Last night before bed, I found an article on Discovery Channel's web site about an online, multi-player computer game called FoldIt. It is not your typical MMO. Designed by graduate students and faculty at the University of Washington, it allows players of all backgrounds to attempt the currently impossible: understanding how protein structures operate. At first I was skeptical.
But, in the end, this article lured me in for three reasons. First, I used to be an avid online gamer. Second, my major in college was sociology. Third, ever since my first experience in an MMO, I have contemplated the social structures that develop, and the interactions that occur. Caring nothing at all about protein structures, I read on.
It turns out that nearly 60,000 people have tried FoldIt, and some of them have even done better than computers. According to the researches, it was on problems that required "intuitive leaps or major shifts in strategy" that humans beat computers.
Reading this line made me recall one of the theories I had been contemplating during my time as an online gamer. I believe folks are more likely to take much greater risks in an online, group environment than in real life group games.
This is because of basic risk/reward principles. In real life, if a soccer player makes a risky move, and misses an easy goal, his or her team is really there to berate them for the choice. Even though it probably doesn't matter tomorrow if they scored, the repercussions at the time of the choice's outcome are REAL and UNAVOIDABLE. The emotions of the rest of the team are visible on their faces, and evident in their body language. In addition, the player can not just turn off his computer and make the rest of his team, and the entire game, disappear.
While playing an online game, be it World of Warcraft or Foldit, the social dynamics change. Players are able to make much riskier moves, knowing that the repercussions of their actions should the gamble not pay off will be VIRTUAL and AVOIDABLE. There is no tears, shrugged shoulders, or downcast stares online, only words on a screen or a voice in headphones. Furthermore, the player can always choose to just walk away by turning off the computer.
Why is risk taking important to the union of science and social online gaming? In the lab, scientists may be less likely to spend time contemplating controversial, or far out theories because their careers may suffer because of it. No one wants to be known as the "mad" scientist. But online, where the consequences of failure are few, and the ability to avoid ridicule absolute, there is nothing holding intelligent minds back from making those grand leaps that may one day lead to a cure for cancer.
There are many other reasons that I think gaming in general, and especially online interactions, are going to play a big part in leading our already technically dependent culture into a new age. But the rest is for another day, and another post.
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11/1
Tiny Tweets Move Financial Markets (Discovery News, by Eric Bland, 11/1/2010)
In another example of online interactions meeting real life results, scientists at Indiana University have found that tracking tweets, blog posts, and other social media sites can give a clear, macro-level view of society's perspective on various topics. What they found is truly amazing.
"The calmness or anxiety of the Twitter community actually predicts the fluxes in the market, and with nearly 90 percent accuracy."
For the moment, this powerful tool has only been able to predict events in the past. "However, scientists will soon be able to predict events in the future, said Brian Uzzi, a professor at Northwestern University who also mines social media for information." If this truly becomes the case, the swings in the stock market should really become interesting to watch.
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