EVE Online Players will quite soon be able to join the search for exoplanets dirrectly from the game
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Earlier this week the CCP Games revealed that the EVE Online Players will gain access to an interesting feature. Quite soon, they may be able to join the search for exoplanets. And they will be able to do so directly from the game.
This has been an important week for space enthusiasts. On February 22nd, NASA revealed the existence of 7 exoplanets in a single solar system. This event may have sparked the interest of many.
Wednesday also came with another announcement in the area. One from a perhaps rather unexpected source. CCP Games released this statement. They are the developers of the EVE Online.
This is a space-based MMORPG. EVE Online players can also get involved in a number of in-game activities and professions. And the game will be gaining a new program. One that may expand its current number of 7,800 star systems available for visit. And which could incite the excitement of the general public.
EVE Online players may soon get involved in a crowdsourcing effort. This will present users with the chance to identify actual exoplanets. All the while exploring the game’s virtual space.
This will be a second part of the “Project Discovery”. This is a mini-game feature previously released by CCP Games. Its first feature had EVE Online players dabble in biology. They had to identify and classify human protein data. This was collected from a large cell images collection.
According to CCP statements, the initiative was a “massive success”. Many players joined the project. And with their help, more than 25 million human cell classifications were processed.
The future installment will have EVE Online players searching for exoplanets. To this purpose, CCP Games collaborated with scientists in order to develop the mini-game. Its partners are the University of Geneva. And also the University of Reykjavik.
EVE Online Players will be able to start searching for exoplanets in their downtime. The thousands of users can turn to the mini-game as they take jumps in between space stations. These can take up to several minutes.
Players will preview and study real space images. These will be supplied from an astronomical database. And the virtual space will start showing the real outer space. For the ‘Project Discovery’ mini-games, players will be asked to fulfill some tasks.
More exactly, they will be asked to classify the images. And the space bodies they are able to detect in them. Presently, the classification criteria have yet to be announced. But CCP did reveal some details. For example, if an image receives enough player consensus, it will receive a closer look. One which will establish if its individual classification is valid. And the image will then be sent to scientists.
Which will, in their turn, determine if the players discovered a new exoplanet. Or perhaps even another strange space phenomenon or anomaly.
According to this initial statement, full details about the new Project Discovery feature will be released sometime in the spring. These will offer the classification criteria. And should also explain exactly how the game will work.
A full presentation about the new EVE Online feature will come in April. It will be held by Michel Mayor during the EVE Fanfest. This will be taking place in between April 06th to 08th in Reykjavik, Iceland. Mayor is the first person to discover an exoplanet. He was also awarded the 2017 Wolf Prize in Physics.
Some more details can be found on the EVE Online website. And those interested can also play the game for free. This option was introduced last year.
Image Source: Wikimedia
Melissa Gansler
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