Saving the World with Games - Citizen Science and More - Extra Credits

Thanks to Great Courses Plus for sponsoring this video. Signup for your FREE trial to The Great Courses Plus here: ow.ly/S0qZ30qC6Xz
Here is a list of all of the awesome initiatives and projects we mentioned in this episode. If you got time, be sure to check a few out!
Games to Play
FoldIt - fold.it/
Eyewire - eyewire.org
Phylo - phylo.cs.mcgill.ca/
Eterna - eternagame.org/home/
SuperBetter - www.superbetter.com/
Level Ex - www.levelex.com/
Night Shift - www.schellgames.com/games/nig...
Skyfarer - news.usc.edu/131166/at-usc-ga...
Organizations
Block by Block - www.blockbyblock.org/
SETI@home - setiathome.berkeley.edu/
Play to Cure: Genes in Space - www.cancerresearchuk.org/get-...
Jan McGonigal - janemcgonigal.com/
We've always said that Games Matter, but there's a lot of different ways games can help us and the world that we live in. This week, we're going to dive into some games that have a real and tangible effect on our physical meat space.
Subscribe to Extra Credits for more episodes every Wednesday! bit.ly/SubToEC
Get info about all our shows at extracredits.site
___________
Get your Extra Credits gear at the store! extracredits.store
Thanks for participating in this week's discussion! We want you to be aware of our community posting guidelines so that we can have high-quality conversations: extracredits.site/extra-credi...
Contribute community subtitles to Extra Credits: kzbin.info_cs_p...
Talk to us on Twitter (@ExtraCreditz): bit.ly/ECTweet
Follow us on Facebook: bit.ly/ECFBPage
Watch us play games and have fun on bit.ly/ECtwitch
Follow us on Instagram: bit.ly/ECisonInstagram
Follow us on Tumblr: bit.ly/EConTumblr
___________
♪ Intro Music: "Penguin Cap" by CarboHydroM
bit.ly/1eIHTDS
Music:
"Lost Forever"
by: Krank
ocremix.org/remix/OCR02079

[@philipcollier4883]

No matter how much medical science gets gamified, if I hear my head surgeon yell "Leroy Jenkins!" I'm getting a second opinion. Great vid 😁

[@kevinsullivan3448]

Don't worry, he only yells that when you are fully under anesthesia...

[@paullenoue8173]

Or a dietician who insists the cake is a lie.

[@MorbidEel]

@@paullenoue8173 Would you believe me if I told you that cabbage cake is actually a great cake?

[@christopherg2347]

"What have I told you about playing videogames?" "But I am not palying a game, I am curing cancer!"

[@ChaosDX1]

Thought I'd see Borderlands Science in there. Similar pattern-finding game to solve DNA something-or-others (I'm not a scientist) for the real-world scientific community. But instead of being a standalone indie game, it's been added as a minigame to Borderlands 3 and rewards loot and buffs you can use in the rest of the game. It's pretty fun.

[@Wamboland]

Yeah, missed that too.

[@whalebaitj1983]

I love that they added it

[@sebastienbusque2312]

I really enjoyed that game. Though the rewards were nothing extraordinary, the boosts you got for playing and actually beating high scores definitely helped. Heck, some days, I played that more than the real game.

[@weirdalexander8193]

If you beat the hard mode of that, do you create a crystal unicorn? If so, I’ll name mine penny, which is far better than what the fevered mind of handsome jack came up with.

[@brittanys9716]

The guys at Foldit did W H A T How did I miss this?!?!

[@titangamer6824]

Nathan S Karens still think games cause violence, no, they cause recovery from illness

[@jjohansen86]

It turns out that human intuition and pattern recognition can make leaps that we haven't yet trained algorithms to do... and when you take the contributions of 10s of thousands of people, each one trying to use that spatial awareness, pattern recognition, and intuition that humans can do better than machines, yeah, you can solve problems that we haven't yet figured out how to train computers to do. Look, computers are better than humans at some things, but protein folding is exactly the sort of problem that humans are still better at on some level, so perhaps we shouldn't be shocked when unleashing many humans on the problem is so effective.

[@bodhidavis1691]

"are ya winnin, son?" 'yeah i just killed AIDS'

[@Inogat]

@@bodhidavis1691 dude spot on!

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Saving the world, one national focus at a time

[@firstoffproductions1462]

Hoi4 player?

