Generally, gaming is considered a profession wherein gamers are usually devoted to playing a game and excelling at it, which is quite similar to an IT professional working in a company diligently to make their own mark. Gamers typically earn physical money as well as digital money such as bitcoins. This notion is completely untrue. With upgrades in technology, the work undertaken by gamers has also transformed.
It might come as a great shock to numerous people, but it is indeed true that a team of online gamers led by Dr. Firas Khatib, Biochemistry Department, University of Washington, Seattle, has solved a molecular biological problem that is conceived to be a new drug design that has the potential to treat AIDS.
Scientists were devising ways to piece together the structure of a protein-cutting enzyme from a virus that was similar to that of AIDS. Upon the venture being unsuccessful, this challenge was passed on to gamers who are involved with a game called ‘Foldit’. This game, ‘Foldit’ was created by scientists at the University of Washington for Game Science in collaboration with the Baker Lab with the specific reason as the automated systems found no relevance. The players, while they were playing the game, were required to arrange the molecular structure of the enzyme. Surprisingly, just within a span of three weeks, the players were successful in arranging the enzyme pattern in a systematic manner and this gave birth to what we can call an advanced drug design that could be used to treat AIDS.
The scientists were of the opinion that automated methods seem to have been a complete failure. Thus, they were both quite surprised and jovial to see how the simple intuition of the gamers served to be so effective and brought about a transformation. The gamers remarkably generated models that the scientists were not able to redefine according to their needs and requirements. In this instance, the researchers and scientists believe that several exciting and unique models and designs could be developed which could improve the treatment that is meted out.
It is true that computers have transformed our lifestyles in this fast-paced world. But it can never be denied that humans have spatial, analytical and reasoning skills that computers do not. Thus, the power of the human brain can never be refuted. The same can be correlated to the current situation. This is the first reported case where gamers have triumphantly succeeded in solving an issue that scientists, with immense deliberation, could not for a very long period of time.
Currently, scientists see ‘Foldit’ as a platform for gamers that would solve intricate problems related to science and education that are currently impossible to solve by one person or computer alone. Researchers and science fanatics see it as a platform that would channel human intuition in a three-dimensional pattern for matching skills that would solve challenging scientific problems while inculcating the power of online computer games that are already prevalent. The problem-solving strategies that are given as inputs by the gamers are then redefined and assessed by the scientists, which would help them arrive at a conclusion.
Games such as ‘Foldit’ are quite new to this sector, but in a short span, it has gained quite popularity in the gaming world. The gamers are introduced to a new ecosystem and this serves the purpose of the scientists as they are acquiring their desired results through such findings. Researchers are now hopeful that gamers will be successful in decoding several other intricate issues that computers or scientists themselves have been a failure in doing.
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