Swiss company supports “EVE Online” in the fight against cancer

Trade, intrigue, space battles: the space game “EVE Online” is known for its varied gameplay – and also notorious for its complexity. In 2023, developer CCP celebrated its twentieth anniversary with the community, making ‘EVE Online’ one of the longest-running MMOs ever.

Project Discovery is a citizen science project in “EVE Online”. This “citizen science” is always particularly useful when conventional science cannot perform certain tasks with human resources – that is, when the “power of the crowd” is required. Citizen science has existed since the 19th century and has spawned various forms of participation: citizen scientists observe the starry sky, count songbirds, assist with genealogical research or measure air pollution – to name just a few examples. In the vast majority of cases, this involves volunteer work: the participants are happy to be able to contribute something to the research – and indirectly to the well-being of humanity.

Win win situation

For Project Discovery, “EVE Online” collaborates with “Massively Multiplayer Online Science” (MMOS), a company from Monthey (Canton Valais), founded in 2015. The goal of MMOS is to “combine scientific research and video games into a seamless game experience,” as the website says. The original idea came to co-founder Attila Szantner when he made an interesting observation: both citizen science projects and MMOs are faced with the task of permanently retaining and motivating their respective participants. Attila recognized that a combination of games and citizen science would bring clear benefits for both parties: more content for the players – and more motivation for citizen research. The fundamental challenge: scientific tasks must be embedded in the game in such a way that they do not resemble a foreign object, but rather enhance the enjoyment of the game.

It didn’t take long for the idea to be implemented: CCP Games and MMOS Project Discovery started in 2016. In the first phase, the initiative helped map the human subcellular atlas with the Swedish research project ‘Human Protein Atlas’. In Phase 2 (from 2017), the Capsuleers supported the University of Geneva in mapping exoplanets, i.e. planets orbiting a distant star. Since the start of Phase 3 (from 2020), Project Discovery has been working with a number of research institutions to study the effects of Covid-19 and vaccines on the immune system. Phase 4, starting in 2024, will focus on analyzing cancer data.

Laser scan in flow cytometer

But how does research actually work in the game? Well, the capsuleers analyze so-called flow cytometry data. “Flow cytometry is a laboratory test that can be used to analyze the properties of individual blood cells,” said Ryan Brinkman, director of research at Dotmatics Inc. and professor emeritus of medical genetics at the University of British Columbia.

Brinkman explains how the analysis process works: First, a cell sample is dissolved in a liquid and injected into a flow cytometer. The liquid is guided in a thin tube past a laser, which scans it and creates highly complex, multi-dimensional point clouds. The two-dimensional cross-sectional images of these point clouds – technical term: ‘plots’ – are manually examined to identify a predefined subset of cell types. “This process, called gating, is inherently time-consuming, subjective and limited in scope,” says Brinkman. If many people help, it becomes easier.

For Phase 3, Project Discovery used a mini-game to embed cell analysis into “EVE Online”: the Capsuleers acted as data analysts to combat the spread of the coronavirus in the galaxy. In the mini-game, players must use the computer mouse to sketch various point clouds: the better they do, the higher the rewards they will receive in the game – for example in the form of valuable possessions or titles.

The analysis takes advantage of a unique ability of the human brain, says Jerome Waldispühl, associate professor of computer science at McGill University: “We can learn complex concepts with much less data than a computer.” Phase 4 of Project Discovery – cancer research – will also be conducted using flow cytometry data. “We are still at the beginning of connecting this narrative,” says Finnbogason.

Overwhelming success

Even the initiators did not expect how successful Project Discovery would be: so far the players have created a dataset of more than 420 million “plots”! Scientific mini-games enrich virtual worlds, says Attila Szantner. “Not only because they are entertaining, but also because they make sense. It is these kinds of meaningful activities that we crave in all areas of life, including games.”

At the start of Phase 4, CCP Games also wants to release a “Play Science App”. This platform aims to give even more people access to citizen science in a playful way. Attila Szantner believes the companion app will be an important step that will further advance the project: “It could revolutionize citizen science again.”