[@quedtion_marks_kirby_modding]

What would the epidemic be if it was a national spirit/ideaM

[@polasamierwahsh421]

Ah yes another hoi fan

[@patrickstar1723]

Yes

[@gabrielmontenegro9476]

@@quedtion_marks_kirby_modding Send in the zombies?

[@AkaiAzul]

6:02 Scientists: Gosh, we’ve been working on this problem for a decade and still can’t figure out. We need more manpower! 3 weeks later and a horde of video games players...

[@Infernoraptor]

If there was a way to connect science initiatives with enterprising devs, I'd be on that in a heartbeat.

[@mike_wake]

Also, it's not a game, but Folding@home is a distributed computing project that uses your pc to simulate folding proteins. They are researching multiple diseases including COVID-19

[@coryhrycuna6707]

My PC has been running this program almost non-stop for the past few weeks!

[@terner1234]

I think they meant something else. they said "foldit" not "folding@home"

[@micsolice]

@@terner1234 Foldit is a game where people fold the proteins themselves while Folding@Home is a program that like SETI@Home crowdsources computational power for simulation. In this case for protein folding.

[@nichsa8984]

@@micsolice never disturbing game or something on that

[@generalsmite7167]

I think that games have helped people with the virus and all the free weeks have helped get more people into games

[@doom5895]

can never decide what to play and new games coming out don't really appeal to me anymore

[@bradleyogilvie8869]

I once played a mobile game called “Sea Hero” that was designed to track spatial navigation. The game creators were trying to cure dementia, and one of the first symptoms of dementia is loss of navigational skill. This game helped scientists create a benchmark for what is considered a “normal” amount of spatial navigational skills for humans.

[@ThatOneGoatGuy]

if you want something done, give it a leaderboard, a seemingly different objective, call it a game and make it kinda competative. you can expect results within 3-5 working weeks

[@titangamer6824]

Karens: Video games cause violence! Gamers: We helped find a cure for a branch of A*ds *with* video games....

[@racoonlittle1679]

We helped find a cure to heal Karens

[@titangamer6824]

@@racoonlittle1679 might I ask, to what illness of many are you referring to?

[@Daniel-yy3ty]

@@titangamer6824 Karenitis of course, they are always inflamed after all. Dunno about a cure tho

[@_MrPixel_]

Scientists: "This is a complex problem we couldn't solve in a decade" Gamer: *I am gonna end this man's entire career*

[@fionafiona1146]

The UK is finding promising excavation sites now that people are looking into satalite data.

[@Hypastpist]

More like Gamer: Give me the controller you filthy casul!

[@andrewenderfrost8161]

Scientists: "This is a complex problem we couldn't solve in a decade" Gamer: I am gonna jump start this man's entire career, and make him a ton of cash!

[@terner1234]

but it's multiple gamers. lots of them.

[@nichsa8984]

@@andrewenderfrost8161 the answer is strange if AI software updated too much gone studying anything other

[@cofagrigusfan24]

about the Tom Nook opening since when does Tom Nook demands you pay him? last time i checked, he is super chill about the payment

[@TheJackOfFools]

Yeah, and he doesn't charge interest. He seems pretty cool honestly.

[@elephant3109]

GCN what a scary little shit.

[@edwardnygma8533]

I think the actual issue is the extorted labour hidden behind the guise of a no- pressure interest-free loan.

[@isfren5482]

Tom nooks just not the bad guy. if anyone’s the bad guy in animal crossing it’s red Edit grammar

[@exxelsetijadi5348]

because that's how the internet works we sometimes over exert certain character's quirks

[@sonictimm]

Normally I wouldn't plug under an EC video, but this is somewhat relevant: ~2010 my company made a classroom-targeted game about being a virologist and fighting several different diseases. The premise was real, the science was real, and even the equipment usage was accurate to real life. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting school closures, we decided to release this game on Steam for free, so that anyone with an interest and a computer can learn what is takes to fight a virus. Go ahead, give it a try and learn something, or share it with your favorite stuck-at-home middle/high school student: store.steampowered.com/app/1286810/Mission_Biotech/

[@MontyBeda]

I would love to have time to play any games but with kids at home there is no time for games :-D

[@masterhawk3147]

Bruh ten hours ago

[@urquizagabe]

True Dat. Same here.

[@bigbrain5169]

Yeah you commented before the video was released

[@Infernoraptor]

Play with them!

