in anywhere between 30 to 50 hours a week.
The EyeWire team made sure to cater to this
community when designing the game, offering a
true gaming experience that includes levels and
incentives that encourage and reward players.
Top rewards include naming cells and the ability
to unlock game privileges. A unique chat feature
allows players to connect and share information throughout the game, and also helps create
a strong online community committed to the
project. Furthermore, several tutorials, videos,
and even a site for tips from top players are
available to help novices successfully enter into
the world of EyeWire with ease.
The current iteration of the game is not
where EyeWire stops, either. Their collaboration with Indicated, a company that creates
medical-based animation, imaging, and gaming
technologies, resulted in an eye-popping Oculus Rift version of the game last January. Now,
one can travel physically through areas of the
brain already mapped by scientists and gamers.
Committed to its continuous expansion and
SciArt in America June 2015
outreach, the team has also welcomed hackers
to add new features to improve the EyeWire experience. They have recently released an application programming interface that will further
allow developers anywhere in the world to build
their own games and link them to EyeWire’s
data collection. By opening this up to the public, EyeWire invites creative new approaches to
neural tracing that had not already been conceived in house.
“Neuroscience needs interdisciplinary minds
thinking together about how to surmount our
biggest hurdles,” says Amy Robinson, EyeWire’s
creative director. Their team, composed of
developers, scriptwriters, and crowdsourcing
experts, is dedicated to catalyzing such interactions in an effort to help people learn more
about the brain. Robinson further explains,
“We…need the general public to enjoy a better
understanding of the brain—not only to stimulate greater investment in neuroscience but also
so that more people are inspired to choose it as
a career.”
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