Rumor: UC Berkeley students offer StarCraft class
by Justin McElroy 
{ Jan 28th 2009 at 10:26AM } 
From the course description: "What may look like complex topics are just ways we want you to think more deeply about the game to derive a greater satisfaction from playing. Furthermore, this understanding should have applications in real life, to further synthesize new information from limited inferences."
Note that it says it "should" have real-world applications. As in, "This should be of some practical use to you, but even if it's not, you just played StarCraft on the US Department of Education's dime, so maybe you shouldn't look a gift Protoss in the mouth."
Update: It appears this class may be a student initiative in Berkeley's alternative education program, as opposed to being an official part of the syllabus. We're sure students will recognize the course's immense value regardless.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Apollo @ Jan 28th 2009 10:31AM
Permission to spawn more overlords, please?
Donald @ Jan 28th 2009 10:45AM
You must complete the "Construct Additional Pylons" pre-requisite first.
Also, wouldn't this just be a course on modern South Korea?
Deeznuts420 @ Jan 28th 2009 10:59AM
"class are you ready to take your exam?"
"DELIGHTED TO SIR!"
Mimglow @ Jan 28th 2009 10:34AM
The US Department of Education pays for student's university tuition? I thought UC Berkely was a private college?
Don't get mad if I'm wrong, I'm Canadian :)
Jerk Face @ Jan 28th 2009 11:23AM
You can get federally funded school loans. I presume that's what they're referring to.
Bakkster @ Jan 28th 2009 11:45AM
If someone spends my tax money that they got from federal loans/grants/scholarships to take this class, I'm going to be pissed...
justshovejayohbe @ Jan 28th 2009 12:08PM
I'm pretty sure Berkley is a part of the UC system, public college for the state (not federal government).
Mal F4cti0n @ Jan 28th 2009 12:59PM
yeah, should say, "on your psrents or your dime."
even a public university in the states costs money. heck, i still owe over $14000 and i have been out of college for eight years. but the current $98000 salary was well worth it.
gst @ Jan 29th 2009 4:30AM
Dude, if you make that much, why don't you pay off that loan asap? Isn't it just bleeding interest payments out of you?
And, not to be snarky, but you wouldn't feel comfortable living off of 84,000 for year?
(Sorry, just graduated from undergrad and can't imagine anything greater than being out of debt.)
Zertoss @ Jan 28th 2009 10:42AM
So will Starcraft 2 be the next course you take? Is there a prerequisite number of pylons you have to construct before you can take the class?
Kn1ves @ Jan 28th 2009 10:43AM
UC = University of California
Its a public college
-----------
I really hope I get to go there by Fall 09
http://phatlace.blogspot.com
Mimglow @ Jan 28th 2009 11:12AM
Thanks for the clarification! I recant my post :)
WiNG from LifeinaGame.com @ Jan 28th 2009 10:52AM
So how is this course graded? By an end of term single elimination tournament?
"GG suckers I got the only A+!"
Zertoss @ Jan 28th 2009 10:53AM
Zerg Rush results in an automatic F.
WiNG from LifeinaGame.com @ Jan 28th 2009 11:07AM
Your name sounds like Zerg + Protoss.
Zertoss @ Jan 28th 2009 11:09AM
Huh. I never noticed that.
archagon @ Jan 28th 2009 10:56AM
This course is a DeCal, which means it's run by students and taken pass/fail for fun. Other similar courses include "The Simpsons and Philosophy", "Downstage Left: Creating Sketch Comedy with Improvisation", and "The Music, Art, and Lyrics of Radiohead".
Deeznuts420 @ Jan 28th 2009 11:00AM
that last one is sooo made up
Neuromancer @ Jan 28th 2009 1:11PM
I knew there had to be a catch to this, I figured it was an elaborate prank. I bet your post is lost on most people though.
brighenne @ Jan 28th 2009 1:17PM
glad someone mentioned it was a decal at least.
Andrew @ Jan 28th 2009 1:26PM
It's also only two units, and it doesn't go towards any major, minor, or graduation requirements (other than taking 2 of the 120 some odd units you need to graduate).
DeCals are just fun diversions you don't have to do a lot of work for, not really serious classes. More like little student run seminars.
b trumpet @ Jan 28th 2009 10:57AM
If it will help me enjoy Starcraft and play it better, sure I would take the class. I get bored with Starcraft because I can't play it well.
Duke @ Jan 28th 2009 11:02AM
This would have sounded great when I was in college. Yet now, as I pay student loans, I know I would have been pretty pissed if I wasted the money on credit hours to play a game. No offense, but once you get out and move on a few years, the lame classes you took really don't seem like such a bright idea. Hell, even some of the law school credits I took I wish I had chosen more wisely.
