A first-of-its-kind, unprecedented milestone has been achieved: millions of Borderlands players are applauded for their efforts in science as they have become a part of a scientific research community. The game Borderlands 3 has a new microbial mapping research program. According to a commonly published article in Nature – a prestigious journal – more than 4.5 million gamers participated in the project providing data that a supercomputer simply could have not processed.
The Borderlands Science Initiative
Four years ago, Gearbox Software, the developers behind the famous Borderlands series, approved a partnership with McGill University, to play a mini-game that provides massive online science exercises from Microsetta Initiative. Microbial comparison tasks between patient and doctor were like a constant shifting block puzzle that was never-ending, as scientists were often dumbfounded by the complexity of the microbial ecosystem within the human body.
The great power of crowd-funding of scientific research.
The idea simply to have the gamers interact in this research initiative came from Attila Szantner of McGill University in Canada. Through the utilization of a unique model, scientists drew on this community to provide them with a seemingly endless amount of accurate DNA data, which was provided by players solving an astonishing 135 million puzzles throughout their Borderlands Science diversion.
This participatory data of microbial organisms will be critical in microbiological studies and among others, those having to do with aging, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer’s and many others that the microbes contribute to this process. Moreover, the data will be employed to create better AI templates for studying cells efficiently.
Along with the recognition, the writer of the Nature paper has acknowledged “Borderlands Science players” and Gearbox Entertainment workers as the contributors to the research, and so thereby the scientists have secured their niche in the chronicles of scientific exploration.
The role of borders and citizen science in the future.
The Borderlands Science initiative not only establishes breakthrough discoveries in microbiology but also proves the efficiency of crowd science to sustain the scientific process. With the progress of technology, more and more gaming and interested communities will get the chance to be associated with research enterprises.
The franchise remains vibrant, while the prospect for the future of Borderlands is exciting. The recently acquired notorious Borderlands developer, Gearbox Software, by the Take-Two Interactive Company, which is a parent company, has started with the active development and production of the next Borderlands game. Furthermore, another sequel to the offshoot game, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, seems to be in the pipeline, widening the famous universe.
Moving forward, the Borderlands Research endeavor will continue to elevate the gaming industry to new heights, as the Borderlands Science devs, research chaps and gamers work in unison. Drawing the power of a multitude of people, who discover scientific achievements, where before they seemed impossible, creates a situation where even more citizen science projects may develop, and eventually help to shape the future of human knowledge.
