From now until Gamercamp begins on November 25, we’ll be featuring games from our talented speakers! We’ve already featured Friendship in 4 Colours and the blockbuster hit Mega Jump. Today we’ll talk games for change with FoldIt!
Game players have long known the power of fun and play as a motivating force. But recently the idea of games for change has been gaining momentum and being used by scientists to solve real-world problems. There’s no better example than the game FoldIt, whose lead designer Seth Cooper, a researcher at the University of Washington and Creative Director for the Center for Game Science, is the Gamercamp Lv3 keynote speaker.
Proteins are involved in almost all of our bodily processes, from breaking down sugar into energy to transporting oxygen through the blood. They also govern how disease-causing, foreign cells like E.Coli, Streptococcus, and HIV function. Understanding the shape of these proteins within cells is key, which is where FoldIt comes in.
FoldIt is a puzzle game that presents players with an unfolded protein strand and asks them to fold it. Folding is important because, while scientists can infer what’s called the primary structure of a protein (i.e. the type and sequence of amino acids that comprise it), it is the elusive 3D shape that guides how a protein interacts with its environment. (Think space station and docking bays.)
The unfolded protein you see when you play FoldIt is the primary sequence. You score points based on the energy of the bonds you create as you “fold it” together. Since a protein is most stable (and likely) shape is when the bonds are strongest, the higher your score the more likely you’ve found the protein’s true shape. How’s that for motivation to top the leaderboards!
FoldIt players most famously helped decipher (in 10 days) the structure of the AIDS-causing virus M-PMV that had stumped researchers for nearly 15 years. You can find out more about this incredible game and how games can affect change when Seth Cooper takes the stage for our lead-off keynote Friday, November 25, 2011.
To see Seth’s and other great speakers talk, buy your Full Festival or One-Day Pass here. See you there!