[@shanafrench2976]

Big Brain patron

[@inserisciunnome]

Scientist: damn It. There Is no way we can analize this with current technology Gamers: *HOLD MY CONTROLLER*

[@Snacker6]

Surprised that Borderlands Science didn't get a mention

[@EzTnT]

Ikr

[@ludvigm880]

It makes me so happy to see Jane McGonigal mentioned in this context! Her book "Reality is Broken" was such an eye-opener for me. Learning about all the good things that gaming is doing in the world and the fantastic possibilities for the future made me super excited. Best book I've ever read!

[@wild_lee_coyote]

There is also Folding at Home. It’s not a game, much like SETI it runs in the background. It takes advantage of gamers cpu and gpu to run proline folding program for various diseases, including Covid-19. It became so popular they add to vastly increase server capacity to keep up with gamer output.

[@altrivotzck6565]

I remember a mobile game about memorizing a map and then navigating a maze without the map called Sea Hero Quest that was designed to help with Alzheimers research.

[@idk6102]

6:06 It happens man. Sometimes you're just playing a game and then suddenly you find the cure to cancer :/

[@aladica5465]

That was so awesome to see Fold it here, I had seen it waaay back around 2012 (i think) and I would have never thought it would have ever came to anything big, especially assisting in the reseach and develop of enzymes 0v0

[@MossOwnsYouYT]

As an essential worker taking care of an unwell S/O, I don't recently have a whole lot of time to play games. That being said, I've managed to keep spirits high and depression low by enjoying FF7R for an hour or two a day. I wish we could cast cure IRL to help the suffering people, cleansing their ills.

[@ClydeAGlide]

Didn't Mention Eve Online: Project Discovery

[@edwardnygma8533]

Following. What's this?

[@bierrollerful]

Definitely an amazing way to help astronomy with finding exoplanets.

[@davidegaruti2582]

Using politics to solve world problems : level 1 geek Using science to solve world problem : level 20 nerd Using videogames based on science to solve world problems : level 100 big brain , nerd level over 9000

[@titangamer6824]

Davide Garuti you mean: nerd level = big brain

[@ZnakerFIN]

Wasted opportunity to give the nerd levels point values and put extremely high somewhere over 9000.

[@satakrionkryptomortis]

media and politics still be like level -1 and screech "games cause violence"

[@theluminousone5883]

Thats how gaming works

[@nichsa8984]

@@satakrionkryptomortis realism fail tried studying real life

[@bookbook9495]

Another great game is Touch Surgery. It’s an archive of fully accurate surgeries that you can do digitally.

[@annoyingmissingtexture2431]

Media: vIdEo GaMeS cAuSe ViOlEnCe Scientist and doctors: *No u*

[@golmgamer]

I will look into some of these projects. Thank you for sharing!

[@IANOYTYK]

The elbow bump with Zoey! My heart!!

[@ethanhayes9362]

3049 Historian: Now over hear we have what is called Cancer, it was a terrible disease that had many forms, but ever since Cancer Care was released, we soon discovered the cure.

[@TamTroll]

in Borderlands 3, there's also an optional arcade game in the main hub's doctor's office. when you play it, you play a simple block-matching game that is actually helping sort and organize enzyme genes in human poop.

[@LuvzToLol21]

Borderlands 3 recently introduced Borderlands Science. You can play a simple puzzle minigame where you try to organize colored blocks into as many rows as possible, competing with players worldwide for the highest score, and you can earn in-game boosters and cosmetic items for playing. The twist is the block puzzles are based on actual RNA strings of human gut flora, and by completing the puzzles you're proofreading computer analyses and helping train learning algorithms to better study them.

[@conorita]

You guys have a beautiful luminous heart, thanks!

[@cakecommander]

I worked on Play to Cure, delighted to see it mentioned here.

[@SHEensya]

I needed this, specially today ❤️ one of the things i love about the 21st century too is how people are starting to realize that games - yep, even computer games - help improve our brain function 🤓 and now, they’re what’s keeping a lot of us sane. 😅

[@the_void996]

Oh yeah a new episode!

[@rockyfalldownstairs]

My favorite quarantine game is VRChat, I can socialize without social distancing there, and with my VR headset I feel like I am really there.

[@somerandomguy___]

staying home playing videogames while playing fold it is the perfect example for taking out 2 birds with one stone

[@akam9919]

I want a Doom mod that turns every demon into Tom Nook.

[@openjcd]

Ooh that's hit a nerve

[@7Seraphem7]

You know Tom has a mod that turns them all into Redd.

[@LilyAvarA]

That is super cool, thank you guys for bringing this to my attention. I might just try out some of the games you mentioned

[@yellowskycreations4542]

thanks for helpng me find a game I remember from way back in my childhood

[@aidanwansbrough7495]

This was really interesting to watch, thank you :-) I might start playing foldit!

