Project Persephone has some serious purposes. What could be more serious, after all, than trying to contribute to global political and environmental sustainability? Those are definitely program goals. As a project, however, it aims to contribute indirectly to those big, singular, long-term, serious (but also somewhat amorphous) goals in a ludotopian manner. That is, by recruiting a growing membership to pursue a variety of small, short-term, very specific goals that are pursued largely for the fun of it. In that respect, it's a lot like an MMORPG? overlaid on some real-world bits - specifically, the exovivaria (or their terrestrial and virtual prototypes, to start.)

Project Persephone has some serious purposes. What could be more serious, after all, than trying to contribute to global political and environmental sustainability? Those are definitely program goals. As a project, however, it aims to contribute indirectly to those big, singular, long-term, serious (but also somewhat amorphous) goals in a ludotopian manner. That is, by recruiting a growing membership to pursue a variety of small, short-term, very specific goals that are pursued largely for the fun of it. In that respect, it's a lot like an MMORPG? overlaid on some real-world bits - specifically, the exovivaria (or its terrestrial prototypes, to start.)

Admittedly, to get stuff into space and make things happen there will entail doing some things that aren't fun, some things that some people will need to be paid to do - including tasks that some will need to be arduously trained to do. Serious Games will probably become important in that department. Even prototyping exovivaria on Earth - and maintaining the prototypes - will involve some burdensome chores. Serious Games that help train people to do those chores could be all to the good.

https://www.calvin.edu/~dsc8/images/SeriousGames-MSU.gif

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Serious Game - "A serious game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment."¹

Project Persephone has some serious purposes. What could be more serious, after all, than trying to contribute to global political and environmental sustainability? Those are definitely program goals. As a project, however, it aims to contribute indirectly to those big, singular, long-term, serious (but also somewhat amorphous) goals in a ludotopian manner: by recruiting a growing membership to pursue a variety of small, short-term, very specific goals that are pursued largely for the fun of it. In that respect, it's a lot like an MMORPG? overlaid on some real-world bits - specifically, the exovivaria (or its terrestrial prototypes, to start.)

Admittedly, to get stuff into space and make things happen there means doing some things that aren't fun, some things that some people will need to be paid to do - including tasks that some will need to be arduously trained to do. Serious Games will probably be important in that department. Even prototyping exovivaria on Earth - and maintaining the prototypes - will involve some burdensome chores. Serious Games that help train people to do those chores might be all to the good.

The fact remains, however: you'll need a lot of people having a lot of fun - and willing to pay some kind of price for the privilege - to make the Project work. Note that this is a constraint even on the most "unserious" games. Whoever copy-edited the help text for World of Warcraft, we can't doubt they were being paid. That game's server rooms are seldom entered except on some unpleasant hardware maintenance mission, a task that nobody would undertake for free. Without WoW user fees, none of this would be possible.

There is nevertheless a lot to be learned from Serious Games research. The whole idea of making serious study game-like is to motivate people to learn and grow. That's very much what Project Persephone aims to do. Probably the most useful Serious Game research will come out of its successes in formal education. Since people are already paying for formal education in one way or another (taxes or tuition), acceptance of a Serious Game in that milieu is some "price signal" that teachers, administrators, curriculum designers and students all feel they are getting their money's worth. As software engineering pundit Tom deMarco once noted, the user is always free to reject the software - indeed, user rejection is not even something you can control, once it starts. Whether a Serious Game gets rejected or not, there will always be something to be learned about designing the next one. Project Persephone will need to develop a process for studying rejection, since rejection will probably happen more often than acceptance.

To sum up: all Project Persephone research on exovivaria is first and foremost a game design activity, but not specifically of Serious Games. The primary immediate purpose of the games designed should, in fact, be create delight. The long-term purposes of the games are serious, but can only be considered a second-order source of player motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for relatively low-cost fun on Earth can ever be big enough to make something significant happen in space -- a very high-expense arena of endeavor.

The chances might be better than they might seem at first. As Edward Castronova pointed out some time ago ², MMORPGs can host economies comparable in GNP per capita to some of the smaller, poorer countries - some of which have put small satellites into orbit. What if an MMORPG were focused on being a satellite in orbit, containing a (telebotically virtualized) social microcosm that maintains a real ecological microcosm? If seriousness isn't enough of a motivation for that, is there some way it could be made enjoyable enough to make up the difference? That is the task.

