Borderlands Science is a casual mini-game released within a mass-market video game that crowdsources the alignment of one million RNA sequences from the human microbiome. In 3 years, 4 million participants generated over 135 million puzzle solutions that were used to build a reference alignment and improve microbial phylogeny.
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References
Cooper, S. et al. Predicting protein structures with a multiplayer online game. Nature 466, 756–760 (2010). This paper reports the first citizen science game.
Szantner, A. Massively multiplayer online science. In Levelling Up: The Cultural Impact of Contemporary Videogames 103–110 (2016). This book chapter reports the first description of the MMOS concept.
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This is a summary of: Sarrazin-Gendron, R. et al. Improving microbial phylogeny with citizen science within a mass-market video game. Nat. Biotechnol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02175-6 (2024).
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Video game unleashes millions of citizen scientists on microbiome research. Nat Biotechnol 43, 36–37 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02203-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02203-5
