CCP has launched the third phase of Project Discovery together with Massively Multiplayer Online Science (MMOS), which is both a citizen science project and mini-game that can be found within EVE Online.
After raising a large amount of US $135,550 PLEX (Pilot's License Extension, an in-game currency), "for the World Health Organization COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (CHS)", Project Discovery will be trying to understand how the immune system responds to COVID-19. The previous two phases of the project "saw players mapping out the Human Protein Atlas in 2016 and searching for exoplanets in 2017."
“Since beginning Project Discovery we have seen our players band together as one to affect incredible change,” said Bergur Finnabogson, EVE Online’s Creative Director at CCP. “We are constantly reminded that the EVE community is like no other, we need only look at the recent PLEX for GOOD collection. With the third phase of Project Discovery, we’re thrilled to provide the tools enabling our players to once again work towards the betterment of humanity for the common good.”
“Project Discovery has already transformed the field of online citizen science as we know it, and we are thrilled they decided to embark on this important and time-sensitive project,'' said Jérôme Waldispühl, Associate Professor, School of Computer Science, McGill University.
For those that are interested in playing EVE Online, be sure to download it from here. If you are content with simply reading updates for the game like the rest of us, click here. If you want to read progress updates from the Project Discovery team, which features a "team of computer scientists and bioinformaticians based at the School of Computer Science at McGill University", be sure to go here. Interested observers can also watch a Twitch stream later today to watch the commencement of phase three.
What do you think of this news? Do you play EVE Online? Do you play MMORPGS with a community like EVE's? Let us know in the comments!
