#gaming

Turbulence – artwork based on algorithms and hand-drawn systems to create computational and natural system visualisations.
Artist: Owen Schuh via DataIsNature

The other day I overheard a student next to me on a flight say, “I can remember the words to almost every song I’ve ever heard more than once or twice – if only the legal cases I need to learn were set to music, I could remember them all.”

Optimistic, I know, but maybe not so far off.

Appeal to the brain’s pleasure center and learning becomes as easy as humming a well-known tune.

Along the same lines, researchers have been turning to crowdsourced data processing to work through big data conundrums. Offer a means of pleasurable participation for data entry, such as a game platform, and citizen scientist gamers will come.

Cancer Research UK worked together with game developers to create a smartphone game that would help them outsource a large backlog of genetic micro-array data garnered from thousands of breast cancer patients over the years. The result was Play to Cure: Genes in Space, which is basically a space shooter game in which the player finds the best path through an obstacle course, shooting asteroids and mapping successful escape routes.

A sample of genetic micro-array data. The analysis involves identifying the areas where the dots are at their most dense.
Source: Gamasutra

The possible paths, however, are actually maps of genetic micro-arrays, and the players game solutions are uploaded to the Cancer Research UK database for processing. After one month of use, gamers worked through data that it would have taken researchers six months to process without assistance.

The game version of the original data, with possible paths marked through the denser areas. Source: Gamasutra

The Genes in Space game version of the original data, with possible paths marked through the denser areas.
Source: Gamasutra

Another game, Geo-Wiki, deals with processing data on cropland cover and land use. From the Geo-Wiki site: “Volunteers review hotspot maps of global land cover disagreement and determine, based on what they actually see in Google Earth and their local knowledge, if the land cover maps are correct or incorrect. Their input is recorded in a database, along with uploaded photos, to be used in the future for the creation of a new and improved global land cover map.”

The ‘game’ is a quick image/response competition. The platform can be expanded to include further agricultural and land-use data from users, which is then reflected in other projects that support better environmental monitoring.

The power of crowdsourcing is phenomenal, and I think we are just at the beginning of putting these tools to use outside of purely commercial marketing strategies. Having tried out both games, and having tried out the Geo-Wiki game, I think what’s still missing is that the games have to work on their own, as stand-alone games, for them to be truly addictive – and useful on a larger scale.

In an alternative approach to going green, there’s a computer game called Botanicula that is not only delightful to look at and listen to, but is also fun to play. It’s inspiring in a manner both quiet and thoughtful, very unusual for a video game.

There are countless educational games that have been created as instructional tools for specific environmental issues. A list of some of them here looks at everything from agricultural strategies in Scotland to playing the part of a wolf in Yellowstone Park. Many of them are very informative indeed. I learned, for example, that a beef cow consumes a football-field sized patch of grass every day, at least in northern Scotland.

Botanicula, created by Czech-based Amanita Design, can’t claim to be as educational in the factual sense of the word. What it does, however, is aim to inspire a sense of wonder and respect for life. The premise is simple: Five small creatures attempt to rescue their habitat – a magical tree – from invasive parasites.

Source: Amanita Design

The point-and-click game isn’t new by current standards – it first came out in early 2012. It’s gotten high praise from game review sites for design, sound, playability and inventiveness.

I liked that it had a variety of organic imagery like the puzzle image above, which has several critters that move about like microscopic life forms.

A 2009 study on gaming and behavior stated that “Although dozens of studies have documented a relationship between violent video games and aggressive behaviors, very little attention has been paid to potential effects of prosocial games.” and goes on to conclude that prosical games “in which game characters help and support each other in nonviolent ways” do seem to lead to more real world cooperation among players.

And at the root of it, a sense of wonder at life and a cooperative approach are perhaps just as likely to nudge a gamer towards a greener viewpoint as simple facts.

Source: Amanita Design

On a side note, the game is downloadable, which reduces waste. According to the infographic below, downloading all games rather than manufacturing hard copy versions would save 2.4 billion gallons (7.5 bn liters) of crude oil.

Source: Visual.ly / Big Fish Games

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