Enders Game was an interesting twist on using video games to, ahem, solve real world problems. But that is happening more and more with impressive results. The challenge for scientists is to create a compelling game scenario from the underlying data and provide a way for the players to solve the puzzle while continuing to engage them. In 2011, people playing Foldit, an online puzzle game about protein folding, resolved the structure of an enzyme that causes an AIDS-like disease in monkeys. Researchers had been working on the problem for 13 years. The gamers solved it in three weeks. (h/t Cyle)
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 12:33:04 +0000