Games That Solve Real Puzzles

This will be the first pure "idea" as opposed to a specific product. Though we will bring up some examples.

Here is the idea. Create games that use the power of the "Crowd" to solve real world problems. Essentially, have people use their collective brainpower to complete a task and have them enjoy it.

One of the leaders behind this concept is Adrien Treuille an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon. Adrien is the force behind games such as "foldit" and "eteRNA." Within these games players finds ways to most efficiently fold RNA and other proteins. Researchers then use the patterns created by the player to design new proteins and see how they may be used to perform such tasks as fighting cancer. But the users see it as just a cool puzzle.

This is a great idea, first of all, because it has collected the brainpower of thousands of people to perform a task that a computer is unable to do. Second, it has collected this brainpower in a way that makes the people want to continue for their own enjoyment. Turning a complex research project into a game that people enjoy playing is a great idea. Now, time that would normally be wasted with useless puzzles or games like "Angry Birds" is taken up with puzzles of Nature that need solved. Imagine having thousands of people, each spending dozens of hours, performing simple tasks that a computer is unable to do (such as pattern recognition) this turns into an incredible force. Games like "foldit" have already helped in making breakthroughs in HIV research.

The possibilities of this concept are almost endless. Just like crowdfunding and other crowd usage concepts that have come from the internet a little given by a lot is big.

Crowd-Sourcing through games can become a simple way to solve complex tasks. Someone could create a game that allows players to create stronger molecules. Or they could search for patterns in the stars. Any number of Nature's puzzles can be solved if enough people just look at it and enjoy it.