¹ Serious Game (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_game ⇑

² "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

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Project Persephone has some serious purposes. What could be more serious, after all, than trying to contribute to global political and environmental sustainability? Those are definitely program goals. As a project, however, it aims to contribute indirectly to those big, singular, long-term, serious (but also somewhat amorphous) goals in a ludotopian manner: by recruiting a growing membership to pursue a variety of small, short-term, very specific goals that are pursued largely for the fun of it. In that respect, it's a lot like an MMORPG? overlaid on some real-world bits - specifically, the exovivaria (or its terrestrial prototypes, to start.)

Admittedly, to get stuff into space and make things happen there means doing some things that aren't fun, some things that some people will need to be paid to do - including tasks that some will need to be arduously trained to do. Serious Games will probably be important in that department. Even prototyping exovivaria on Earth - and maintaining the prototypes - will involve some burdensome chores. Serious Games that help train people to do those chores might be all to the good.

The fact remains, however: you'll need a lot of people having a lot of fun - and willing to pay some kind of price for the privilege - to make the Project work. Note that this is a constraint even on the most "unserious" games. Whoever copy-edited the help text for World of Warcraft, we can't doubt they were being paid. That game's server rooms are seldom entered except on some unpleasant hardware maintenance mission, a task that nobody would undertake for free. Without WoW user fees, none of this would be possible.

There is nevertheless a lot to be learned from Serious Games research. The whole idea of making serious study game-like is to motivate people to learn and grow. That's very much what Project Persephone aims to do. Probably the most useful Serious Game research will come out of its successes in formal education. Since people are already paying for formal education in one way or another (taxes or tuition), acceptance of a Serious Game in that milieu is some "price signal" that teachers, administrators, curriculum designers and students all feel they are getting their money's worth. As software engineering pundit Tom deMarco once noted, the user is always free to reject the software - indeed, user rejection is not even something you can control, once it starts. Whether a Serious Game gets rejected or not, there will always be something to be learned about designing the next one. Project Persephone will need to develop a process for studying rejection, since rejection will probably happen more often than acceptance.

To sum up: all Project Persephone research on exovivaria is first and foremost a game design activity, but not specifically of Serious Games. The primary immediate purpose of the games designed should, in fact, be create delight. The long-term purposes of the games are serious, but can only be considered a second-order source of player motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for relatively low-cost fun on Earth can ever be big enough to make something significant happen in space -- a very high-expense arena of endeavor.

The chances might be better than they might seem at first. As Edward Castronova pointed out some time ago ², MMORPGs can host economies comparable in GNP per capita to some of the smaller, poorer countries - some of which have put small satellites into orbit. What if an MMORPG were focused on being a satellite in orbit, containing a (telebotically virtualized) social microcosm that maintains a real ecological microcosm? If seriousness isn't enough of a motivation for that, is there some way it could be made enjoyable enough to make up the difference? That is the task.

To sum up: all Project Persephone research on exovivaria is first and foremost a game design activity, but not specifically of Serious Games. The primary immediate purpose of the games designed should, in fact, be "pure entertainment" (if a hobby can be considered "entertaining"). The long-term purposes of the games are serious, but can only be considered a secondary source of player motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for relatively low-cost fun on Earth can be big enough to make something significant happen in space -- a very high-expense arena of endeavor. The chances might be better than they seem at first glance. As Edward Castronova pointed out some time ago ⁴, MMORPGs can host economies comparable in GNP per capita to some of the smaller, poorer countries - some of which have put small satellites into orbit. What if an MMORPG were focused on being a satellite in orbit, containing a (telebotically virtualized) social microcosm that maintains a real ecological microcosm? If seriousness isn't enough of a motivation for that, is there some way it could be made enjoyable enough?