[@Quibus777]

Nice episode. Seti and folding at home, heheh I had over clock profiles to pump it during the night a long time ago when I took so much time to setup an install and ramdisks that having an uptime of a year with 95 up to vista were giving great pleasure and worth of just using discarded parts to build a PC to make it happen, and these distributed programs gave the build purpose. Good old days, now I just smack Ubuntu on a new laptop and be done with it. Thanks for bringing back memories of times passed.

[@Youthure]

Great to see you!

[@JoJo-xp6wr]

Gotta love the voice over!

[@killuahsmathetricks389]

I love it, that scientists often "underestimate" the results or dedication of players. Its not, that they really think of them like "we probably wont get a result" but more like "lets give it a try, maybe we are lucky and get a result". And then the gaming community smashes it within weeks =D I ready an article about the mappin of I think mars(?) that took ages by a computer. They decided to create a game, where you get points by labeling something like craters, "riverbeds", plateaus and so on. And it was just insane. The computer took about 1 year or something in this order of magnitude to obtain about 5 - 10% of the map. And after setting the game online they got the map pretty much finished in like 1 month or so =D In my opinion that would work even better, if the scientists cooperate with bigger games and let them implement it in something like minigames or a specific "subgoal" of a game, that eventually explicitly states "with working on this you are helping XYZ in real life". In games with a huuuuge player base that probably works wonders. Like many people said. There are areas that the human brain is simply better than computers and with enough people trying their luck at it you also got enough "computational power" =D

[@cutekitten4395]

Please do a sequel with more games like this!

[@navilluscire2567]

What I find most interesting about this is that for the first time there's something that people are actually better at doing a task or aid in a job like research and development of new medical technology and building up our knowledge of DNA, viruses and diseases...better than any machine ever could. I mean lots of people including myself are always hearing about how machines can almost always do the jobs of humans better and more efficiently with proper systems setup. Indeed that IS the case the vast majority of time, only when costs accede potential gains (for now that is..) does human labour win out as well as areas of industries that will always require atleast a bit of human input or oversight and operation but even those positions are likely to decrease in number as progress continues on perfecting automation of most types of industries and production lines. So I guess I'm actually presently suprised and intrigued by the idea that possible emerging markets for this outsourced research through interactive games setup to let potential hundreds of thousands of players if not millions rapidly speed up the lengthy processes of research, testing, theorizing and development of better technologies and medical breakthroughs and all of these things made possible not by machine calculations or robotic equipment but good'ole human cooperation and ingenuity, many minds both trained and studied in professional fields and those with "unorthodox" or what's usually thought as inapplicable skillsets and thinking that has produced some extraordinary results and as this video states is already proven to be an invaluable if not untraditional concept for making serious breakthroughs in various ways that have real world implications and applications. *Most of all I'm glad to see that more and more people are taking an intrest in science and medicine and are able to make gradual but extremely meaningful contributions to fields of science that could help to benefit many people in the future and even save lives, even if they are not actual trained or "traditional" specialists or professionals, making the world a little bit better a place for everyone to live in. (hopefully that really does mean EVERYONE!)*

[@jimmyc.491]

Who knew Dr. Mario was ahead of its time?

[@vazak11]

This is so cool!

[@mythirdchannel]

I always love your content :D and I love this in particular

[@benvacco8997]

Yay for more extra credits

[@rewindcat7927]

Wow thanks !

[@garragao6558]

this is why i want to get into game industry! great video :)

[@lamedude5103]

hooooohoooo boy this is the first new extra credits video I've watched

[@SultanKhan-nd6gs]

Love this channel

[@brunontahomvukiye1329]

Great work 👍🏽

[@kevinsullivan3448]

I ran Seti@Home in the screensaver mode for a decade before switching to the breast cancer research program, which is by far more important, that also ran in screen saver mode. Alas, when that computer died, as all do eventually, I forgot where I got the download.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Tom is too bourgeois, time for revolution

[@NightBlado]

Maybe link Folding@Home also there on the links in description?

[@vhffvjmjvddf3050]

6:51 I didn’t expect to hear music from FF6 here.

[@AkaiAzul]

Good ole “Searching for Friends.”

[@TheCreepypro]

I knew we could save the world I just didn't know we were helping already very nice!

[@feathero3]

I played a cell phone game called, "Sea Hero Quest." It was about navigating a boat to reclaim your fathers lost memories. It claimed that scientist were using the data from players to help people with Alzheimers.

