Game Theory was the class I was least excited to take out of my four at the start of the quarter. I encountered the subject in some of my previous courses but always found it tedious — mostly memorizing the outcomes of the two-by-two ‘game’ known as the prisoner’s dilemma.

I joined the class a day late, missing the first lecture. But, after about and hour-and-fifteen-minutes with Professor Barry O’Neill and slide after slide of games and discussion of strategy, I began to become hooked.

For those unfamiliar with game theory, the subject essentially rationally analyzes strategy by assigning “payoffs” (or valued-outcomes) to certain strategies in a ‘game’ — or competition — between two or more players. This definition likely does not fully encapsulate the extent to which game theory can be applied to numerous fields — political science, economics, and sports among others.

But, beyond the theoretical, game theory has provided a way to make systematic decisions, something that was somewhat difficult for me prior to taking on the subject. Now, my thinking has become clearer; my mind works more effectively.

With time, I've come to see game theory as more than a requirement of the UCLA political science department. Just as the title of the film A Beautiful Mind (a movie telling the life of the 'father of game theory,' John Nash) describes, game theory is a magical subject.

The way in which one can predict outcomes, determine the best path forward, how the result is always consistent even when out-of-touch with the nature of the human mind.

As my professor said, again and again, this quarter, "follow the definition even when it doesn't make sense." Sometimes, I've found it takes a while for the mind to catch up with the correct answer to a game theory problem, but in the end, understanding this challenge enriches my mind in a way few subjects can.

At the start of fall quarter, I promised myself PS30 was a course I would reject taking at UCLA; there were easier alternatives and game theory was confusing and unneeded. How wrong I was.