To sum up: Project Persephone research is first and foremost a game design activity, but not specifically of Serious Games. The primary immediate purpose of the games designed should, in fact, be "pure entertainment" (if a hobby can be considered "entertaining"). The long-term purposes of the games are serious, but can only be considered a secondary source of player motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for relatively low-cost fun on Earth can be big enough to make something significant happen in space -- a very high-expense arena of endeavor. The chances might be better than they seem at first glance. As Edward Castronova pointed out some time ago ⁶, MMORP Gs? can host economies comparable in GNP per capita to some of the smaller, poorer countries - some of which have put small satellites into orbit. What if an MMORPG were focused on being a satellite in orbit, containing a (telebotically virtualized) social microcosm that maintains a real ecological microcosm? If seriousness isn't enough of a motivation for that, is there some way it could be made enjoyable enough?

Project Persephone has some serious purposes. What could be more serious, after all, than trying to contribute to global political and environmental sustainability? As a project, however, it aims to contribute indirectly to those big, singular, long-term, serious (but also somewhat amorphous) goals, by sustaining the interest of a large number of people in a variety of small, short-term, very specific goals that are pursued largely for the fun of it. In that respect, it's a lot like an MMORPG? overlaid on some real-world bits - specifically, the exovivaria.

Project Persephone has some serious purposes. What could be more serious, after all, than trying to contribute to global political and environmental sustainability? As a project, however, it aims to contribute indirectly to those big, singular, long-term, serious, but also somewhat amorphous goals, by sustaining the interest of a large number of people in a variety of small, short-term, very specific goals that are pursued largely for the fun of it. In that respect, it's a lot like an MMORPG? overlaid on some real-world bits - specifically, the exovivaria.

Serious Game - "A serious game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment."⁷

There is nevertheless a lot to be learned from Serious Games research, because the whole idea of making serious study more game-like is to provide more positive motivation to learn and grow. That's very much what Project Persephone aims to do. Probably the most useful Serious Game research will come out of its successes in formal education. Since people are already paying for formal education in one way or another (taxes or tuition), educational acceptance of a Serious Game is at least some indication that teachers, administrators, curriculum designers and students all feel they are getting their money's worth. As software engineering pundit Tom deMarco once noted, the user is always free to reject the system - indeed, user rejection is not even something you can control, once it starts. Whether a Serious Game gets rejected or not, there will always be something to be learned about designing the next one.

To sum up: Project Persephone research is first and foremost a game design activity, but not specifically of Serious Games. The primary immediate purpose of the games designed should, in fact, be "pure entertainment" (if a hobby can be considered "entertaining"). The long-term purposes of the games are serious, but can only be considered a secondary source of player motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for relatively low-cost fun on Earth can be big enough to make something significant happen in space -- a very high-expense arena of endeavor. The chances might be better than they seem at first glance. As Edward Castronova pointed out some time ago ⁹, MMORP Gs? can host economies comparable in GNP per capita to some of the smaller, poorer countries - some of which have put small satellites into orbit. What if an MMORPG were focused on being a satellite in orbit, containing a (telebots? virtualized) social microcosm that maintains a real ecological microcosm? If seriousness isn't enough of a motivation for that, is there some way it could be made enjoyable enough?

To sum up: Project Persephone research is first and foremost a game design activity, but not specifically of Serious Games. The primary immediate purpose of the games designed should, in fact, be "pure entertainment" (if a hobby can be considered "entertaining"). The long-term purposes of the games are serious, but can only be considered a secondary source of player motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for relatively low-cost fun on Earth can be big enough to make something significant happen in space -- a very high-expense arena of endeavor. The chances might be better than they seem at first glance. As Edward Castronova pointed out some time ago ¹¹, MMORP Gs? can host economies comparable in GNP per capita to some of the smaller, poorer countries - some of which have put small satellites into orbit. What if an MMORPG were focused on being a satellite in orbit, containing a (virtual and telebotic) social microcosm that maintains a real ecological microcosm? If seriousness isn't enough of a motivation for that, is there some way it could be made enjoyable enough?

The fact remains, however: you'll need to have a lot of people having a lot of fun - and willing to pay some kind of price for the privilege - to make the Project work. Note that this is a constraint even on the most "unserious" games. Whoever copy-edited the help text for World of Warcraft, there's little doubt they were being paid. The game's server rooms are seldom entered except on some unpleasant hardware maintenance mission, one that nobody would undertake for free. User fees pay those salaries and buy that equipment.