[@AnimilesYT]

I've accidentally learned binary algebra by playing with redstone in Minecraft. I became a programmer thanks to Minecraft. And yes, it's 10 years later and I still play the game. I'm still solving my problems with redstone contraptions and my frame rate in my base has dropped from 180fps to around 40fps due to all of the farms and technical contraptions. It's really amazing how that game can be interesting for both children and adults. For designers and engineers. I'd say it is the best game ever made. (I also play other games. Racing games, shooters, RPGs. But Minecraft is just something special)

[@armchairrocketscientist4934]

And let's not forget that Breath of the Wild has been shown to be one of the best stress reducing games - something a lot of us need especially right now.

[@ronaldgonzalez9161]

I love this channel

[@valiant_emmeres2138]

Oh man, SETI at home that’s a throwback.

[@shiro_bakayarou]

karens, politicians and more: video games causes violence doctors and scientists: im gonna stop you right there

[@HgAlexx]

You forgot/missed Eve Online which included 2 citizen science projects over the years, the first one was about cellular pattern classification and the current one is about exoplanets detection.

[@WhyNotYT]

5:20 represent!

[@TheMan-dv4wv]

Why? Not! Yes

[@busnello1987]

wholesome!

[@admiral_waffles533]

Science isn't the only field where games can be used. Rebel Inc for example can teach a great deal about governance and politics Its reputation system is ingenious, where every dollar spent fighting the growing threat of the insurgents could be spent mainatining support, developing the country or maintaining international relations With some more features, choices and things to maintain it could well be a tool to train a better generation of politicians

[@Infernoraptor]

No mention of Borderlands Science?

[@unapproved-apples809]

5:32 *_Immediate internal screaming_*

[@canadiandoughnut8605]

Can you guys do a vid on the wierd and diverse community of sea of thieves, peoples play styles can be based off of the amount of time been played, other games they like to play, skill, etc. I would love to see this happen. Btw love the vids you guys make

[@shawnheatherly]

These sort of stories really should come up when people say video games are bad for people.

[@thecreator4296]

You're forgetting something: The longer the icon of sin stays on earth, the stronger it will become

[@joseluispcr]

that is truly the future of games

[@DaikoruArtwin]

4:14 I thought those were shoes for a moment

[@birthdaygaming4082]

Love ur stufff

[@TheHaviocdarkmoon]

I know that Borderlands 3 added a puzzle game to help do science which I’m glad for

[@Speireata4]

Now I am sad, that don't play any of those games, because I am not good at stuff like visual tasks and all that. But I will recommend them to people who are.

[@artornis606]

I like this.

[@trafichat]

this is nice.

[@slightez4591]

Anyone else just gets so powerful that they just clap all the bosses

[@evanalmloff8606]

wow, I have never seen this high likes : view ratio. there was 60 views and 55 likes

[@AdamSchadow]

I would appreciate some lets say more obvious ways players can help for example a game that runs on near perfect physics where you can design your own equipment and use it against other players. The improvements in armor protection vehicles especially drones and weapon design would be insane since there is no real way to test it without people getting hurt or at least something getting destroyed. Game like these would certainly attract way more people than folding of proteins while still contributing to saving lives.

[@DillyzThe1]

that is quite interesting....

[@polasamierwahsh421]

Is there an app versions of this? I want to help but my pc is broken

[@GunmadMadman]

Eve online also has sove citizen science build into it as mini games for loot

[@narvuntien]

A friend of mine is a VR developer building VR versions of anatomy

[@javidproductions9353]

Isn't their a plan to use video games to help for the treatment of Amblyopia? it would replace patching (where you cover over one eye for weeks or months in a row, forcing the patient to use an eye that can hardly see) an make people's lives way better.

[@Alche_mist]

Sea Hero Quest is a little mobile game that was (and I don't know if still is) used in Alzheimer's diagnostics research.

[@justjadethings9630]

Last time I was this early there was no video

[@satakrionkryptomortis]

media, karens and politics at 6:00 be like "must be fake news"

[@Gamepro2112]

I played Sea Hero for a while. It’s a game designed to help dementia patients.

[@oopsy444]

How could you forget about borderlands 3 and its borderlands science game that rewards players for solving puzzles that help map dna to teach ai how to do it better.

[@ericsiau836]

This video reminds me of Kamen Rider ExAid, Nice.

[@nonexistent-best-friend1693]

I used to love sea hero quest