Video games save the world - with controllers instead of cape

Can gamers make the world a better place with just a mouse and controller? This is the question the Knowledge series Flick Flack in their episode "Can the world be saved with video games?" and shed light on a few interesting examples of playful video games and group intelligence.

Playful science aids

Many players may have been surprised when they found an old arcade machine on board the Sanctuary in the 2019 shooter Borderlands 3, which had a slightly different mini-game in store for them. The game, which bears the name Borderlands Science, challenges the players toto sort sequences of DNA sequences in a playful way. This works in a similar way to the game Candy Crush, so that identical pairs are resolved and players collect points for this.

What looks like a simple Mini-Game but was actually a gigantic collection of data based on the analysis and evaluation of real DNA sequences. Millions of players were able to solve what would have taken a handful of scientists dozens of years.

Players will find a similar approach in Eve Online. In the Space simulation players can search for new exoplanets by analyzing the light spectra of stars in the galaxy. The data collected will help scientists to search for new planets more effectively in the real world.

Video games and the end of the game - the untapped potential

The examples of games mentioned rely on so-called citizen science, in which a problem is not only solved by one group by trained scientists and researchers, but instead uses a large mass of people. Even if the million players don't have the necessary scientific background knowledge, they may be able to playfully find approaches that researchers have been looking for for years.

The idea actually has a lot of potential. Video games such as Minecraft or World of Warcraft are, after all on the regularly played by millions of gamers around the world. If you want to give these gamers a task - prepared in a playful way and with appropriate incentives such as special loot - it is quite likely that the masses will find interesting solutions to the problem in order to collect the reward. How extensive the Citizen Science in Games The future will have to show, but the approach is promising and should certainly generate more Scientists motivate people to seek help from gamers through video games.

The documentary can be viewed in the ARTE media library or on YouTube.