There is nevertheless a lot to be learned from Serious Games research, because the whole idea of making serious study more game-like is to provide more positive motivation to learn and grow. That's very much what Project Persephone aims to do. Probably the most useful Serious Game research will come out of its successes in formal education. Since people are already paying for formal education in one way or another (taxes or tuition), educational acceptance of a Serious Game is at least some indication that teachers, administrators, curriculum designers and students all feel they are getting their money's worth. As software engineering pundit Tom deMarco? once noted, the user is always free to reject the system - indeed, the rejection is not even something you can control, once it starts. Whether a Serious Game gets rejected or not, there will always be something to be learned about designing the next one.

To sum up: Project Persephone research is first and foremost a game design activity, but not specifically of Serious Games. The primary immediate purpose of the games designed should, in fact, be "pure entertainment" (if a hobby can be considered "entertaining"). The long-term purposes of the games are serious, but can only be considered a secondary source of player motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for relatively low-cost fun on Earth can be big enough to make something significant happen in space -- a very high-expense arena of endeavor. The chances might be better than they seem at first glance. As Edward Castronova pointed out some time ago ¹³, MMORP Gs? can host economies comparable in GNP per capita to some of the smaller, poorer countries - some of which have put small satellites into orbit. What if an MMORPG were focused on being a satellite in orbit, containing a (virtual and telebotic) social microcosm that maintains a real ecological microcosm? If seriousness isn't enough of a motivation for that, is there some way it could be made enjoyable enough?

Project Persephone has some serious purposes. What could be more serious, after all, than trying to contribute to global political and environmental Sustainability? As a project, however, it aims to contribute indirectly to those big, singular, long-term, serious, but also somewhat amorphous goals, by sustaining the interest of a large number of people in a variety of small, short-term, very specific goals that are pursued largely for the fun of it. In that respect, it's a lot like an MMORPG? overlaid on some real-world bits - specifically, the exovivaria.

Admittedly, getting stuff into space and making things happen there involves doing some things that aren't fun, things that some people will need to be paid to do - including tasks that some will need to be trained to do. Serious Games will probably be important in that department. Even prototyping exovivaria on Earth - and maintaining the prototypes - will involve burdensome chores. Making training in those chores the theme of some Serious Games might be all to the good.

The fact remains, however: you'll need to have a lot of people having a lot of fun - and willing to pay some kind of price for the privilege - to make the Project work. Note that this is a constraint even on the most "unserious" games. Whoever copy-edited the help text for World of Warcraft, there's little doubt they were being paid. Wo W?'s server rooms are seldom entered except on some unpleasant hardware maintenance mission, one that nobody would undertake for free. User fees pay those salaries and buy that equipment.

There is nevertheless a lot to be learned from Serious Games research, because the whole idea of making serious study more game-like is to provide more positive motivation to learn and grow. That's very much what Project Persephone aims to do. Probably the most useful Serious Game research will come out of its successes in formal education. Since people are already paying for formal education in one way or another (taxes or tuition), educational acceptance of a Serious Game is an indication that teachers, administrators, curriculum designers and students all feel they are getting their money's worth. As software engineering pundit Tom deMarco once noted, the user is always free to reject the system - indeed, the rejection is not even something you can control, once it starts. Whether a Serious Game gets rejected or not, there will always be something to be learned about designing the next one.

To sum up: Project Persephone research is essentially a game design activity, but not specifically of Serious Games. The primary immediate purpose of the games designed should, in fact, be "pure entertainment" (if a hobby can be considered "entertaining"). The long-term purposes of the games are serious, but can only be considered a secondary source of player motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for relatively low-cost fun on Earth can be big enough to make something significant happen in space -- a very high-expense arena of endeavor. The chances might be better than they seem at first glance. As Edward Castronova pointed out some time ago ¹⁵, MMORP Gs? can host economies comparable in GNP per capita to some of the smaller, poorer countries - some of which have put small satellites into orbit. What if an MMORPG were focused on being satellite in orbit, containing a (virtual and telebotic) social microcosm, maintaining a real ecological microcosm? If seriousness isn't enough of a motivation for that, is there some way it could be made enjoyable enough?

