Principals of Game Theory Applied to League of Legends Syllabus by Sanath Mullapudi

Introduction Game theory is the study of strategic decision making. Although it is an intuitive concept, often times people choose to make inferior decisions and eventually come to regret their decisions. This course attempts to remedy the situation by teaching reinforcing the principals of game theory and observing the application of those principals to a model !league of legends" to achieve success. Key learning outcomes #pon completion of this class students $ill be able to% 1) Analy&e problems in ne$ game theory centric approach $ith emphasis on logic and math 2) 'e able to adapt a decision predicated on a premise, as the premise changes Outline of course Week 1: Introduction to the course and the facilitator(s), statement of purpose, $hy pick league of legends, class goals, facilitator goals, structure format of class, understand the value of boiling do$n complicated decisions into simple comparable integers !the essence of this class", e(plain the right to challenge the material, )ntroduce terms Week 2: Understanding limitations on resources and time and the value of decision making. )n an ideal $orld $here resources and time are limitless this course $ould be useless, this course e(ists to take an e(isting state of rules and resources to arrive at a goal state $ith the best possible solution. League of legends crossover% Limits of champions items item slots etc. Week 3: efinition of !olutions" ecision and ho# to evaluate effectiveness$ *or any problem there can e(ists any number of solutions ho$ever the best solutions share t$o things in common% they are efficient, and rely on the fe$est preconditions and assumptions+ having a solution that only $orks under constraints is inferior to a solution that al$ays $orks+ like$ise a faster solution is generally a better solution. League of legends crossover% ,ompare different champions to see $hich more effectively deals $ith the problem, $hich item better handles a situation, etc. Week %: &earning ho# to assign value and 'oiling do#n 'ig situations into several

decisions"cases re(resented 'y num'ers$ Assigning value is an essential to making good decisions if $e do not kno$ the value of taking one path versus another $e cannot move for$ard. -e can break big situations into several smaller cases every fork in the road, and assign a value to each path and eventually compare these values !integers" to find the ideal path. League of legends crossover% item efficiency, champion efficiency etc. Week ): *onditional value: Understanding synergy in res(ect to resources and over multi(le decisions$ More often than not $e find that simply making decisions solely based on the value of that individual decision is foolish. -e have to take into consideration ho$ this decision $ill affect future decisions. Simplest e(ample% 'uying mass .uantities of $ood simply because of price and then not having the labor to make furniture out of them is foolish. League of legends crossover% champion and item synergy, etc. Week +: *onditional value: Understanding synergy in res(ect to the goal state$ Similar to the discussion in the previous $eek about synergy $ith the focus shifted from resources to the goal state. /espite the numerous combinations of resources that may e(ist and their value $e must constrain our search to the combinations that move to$ard the goal state. League of legends crossover% team composition, style of victory, etc. Week ,: Over 'udgeting resources$ There are fe$ times $hen the decisions $e make achieve the goal state but $e overspend our resources, leaving them depleted for future goals. #nderstand $hat our priorities are and ho$ to achieve most of our goals. League of legends crossover% Mid game rotations and choosing the right ob0ective calls. Week -: .ssessing utility"value"resources on hand and ma/imi0ing situational gains$ 'uilding on the previous $eek1s $ork% after assigning resources to a situation understanding the potential gains and losses involved $ith our decision. Learning ho$ $e can try to affect the outcome as much as possible. League of legends crossover% Teamfight analysis Week 1: .ssessing the value of safe decisions and risk 'ased decisions$ There are al$ays choices $e make that have the potential for huge success but are prone to failure contrasted by the safe path $hich involves no risk but the potential gains are not nearly as impressive. Simple e(ample is startup versus a climb up ladder of a company. League of legends crossover% Map control, 0ungling )deologies, etc. Week 12: *ost of Kno#ledge3 understanding decisions are derived from kno#ledge$ -eather its scouting a rival company to see $hat their ne(t move is, or researching ne$ technology, any efforts spent in increasing kno$ledge lead to a greater understanding of the current state and allo$s for better decisions to be made. League of legends crossover% 2ision ,ontrol, Supporting, etc. Week 11: 4eactionary decisions3 counter (lays3 and cutting losses$ 3aving learned ho$ to make our move on our o$n, no$ $e must consider the enemy1s replies, ho$ to

counter them, and $hen it is simply better to ackno$ledge the enemy has gotten the better of us, and simply cut our losses. League of legends crossover% ,ounter building, counter ganks, sacrificing teammates, dealing $ith fed opponents killing sprees Week 12: .naly0ing &osses"Im(rovement$ /espite everything $e have learned, eventually $e $ill have to lose and learning to reflect on losses, $hy they occurred, $hich step of our system they failed on, and $eather $e could have prevented that mistake or not goes a long $ay to improvement and eventual perfect play. Week 13: *lass 5resentations"!lack ay$ )f all goes $ell the class $ill be caught up on this point and present their studies they found !in groups" similar to the structure $e have studied all semester long. )f $e are running behind, the group $ill submit a paper and this day $ill be used as a slack day. Week 1%: Wra( u(3 reflection of gains6 evaluate success of class3 im(rovements of class$ 4eading &ist"4esources There are no books to buy for this class+ $e may be occasionally doing reading from these resources 74eignofgaming: $ebsite that periodically publishes papers that analy&e the game from a logic and math based perspective, ranging from .ualitative papers to very mathematical in.uires on a specific topic 7(ro'uilds: a $ebsite that publishes the currently used builds by professionals that $e $ill criti.ue and analy&e 7lol$inven$co$kr: the staple of the meta4game lies in korea $here countless math has been put into creating the 5ideal6 guides for champions and analysis for item and champion efficiencies, $hich $e may criti.ue 7leaguecraft: a build calculator that given a certain input $ill display the in game mathematical output of stats and damage per second $hich $e might use to study optimi&ation 4lol$askmrro'ot: basically a better version of leaguecraft *lass meetings -e $ill be meeting once a $eek for 7.8 hours a $eek .ssignments and 4e8uirements for (assing the class"Weekly res(onsi'ilities: 4Attend most classes 4Submit match replays

4Submit short brief $rite4ups on articles $e read, patch notes, etc.

9ethods of instruction 4*acilitator multimedia presentation 4 Guest lectures 4 Student presentations :rading 4Attend most classes 4Submit match replays 4Submit short brief $rite4ups on articles $e read, patch notes, etc. /oing the follo$ing and you $ill pass