Starcraft course opened at UC Berkeley

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criccio

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This is absolutely incredible. If this class was online I would take it in a heatbeat, the homework looks like so much fun!

Professors website with homework and syllabus: http://michaelo.phswebs.com/BerkeleyStarcraft/

The article: http://www.tumeroks.com/starcraft-course-opened-for-college-earn-credits/

Digg submission: http://digg.com/pc_games/Starcraft_Course_opened_for_College_earn_credits

Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56436429104&ref=mf

Starcraftwire.net article: http://www.starcraftwire.net/blog/comments/study-starcraft-for-college/

:D:D:D
 
I was thinking the same thing until I realized I would have to pay tuition to play a video game. Then I started thinking about how pissed parents would be if they knew their child took this as a course. I wonder how the teacher scored such an awesome job.
 
totally retarted and a complete waste of time. Like the stupid class my wife took in college that was all about the matrix.
 
Bigbacon said:
totally retarted and a complete waste of time. Like the stupid class my wife took in college that was all about the matrix.
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Seriously? The Matrix? I mean I know that the Wachoski's had all kinds’ pseudo philosophy religious leanings in the movies, but come on man! Silly planet we live on!
 
lol this is stupid....

i was really into it at first...but then i realized it would probably make me hate my favorite game...something college always makes you do...dislike what you once enjoyed.
 
That is pretty dumb. Keep video games out of school. They are already addictive enough and they contribute nothing to academics. How about focusing on a phys ed class instead- this country needs it since the majority of the people are overweight.
 
its 2 fucking credits and you guys are making it sound like its the end of the world. bring some damn enjoyment to the routine world of classes once in awhile. and hell you might learn a thing or two. games aren't mindless activities....
 
This reminds me of a student taught course (for academic credit) at Carnegie Mellon on DotA. Below is a description of the course from the StuCo site at CMU. It probably isn't/wasn't as rigorous as the Starcraft class, but is still academic credit for video game related material.

98-092 DotA Skills Practicum
Led by: Pincar, Justin B; York, David T
W 7:00PM - 8:20PM PH A18B
Defense of the Ancients (DotA) is an extremely popular real-time strategy game, created as a mod to Warcraft III. We will cover the following topics: basics, lane control, hero combat, mathcraft, item builds, and advanced team strategies.
 
I read some of the homework questions on the class web site, and it acutally seems pretty fun. Most of the questions just ask you to desribe the reason behind some popular strategies and techniques used in SC. I personally love to dissect my favorite video games, all the way down to the mechanics. I don't see how I would end up disliking SC by taking this course.
 
markt435 said:
its 2 fucking credits and you guys are making it sound like its the end of the world. bring some damn enjoyment to the routine world of classes once in awhile. and hell you might learn a thing or two. games aren't mindless activities....
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Spoken like someone who didn't have to pay for their own college education.
 
markt435 said:
its 2 fucking credits and you guys are making it sound like its the end of the world. bring some damn enjoyment to the routine world of classes once in awhile. and hell you might learn a thing or two. games aren't mindless activities....
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College is a joke. Any dumbass can get a degree now. Please someone prove me wrong, but this class just screams that Berkley cares more about making some money then they do about actually educating the kids that go there.

What could these kids possibly be learning in this class? I checked the homework, it appears that they are learning both how to play Starcraft better and learning about the people that worked on the game. It could be argued that this might be a class for someone going into programming specializing in video games, but that’s it.

I had a few boring classes but the vast majority of my collegic career was very enjoyable. I was learning what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. If you find yourself in college hating the majority of your classes your doing something wrong. Time to stop and figure a new direction.
 
they had an excellent opportunity with a class like this, but I've reviewed the homework for the first 3 weeks, and if thats all they have accomplished... this will become a mockery. Studying AI concepts, game development, human behaviour relating to certain gaming environments & conditions, reaction times, things of that nature, it could have turned into something very interesting.

But they're asking questions in week 3 like find out how much damage a siege tank to a hydralisk... WTF? Week 3?
 
Jr. Woodchuck said:
College is a joke. Any dumbass can get a degree now. Please someone prove me wrong, but this class just screams that Berkley cares more about making some money then they do about actually educating the kids that go there.