The fact remains, however: you'll need to have a lot of people having a lot of fun - and willing to pay some kind of price for the privilege - to make the Project work. Note that this is a constraint even on the most "unserious" games. Whoever copy-edited the help text for World of Warcraft, there's little doubt they were being paid. Wo W?'s server rooms are seldom entered except on some unpleasant hardware maintenance mission, one that nobody would undertake for free. User fees pay those salaries, and buy that equipment.

To sum up: Project Persephone research is essentially a game design activity, but not specifically of Serious Games. The primary immediate purpose of the games designed should, in fact, be "pure entertainment" (if a hobby can be considered "entertaining"). The long-term purposes of the games are serious, but can only be considered a secondary source of motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for relatively low-cost fun on Earth can be big enough to make something significant happen in space -- a very high-expense arena of endeavor. The chances might be better than they seem at first glance. As Edward Castronova pointed out some time ago ¹⁶, MMORP Gs? can host economies comparable in GNP per capita to some of the smaller, poorer countries - some of which have put small satellites into orbit. What if an MMORPG were focused on virtually being a satellite in orbit, containing a social and ecological microcosm? If seriousness isn't enough of a motivation for that, is there some way it could be made enjoyable enough?

¹ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

² "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

³ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

⁴ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

⁵ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

⁶ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

⁷ Serious Game (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_game ⇑

⁸ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

⁹ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

¹⁰ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

¹¹ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

¹² "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

¹³ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

¹⁴ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

¹⁵ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

¹⁶ "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828 ⇑

Project Persephone has some serious purposes. What could be more serious, after all, than trying to contribute to global political and environmental sustainability? As a project, however, it aims to contribute to those big, long-term, serious goals indirectly, by sustaining the interest of a lot of people in small, short-term goals that they pursue largely for the fun of it. In that respect, it's a lot like an MMORPG? overlaid on some real-world bits - the exovivaria.

The fact remains, however: you'll need to have a lot of people having a lot of fun - and willing to pay some kind of price for the privilege - to make the Project work. Note that this is a constraint even on the most "unserious" games. Whoever copy-edited the help text for World of Warcraft, there's little doubt they were being paid. Wo W?'s server rooms are seldom entered except on some unpleasant hardware maintenance mission, one that nobody would undertake for free.

There is nevertheless a lot to be learned from Serious Games research, because the whole idea of making serious study more game-like is to provide more positive motivation to learn and grow. That's very much what Project Persephone aims to do. Probably the most useful Serious Game research will come out of its successes in formal education. Since people are already paying for formal education in one way or another (taxes or tuition), the acceptance of a Serious Game is an indication that teachers, administrators, curriculum designers and students all feel they are getting their money's worth. As software engineering pundit Tom deMarco once noted, the user is always free to reject the system, indeed, the rejection is not even something you can control. Whether a Serious Game gets rejected or not, there will always be something one can learn about designing the next one.

In summary, Project Persephone research is essentially a game design activity, but not specifically of Serious Games. The primary immediate purpose of the games designed should, in fact, be "pure entertainment" (if a hobby can be considered "entertaining"). The long-term purposes of the games are serious, but can only be considered a secondary source of motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for relatively low-cost fun on Earth can be big enough to make something significant happen in space -- a very high-expense arena of endeavor. The chances might be better than they seem at first glance. As Edward Castronova pointed out some time ago http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828, MMORP Gs? can host economies comparable in GNP per capita to some of the smaller, poorer countries - some of which have put small satellites into orbit. What if an MMORPG were focused on virtually being a satellite in orbit, containing a social and ecological microcosm? If seriousness isn't enough of a motivation for that, is there some way it could be made enjoyable enough?

Admittedly, getting stuff into space and making things happen there involves doing some things that aren't fun, things that some people will need to be paid to do - including tasks that some will need to be trained to do. Serious Games will probably be important in that department. Even prototyping exovivaria on Earth - and maintaining the prototypes - will involve burdensome chores, and making training in those chores the theme of some Serious Games might be all to the good.

The fact remains, however: you'll need to have a lot of people having a lot of fun - and willing to pay some kind of price for the privilege - to make the Project work. Note that this is a constraint even on the most "unserious" games; whoever copy-edited the help text for World of Warcraft, there's little doubt they were being paid; Wo W?'s server rooms are seldom entered except on some unpleasant maintenance mission, one that nobody would undertake for free.

