, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1109/TCSS.2024.3376718 .

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Best Undergraduate Game Design Programs

Programs in this specialty emphasize game programming within a core computing education to prepare students for careers in the gaming, simulation, modeling, training and visualization industries. These are the top undergraduate computer science programs for game/simulation development. Read the methodology »

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University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA

• #1 in Game/Simulation Development
• #23 in Computer Science  (tie)

Undergraduates study in the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences at the University of Southern California, a private school based in Los Angeles. The USC Trojans compete in the NCAA Division I Pac-12 Conference and are particularly competitive in football.

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Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA

• #2 in Game/Simulation Development
• #2 in Computer Science  (tie)

Carnegie Mellon University, a private institution in Pittsburgh, is the country’s only school founded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The school specializes in academic areas including engineering, business, computer science and fine arts.

University of Utah

Salt Lake City, UT

• #3 in Game/Simulation Development
• #45 in Computer Science  (tie)

The University of Utah is known to students as the U of U or simply The U. Its campus is located in the state capital, Salt Lake City.

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Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, GA

• #4 in Game/Simulation Development
• #6 in Computer Science  (tie)

Georgia Tech, located in the heart of Atlanta, offers a wide range of student activities. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, an NCAA Division I team, compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference and have a fierce rivalry with the University of Georgia. Since 1961, the football team has been led onto the field at home games by the Ramblin' Wreck, a restored 1930 Model A Ford Sport Coupe. Georgia Tech has a small but vibrant Greek community. Freshmen are offered housing, but aren't required to live on campus. In addition to its campuses in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia Tech has campuses in France, Ireland, Costa Rica, Singapore and China.

Rochester Institute of Technology

Rochester, NY

• #5 in Game/Simulation Development  (tie)
• #63 in Computer Science  (tie)

The Rochester Institute of Technology emphasizes co-op experiences in many of its academic programs. Students may also complete accelerated degree programs to earn both a bachelor's and a master's degree.

University of California, Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, CA

• #56 in Computer Science  (tie)

At the University of California, Santa Cruz, one of 10 schools in the state's university system, residence life can define a student's experience. Nearly 100 percent of freshmen live on campus and choose one of 10 residential colleges to join. These small groups have their own campus locations, as well as unique architecture and programming. Kresge College, for example, is home to an organic garden where students can take classes; students who are members of the College Nine community are often active in volunteer efforts and the college's Alternative Spring Break trips. Students living in residence halls may only have overnight guests 15 times a school year, for a maximum of three nights each visit. Students also have the option to reside in single-occupant recreational vehicles in the Camper Park, a unique community of students who live in university-maintained, home-like vehicles and share a common bathroom and lounge.

Cornell University

• #7 in Game/Simulation Development  (tie)

Cornell University, a private school in Ithaca, New York, has 14 colleges and schools. Each admits its own students, though every graduate receives a degree from Cornell University. The university has more than 1,000 student organizations on campus.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA

• #1 in Computer Science

Though the Massachusetts Institute of Technology may be best known for its math, science and engineering education, this private research university also offers architecture, humanities, management and social science programs. The school is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just across the Charles River from downtown Boston.

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

The sunny campus of Stanford University is located in California’s Bay Area, about 30 miles from San Francisco. The private institution stresses a multidisciplinary combination of teaching, learning, and research, and students have many opportunities to get involved in research projects.

University of California, Irvine

• #27 in Computer Science  (tie)

The University of California, Irvine, a research institution in Orange County, specializes in areas such as cancer and neuroscience studies in conjunction with the highly ranked UC Irvine Medical Center. Graduate programs are highly regarded at UC Irvine, too, with specialty offerings at the Paul Merage School of Business and the Henry Samueli School of Engineering. Students can participate in more than 500 student organizations, including nearly 50 fraternities and sororities. The Pacific Ocean is only 5 miles from campus. Known as a commuter school, the university offers on-campus residences. Freshmen are not required to live on campus but more than three-fourths do. The university has earned accolades for its eco-friendly measures, promoting green initiatives through student groups like the Anteaters for Recycling and Conservation.

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Using ideas from game theory to improve the reliability of language models

by Rachel Gordon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Imagine you and a friend are playing a game where your goal is to communicate secret messages to each other using only cryptic sentences. Your friend's job is to guess the secret message behind your sentences. Sometimes, you give clues directly, and other times, your friend has to guess the message by asking yes-or-no questions about the clues you've given. The challenge is that both of you want to make sure you're understanding each other correctly and agreeing on the secret message.

MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) researchers have created a similar "game" to help improve how AI understands and generates text. It is known as a "consensus game" and it involves two parts of an AI system—one part tries to generate sentences (like giving clues), and the other part tries to understand and evaluate those sentences (like guessing the secret message).

The researchers discovered that by treating this interaction as a game, where both parts of the AI work together under specific rules to agree on the right message, they could significantly improve the AI's ability to give correct and coherent answers to questions.

They tested this new game-like approach on a variety of tasks, such as reading comprehension, solving math problems , and carrying on conversations, and found that it helped the AI perform better across the board. Their paper is published on the arXiv preprint server.

Traditionally, large language models answer one of two ways: generating answers directly from the model (generative querying) or using the model to score a set of predefined answers (discriminative querying), which can lead to differing and sometimes incompatible results.

With the generative approach, "Who is the president of the United States?" might yield a straightforward answer like "Joe Biden." However, a discriminative query could incorrectly dispute this fact when evaluating the same answer, such as "Barack Obama."

So how do we reconcile mutually incompatible scoring procedures to achieve coherent, efficient predictions?

"Imagine a new way to help language models understand and generate text, like a game. We've developed a training-free, game-theoretic method that treats the whole process as a complex game of clues and signals, where a generator tries to send the right message to a discriminator using natural language . Instead of chess pieces, they're using words and sentences," says Athul Jacob, an MIT Ph.D. student in electrical engineering and computer science and CSAIL affiliate.

"Our way to navigate this game is finding the 'approximate equilibria,' leading to a new decoding algorithm called 'equilibrium ranking.' It's a pretty exciting demonstration of how bringing game-theoretic strategies into the mix can tackle some big challenges in making language models more reliable and consistent."

When tested across many tasks, like reading comprehension, commonsense reasoning, math problem-solving, and dialogue, the team's algorithm consistently improved how well these models performed. Using the ER algorithm with the LLaMA-7B model even outshone the results from much larger models.

"Given that they are already competitive, that people have been working on it for a while, but the level of improvements we saw being able to outperform a model that's 10 times the size was a pleasant surprise," says Jacob.

"Diplomacy," a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe, where players negotiate alliances, betray friends, and conquer territories without the use of dice—relying purely on skill, strategy, and interpersonal manipulation—recently had a second coming.

In November 2022, computer scientists, including Jacob, developed "Cicero," an AI agent that achieves human-level capabilities in the mixed-motive seven-player game, which requires the same aforementioned skills, but with natural language. The math behind this partially inspired the Consensus Game.

While the history of AI agents long predates when OpenAI's software entered the chat in November 2022, it's well documented that they can still cosplay as your well-meaning, yet pathological friend.

The consensus game system reaches equilibrium as an agreement, ensuring accuracy and fidelity to the model's original insights. To achieve this, the method iteratively adjusts the interactions between the generative and discriminative components until they reach a consensus on an answer that accurately reflects reality and aligns with their initial beliefs. This approach effectively bridges the gap between the two querying methods.

In practice, implementing the consensus game approach to language model querying, especially for question-answering tasks, does involve significant computational challenges. For example, when using datasets like MMLU, which have thousands of questions and multiple-choice answers, the model must apply the mechanism to each query. Then, it must reach a consensus between the generative and discriminative components for every question and its possible answers.

The system did struggle with a grade school right of passage: math word problems. It couldn't generate wrong answers, which is a critical component of understanding the process of coming up with the right one.

"The last few years have seen really impressive progress in both strategic decision-making and language generation from AI systems, but we're just starting to figure out how to put the two together. Equilibrium ranking is a first step in this direction, but I think there's a lot we'll be able to do to scale this up to more complex problems," says Jacob.

An avenue of future work involves enhancing the base model by integrating the outputs of the current method. This is particularly promising since it can yield more factual and consistent answers across various tasks, including factuality and open-ended generation. The potential for such a method to significantly improve the base model's performance is high, which could result in more reliable and factual outputs from ChatGPT and similar language models that people use daily.

"Even though modern language models, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, have led to solving various tasks through chat interfaces, the statistical decoding process that generates a response from such models has remained unchanged for decades," says Google Research Scientist Ahmad Beirami, who was not involved in the work.

"The proposal by the MIT researchers is an innovative game-theoretic framework for decoding from language models through solving the equilibrium of a consensus game . The significant performance gains reported in the research paper are promising, opening the door to a potential paradigm shift in language model decoding that may fuel a flurry of new applications."

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The Possible Collapse of the U.S. Home Insurance System

A times investigation found climate change may now be a concern for every homeowner in the country..

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Across the United States, more frequent extreme weather is starting to cause the home insurance market to buckle, even for those who have paid their premiums dutifully year after year.

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