University math programs should include game design as a serious area of study.

[u/amichail]

AI is getting increasingly good at mathematical problem solving and research, which may reduce demand for some traditional mathematical work. Math students should therefore have alternative career paths that still make strong use of mathematical thinking.

Game design is an unusually good fit.

Designing a deep puzzle, strategy game, or simulation can involve combinatorics, probability, graph theory, optimization, algorithms, game theory, geometry, and mathematical modeling. A designer may need to study reachability, reversibility, dominant strategies, state spaces, invariants, difficulty, balance, and how small rule changes affect the entire system.

The bigger obstacle is cultural. Many mathematicians seem to regard game design as entertainment rather than serious intellectual work. Yet mathematicians are perfectly willing to study the mathematics of existing games. Why should analyzing a rule system be prestigious while inventing a good rule system is not?

That distinction may become even less sensible in an AI-heavy future. If AI can increasingly solve problems once they have been formulated, human mathematical creativity may shift toward deciding what problems are interesting and inventing systems worth analyzing.

Math departments could offer concentrations in something like Mathematics and Game Systems, combining traditional mathematics with game design, procedural generation, AI, simulation, and computational experimentation.

Game design should not be viewed merely as mathematics applied to entertainment. At its best, it is the creative construction of mathematical systems.

[u/The-Jolly-Llama]

I mastered out of a PhD in math after passing quals and I’m with you honestly. You’re just going to have a hell of a time convincing the academic culture to go along with it, and it’s made more difficult by the fact that game design is such a fun and interesting job that it’s hopelessly over supplied. 

[u/manchesterthedog]

I agree with you. You’re right that this gives rise to a lot of interesting problems. For this to happen, I think you’d need to see PIs getting grant funding to do this work. Part of the grant is usually to create a class at your institution on the topic. If that happened more often, that science would take up more of the curriculum.

In order to get grant funds, you’d need to motivate the problem. Being interesting isn’t enough, it needs to be high impact.

[u/SFDeltas]

I don't think every math student should have to do this. But some will benefit from this and will naturally find it anyway. Letting people have extra-curricular activities that reinforce curricula is good!