There is nevertheless a lot to be learned from Serious Games research, because the whole idea of making serious study more game-like is to provide more positive motivation (AKA "fun") to learn. That's very much what Project Persephone aims to do. Probably the most useful Serious Game research will come out of its successes in formal education. Since people are already paying for formal education in one way or another (taxes or tuition), the success of a Serious Game is an indication that teachers, administrators, curriculum designers and students are all getting their money's worth. As software engineering pundit Tom deMarco once noted, the user is always free to reject the system, the rejection is not even something you can control. Whether a Serious Game gets rejected or not, there should always be something you can learn about designing the next one.

In summary, Project Persephone research is essentially a game design activity, but not specifically of Serious Games. The primary immediate purpose of the games designed should, in fact, be "pure entertainment" (if a hobby can be considered "entertaining"). The long-term purposes of the games are serious, but can only be considered a secondary source of motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for relatively low-cost fun on Earth can be big enough to make something significant happen in space -- a very high-expense arena of endeavor. The chances might be better than they seem at first. As Edward Castronova pointed out some time ago http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=294828, MMORP Gs? can host economies comparable in size to some of the smaller, poorer countries - some of which have put small satellites into orbit. What if an MMORPG were focused on virtually being a satellite in orbit, containing a social and ecological microcosm? If seriousness isn't enough of a motivation, is there some way it could be fun enough?

Admittedly, getting stuff into space and making things happen there involves doing some things that aren't fun, things that some people will need to be paid to do - including tasks that some will need to be trained to do. So Serious Games will probably be important in that department. Even prototyping exovivaria on Earth - and maintaining the prototypes - will involve burdensome chores.

The fact remains, however: you'll need to have a lot of people having a lot of fun - and willing to pay some kind of price for the privilege - to make the Project work. Note that this is a constraint even on the most "unserious" games; whoever copy-edited the help text for World of Warcraft, there's little doubt they were being paid; Wo W?'s server rooms are seldom entered except on some unpleasant maintenance mission.

Thus, Project Persephone research is essentially a game design activity. The primary immediate purpose of the game should, in fact, be "pure entertainment". Its long-term purposes are more serious, and can only be considered a secondary source of motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for fun on Earth can be big enough to make something significant happen in space, which is currently a very high-expense arena of endeavor.

Serious Game - "A serious game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_game

Project Persephone has some serious purposes - what could be more serious, after all, than trying to contribute to global political and environmental sustainability? As a project, however, it aims to contribute to those big, long-term, serious goals indirectly, by sustaining the interest of a lot of people in small, short-term goals that they pursue largely for the fun of it. In that respect, it's a lot like an MMORPG? overlaid on some real-world bits - the exovivaria.

Getting stuff into space and making things happen there involves doing some things that aren't fun, things that some people will need to be paid to do - including task they'll have to be trained to do, so Serious Games will probably be important in that department. Even prototyping exovivaria on Earth - and maintaining the prototypes - will involve burdensome chores. But you'll need to have a lot of people having a lot of fun - and willing to pay some kind of price for the privilege - to make the Project work. Note that this is a constraint even on the most "unserious" games; whoever copy-edited the help text for World of Warcraft, there's little doubt they were being paid.

There is nevertheless a lot to be learned from Serious Games research, because the whole idea of making serious study more game-like is to provide more positive motivation (AKA "fun") to learn. Probably the most useful Serious Game research will come out of its successes in formal education. Since people are already paying for formal education in one way or another (i.e., taxes or tuition), the success of a Serious Game is an indication that teachers, administrators, curriculum designers and students are all getting their money's worth. As software engineering pundit Tom deMarco once noted, the user is always free to reject the system, it's not something you can control.

Thus, Project Persephone research is essentially a game design activity. The primary immediate purpose of the game should, in fact, be "pure entertainment". Its long-term purposes are more serious, and can only be considered a secondary source of motivation. In that sense, the Project is a program of design and experimentation to see whether the second-order effects of something that's primarily just for fun on Earth can be big enough to make something significant happen in space, currently a very high-expense arena of endeavor.