WiNG from LifeinaGame.com @ Jan 28th 2009 11:08AM
Amen to that.
BlaqueBeird @ Jan 28th 2009 7:41PM
I never bothered with post-secondary. I started my own business instead, and we just got a huge helping hand from the lovely people on Dragon's Den. They fought over us, which I thought was nice.
Marty @ Jan 28th 2009 11:03AM
Well, I just logged in for the first time in a few days, and all I have to say is... WTF happened to Joystiq?
Duke @ Jan 28th 2009 11:07AM
They blended the fanboy sites in a bit and now you sometimes have stories that are pure joystiq and sometimes have the fanboy specific stories showing up. Expect to see a marked increase in obsessive fanboy ranting. So far the new setup is working pretty well. Looks much cleaner.
Marty @ Jan 28th 2009 11:11AM
Yeah, it does look much cleaner. Not looking forward to the fanboy rants though. : /
Deck @ Jan 28th 2009 2:49PM
So far I haven't seen too many rants yet. I think its going to be alright. Biggest complaint to those who blow up like that seems to be that sometimes there is news that is specific to xbox and playstation. So they don't like that the "competition" mixes there on their own specific sites.
Though it really does look better, maybe that will inspire people to calm down a bit? Oh wait, no, what the hell am I talking about. No way.
albedos_shadow @ Jan 28th 2009 11:17AM
"Real-life applications" such as WHEN THE ZERG INVADE EARTH! WE'LL BE READY, YOU SONS OF BITCHES!
Adam @ Jan 28th 2009 11:17AM
So does this mean all those games I played in college now count as extra-curricular?
Joe @ Jan 28th 2009 11:20AM
Thanks to this article, I now know where NOT to send my kids to college.
Jude @ Jan 28th 2009 11:36AM
@Joe: Seriously? UC Berkeley is one of the best universities in the world in almost every academic field.
LaughingTarget @ Jan 28th 2009 11:47AM
Yet not all of us are multi-millionaires or are willing to enslave ourselves with student loans just to do it. And I question your claim that it is a top grade university, they're offering a StarCraft class for crying out loud.
Kn1ves @ Jan 28th 2009 11:58AM
http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/
Rank 36 in the world, was 22 last year.
Monkeydog @ Jan 28th 2009 12:23PM
@LaughingTarget
UC Berkeley is a public school, a damn fine one at that. Basically if you live in California, going to a UC is doable without being enslaved by loans, especially if you're poor to begin with. Going to a UC costs about maybe $20,000 a year, if you live on campus? and you can get most of that money in grants. Berkeley and UCLA are a tad bit more expensive though, I believe, and a hell of a lot harder to get into.
Ranelar @ Jan 28th 2009 1:23PM
Your kids probably wouldn't get into Berkeley anyway...
LaughingTarget @ Jan 28th 2009 1:47PM
And I went to the University of Central Florida where a degree that gets you work just fine costs as much as half a semester at UC Berkley. After you get your first job, where you went to school no longer has any bearing on the rest of your career. That's $80,000 + books blown for something I got for $10,000 and still rolled right out of college into a $50k/year job and a huge ladder for potential.
The reason it costs that much is because UC Berkley wastes a TON of money on administration and worthless classes. With rising tuition costs, just how can they possibly justify a StarCraft class? They can't. That tells me that the ranking in your link is bogus because they don't even know how not to waste taxpayer and student money on bullshit projects.
343 Guilty Fart @ Jan 28th 2009 1:58PM
Laughingtarget-
This class isn't actually being run by professors at the university, it's more of a student/community run class. It's like one of the classes that your local community center might run like Intro to Knitting.
Ranelar @ Jan 28th 2009 1:59PM
@Laughing
You're right, for your purposes Berkeley would have been a waste. If you're perfectly happy making $55k with room for improvement, by all means go to your local state school and go get a job. However, for people who want to be doctors, lawyers, researchers, etc, then the school you went to DOES matter to the admissions committees at the next level. A 3.5 at UCF is not going to match a 3.5 at Berkeley in their minds. Anyway, Berkeley costs less than $9k a year in tuition for California residents.
LaughingTarget @ Jan 28th 2009 2:03PM
And Into to Knitting still gets my tax dollars. That doesn't make it any better. Facilities and money are being used to pay for something that has no benefit to a legitimate education. This isn't just some enthusiast club, it's a course listed in the official catalog. It is a course that people can use my tax dollars, in the form of education grants, to take. I wouldn't take offense to this if it was just a group of gaming enthusiasts renting out a room on the campus.
Ranelar @ Jan 28th 2009 2:06PM
I don't think the student lecturers are getting paid...
Lord Negatron @ Jan 28th 2009 3:10PM
@ Jude
Well, Wisconsin is known for having the most CEO's graduate from it.
