Eve Online players are contributing to scientific understanding of COVID-19 through an in-game initiative that's collected millions of samples.
Thanks to a monumental initiative from CCP Games and Massively Multiplayer Online Science (MMOS), Eve Online has sourced over 41 million submissions of scientific data aimed at mapping the effects of COVID-19 on human blood cells. This type of endeavor is not the first between CCP and MMOS, as Project Discovery - the name of their collaboration - has been a part of EVE Online since 2016.
Essentially, Project Discovery is an in-game mechanic, where players - when they're not mining asteroids, blasting rival spaceships, or warping across star systems - can participate in mini-games that include visualizations of human cell samples. By participating in the mini-games, players identify cell structures within the samples they are given. In exchange, players receive the in-game currency of ISK, provided that they complete the identifications with sufficient accuracy. The first phase of Project Discovery focused on creating a Human Protein Atlas and generated hundreds of thousands of submissions for scientists to study. The second phase, named Exoplanets, had players assisting in the mapping of exoplanet transits based on star luminosity charts.
The most recent phase was launched in June 2020 and titled Flow Cytometry. According to CCP Games, this phase has the sole purpose of studying samples to trace the effects of COVID-19 on human blood cells. Similar to the Human Protein Atlas, players receive visualizations of blood cell samples and use a tracing tool to highlight any cell clusters they see. Dr. Ryan Brinkman, Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia and one of the scientists working with Project Discovery, said of the Eve Online community:
“Their efforts will not only contribute to the understanding of COVID-19, but the data they are generating will also be freely and widely shared with the entire scientific community. There is a very high interest in re-using their results for the generation of machine learning algorithms. There is simply no other resource out there for this anywhere close to what is now being generated.”
This initiative has generated 41.1 million data submissions, with over 466,000 of those submissions now verified and in active use for scientific research. Given the success of Flow Cytometry, the scientists behind the project are asking players to tackle and send in even more complex submissions for verification and study. The revamped project asking for more submissions is called Project Discovery - Level Up, and will be asking much more of capsuleers as they pour over thousands of cell data samples. Eve Online players have pitched in to help with disasters before. Earlier this year, a new record was set for the most expensive ship ever sold in the game, with proceeds going to help fight Australian wildfires.
COVID-19 continues to ravage hundreds of thousands of people across the globe, with over 200,000 deaths in the United States alone, and the Eve Online community is undoubtedly generating work that could create a major breakthrough in understanding such a new and deadly disease. Eve Online is currently free to play and download, so anyone is free to sign up, get their spaceship together, and play a video game to help save the human race (in real life).
