COMP34612: Computational Game Theory (Semester B, 2025/26 Academic Year)

Learning outcomes:

1. Cooperative game theory: Master the basic concepts and computational methods of cooperative game theory, including to be able to carry out the decision analysis to form coalitions, define transferable utility characteristic function to establish the relationship between a coalition and its value, choose the right properties/requirements (such as fairness, efficiency, marginal contribution), and apply and calculate the important Shapley value to make the decisions in fair surplus distribution, resource allocation, and cost share, when given a simple application problem.
2. Learning and playing in games: Able to analyse the needs for and scenarios of learning with a given game with imperfect information or bounded rational behaviour. For a given simple application problem, able to formulate the reaction function learning problem, choose/apply right learning methods/algorithms, and then find the best strategy based on the learning outcome.
3. Mechanism design: Master the concepts and computational methods of mechanism design. Able to analyse, categorise, and define a mechanism design problem, when given an application problem. Able to analyse and solve some simple application mechanism design problems and design the right pricing rules and application rules in order to achieve the best outcomes.
4. Selected Applications of Game Theory: Able to assemble the above skills to solve some simple practical application problems such as competitive pricing games and carry out the analysis/evaluation of the outcomes.
5. Non-cooperative game theory: Master the basic concepts and computational methods of non-cooperative game theory with perfect information, including Nash games and Stackelberg (leader-follower) games. For an application problem of Nash and Stackelberg games, able to establish the game framework, determine the game rule setting, identify the appropriate information structures, formulate payoff functions, determine strategy spaces, identify the right solutions based on the concepts of equilibrium/best strategy, and compute the best strategies by applying the derivative method.