:P
LaughingTarget @ Jan 28th 2009 11:48AM
Well, it isn't any worse than taking a class in (insert religion, minority, gender here) studies, law or communications. Basically, paying for something you can do just as well on your own and be just successful in.
Duke @ Jan 28th 2009 12:01PM
You are comparing this class with a class on law? Exactly how are they the same? Communications degree and law degrees are the same to you as well? You are living in a fantasy world.
justshovejayohbe @ Jan 28th 2009 12:18PM
I agree about the studies part, but law and communications are very important. Communications is a modern incarnation of rhetoric which was the quintessential element of a Greek or Roman nobles' education. And while lawyers suck, law as a study and philosophy is incredibly important and fascinating. The unfortunate realities of life, buddy-buddy political relatinonships, and financial corruption are what make our court and criminal justice systems so despicable. Lawyers who are lawyers not for money but out of passion are very interesting to talk to if you ever get the chance. There was recently a lawyer on Colbert who's passionate about copyright law and how it needs to change and it was incredibly interesting to hear him talk about his ideas and reflections on legal history on his more serious NPR interview.
Duke @ Jan 28th 2009 12:38PM
In all fairness, a lot of us in the law have nothing in common with the lawyers that have tainted our field over the years. In fact, many of us would like to see a lot of reform in the law and the practice of law as a whole. Either way, to act like law is a simple thing to do or that you don't need to be educated to practice it is simply mind blowing to me.
LaughingTarget @ Jan 28th 2009 1:58PM
I have an amazingly low opinion of the law field in general. Most of the required education and licensing in the field are there not because it creates a decent lawyer but because it creates artificial barriers to keep the salaries high.
Tell me, what does being a lawyer consist of? Reading books on cases, these days pulled out of computerized databases, and spitting them back at a guy in a black dress (sorry, 21st century, women are there, too). People spend a quarter of a million dollars or more for someone to tell them how to take notes and regurgitate past case documents to a judge. Frankly, I hold little opinion for any career path that people pay to be taught that can as easily and efficiently (not to mention cheaper) to learn on your own. I'm even kicking myself over the $10,000 outlay for an accounting degree. Why did I need to go to class for this? This is easy to do on my own, and most colleges make you do all the learning yourself to begin with. GAAP, GAGAS and GAAS are all publicly available documents and all I got for my degree was some guy telling me to buy a book that was almost a plaguriazation of free to public documents provided by the AICPA.
Short of requiring specialized facilities that individuals cannot afford or are unlikely to be able to get a proper license to buy, like chemistry, advanced physics, genetics, etc, college is pretty much a huge scam, especially when 70% of the degrees and classes offered have no bearing to any real world job that doesn't involve teaching the subject to a new generation of suckers. Before you go marking this down, I got caught up in the scam as well, though thankfully, without spending nearly 20 years of salary and worrying about huge debt.
Duke @ Jan 28th 2009 2:50PM
I think you are largely oversimplifying what we do on a daily basis, but I don't think I need to run through each and every process that people cannot do pro se like you think they so easily could. I watch pro se plaintiffs and defendants in the courts all the time and watch how poorly they are able to understand the legal system, and how bad it damages their cases.
Yes, I have problems with the law school set-up and the costs, but that doesn't mean that we are not trained in many respects to what is not so easily known to everyone. Law is not a total breeze as you imply. If you think that you can sift through contracts and complex litigation with only a need for wikipedia and some newspaper articles, then more power to you, but I sure as hell wouldn't be secure in what it gets you.
gst @ Jan 29th 2009 4:44AM
I agree with many of the sentiments - there is a lot wrong with higher education, a lot of waste, and, in my opinion, an unbalanced focus on so-called "life experiences" to the detriment of plain old education.
And yes, there are many things you could learn on your own but firstly, the things you listed are not really good examples; such studies require sort of a forum for discussion to really succeed and I can learn math or science on my own in some library a helluva lot easier that less but-and-dried objective concepts.
secondly, you can learn whatever you want on your own, but how are you going to prove to people (employers I guess) that you have learned so much. Well, you'll need to be tested by some third party, and tested rather rigorously, at a great expense.
And how do they know what is reasonable to test you on - well to do that they have to be the ones that organize what you learn and set expectations for what you should retain and understand.
And hell the best way to do this is just to gather many people who want to learn in one place, teach them all at once, test them according to the same standards so they can be compared, and call it day.
Now, that's not how higher education actually works - theres a helluva lot more red tape and bullshit, but its what is available.
If we all wanted to learn shit just for funsies, we would just go to library and read...and some of us do, but if we actually want to get somewhere with it, we all need to pay out the ass so some intellectual experts can throw info at us, test us on it, and then tell the world how good we did.
Either that or we could just let all jobs and tasks be assigned via nepotism.