What could these kids possibly be learning in this class? I checked the homework, it appears that they are learning both how to play Starcraft better and learning about the people that worked on the game. It could be argued that this might be a class for someone going into programming specializing in video games, but that’s it.

I had a few boring classes but the vast majority of my collegic career was very enjoyable. I was learning what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. If you find yourself in college hating the majority of your classes your doing something wrong. Time to stop and figure a new direction.
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Like I said, its 2 credits and probably a one time class to take. Its not a degree, or a requirement to take it. But if you are finished up with classes but need to take something to fill the gap for financial aid purposes, why the fuck not?
 
Jr. Woodchuck said:
College is a joke. Any dumbass can get a degree now. Please someone prove me wrong, but this class just screams that Berkley cares more about making some money then they do about actually educating the kids that go there.

What could these kids possibly be learning in this class? I checked the homework, it appears that they are learning both how to play Starcraft better and learning about the people that worked on the game. It could be argued that this might be a class for someone going into programming specializing in video games, but that’s it.

I had a few boring classes but the vast majority of my collegic career was very enjoyable. I was learning what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. If you find yourself in college hating the majority of your classes your doing something wrong. Time to stop and figure a new direction.
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I don't think any "dumbass" can get an engineering degree or some sort of science degree. Those majors are no joke.
 
TheCommander said:
I don't think any "dumbass" can get an engineering degree or some sort of science degree. Those majors are no joke.
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I'm not trying to insult a particular degree. I'm simply pointing out that now college, which use to be the elite of education is now a place where anyone, of any educational level, can get a degree.

Classes like Starcraft 101 only prove my point. The fact that I have to debate this baffles me.

...but I do have some sort of science degree, and when I was taking my senior level classes there were students there that had no right being there. Getting grades they had no right getting.

College is too easy today. It's more about making money then it is educating kids. I'm sure thats not the case with all colleges, just most.
 
Why not just buy the game and play it yourself and learn on your own? You could probably learn a LOT more playing some peeps on battlenet.
 
After coming across this news bite on the interweb again I did some research and discovered that, this class is on a Pass/Fail basis meaning that it's not even factored into your grade point average.

Which makes me feel at least a little bit better about a class like this being offered.
 
It's called a "class" for funding reasons, I guess? Usually people join like, some kind of club or whatever for playing games.

I wonder which college will be the first to have a class on partying? "Your assignment this weekend is to get bombed. No class on monday."
 
Jr. Woodchuck said:
I'm not trying to insult a particular degree. I'm simply pointing out that now college, which use to be the elite of education is now a place where anyone, of any educational level, can get a degree.

Classes like Starcraft 101 only prove my point. The fact that I have to debate this baffles me.

...but I do have some sort of science degree, and when I was taking my senior level classes there were students there that had no right being there. Getting grades they had no right getting.

College is too easy today. It's more about making money then it is educating kids. I'm sure thats not the case with all colleges, just most.
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I disagree. It really depends on what discipline you are going into (and even then, University was always about educating yourself).

I'm about to graduate from Chemical Engineering, and let me assure you, it is far from being "easy".
 
Nowhere, anywhere in his post did he say ALL degrees were easy. But the reality is that yes, any dumbass CAN get a degree. Note, it doesnt say ANY degree, just A degree.


You would have thought that all you guys with these harder to get degrees, wouldnt need that explained to you.
 
Jr. Woodchuck said:
What could these kids possibly be learning in this class?
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I never played SC in my life, but I think the root of your question comes from the misguided assumption that every college class has to have an educational component in it. Any university offers any number of classes for credit which have no real educational purpose but are simply there to offer something fun to do for credit to reach the number of credits per needed for be eligible for financial aid or scholarships.

At most universities you can take any number of recreational classes for credit with a pass or fail grade. Just as one could come up with some educational value of taking Billiard or Bowling for credit, one can just as easily find something that can be learned in an SC class.

This class isn't for your "I just want to take useful classes and get done" crowd, it's for the "I need 12 credits and don't really want to do any work" crowd.
 
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