GAME: ETERNA by Adrien Treuille and Jeehyung Lee
This game is about learning how to fold RNA molecules using pairing techniques, bridges/bonds, and ideal “lowest energy” configurations.
This game makes use of several kinds of aesthetics, including sensory (lights, watching the folds occur, color coordination) as well as challenge, discovery, and a little bit of expression (multiple combinations can lead to a successful outcome).
Really lovely simple science descriptions.
The game has an impressive supporting website, and while it is a solo game, it emphasizes the collaborative nature of science and encourages a real-world citizen science lens.
Webpage offers insights into how you’re helping science! Very cool. Feels like this is partially emphasized because the puzzle experience may otherwise seem a bit arbitrary and solo (not immediately obvious how you’re helping!)
MDAO:
Mechanics:
The game relies primarily on clicking to change base types (A to U, G, C, etc) and seeing how these bases interact to shift the folding of an RNA molecule. The game asks you to engage with particular puzzles and challenges – a shape, a number of particular bases of a type, or a number of pairings may all be presented.
Dynamics:
As you make changes to the molecule, it moves in an animated way to reflect the change you’ve made. Different sections go from red to white in the “target” molecule section to show you what you’ve done right and still need to work on.
Instruction boxes help guide you as a player. The structure on the left represents the incomplete/incorrectly folded RNA. Target box at the top changes from red to white when you get stuff right.
There are lots of helpful directions and you begin with very simple puzzles that progress to more complex ones. This helps you learn the mechanics of the game while you are engaging with playing.
There’s also a chat box along the side where you could talk to other active players, increasing the fellowship I suppose. You can see the most recent comments from players on the right side. Comments are generally related to play.
Aesthetics:
Some very fun sensory things happen when you get a puzzle right (essentially a wave of bubbles and a laser show). I didn’t realize there was sound until I was playing at home/not out and about, which is also a fun sensory add.
This game makes me feel accomplished/introduces challenge, as I get to solve a puzzle and get better at building things over time.
It’s also satisfying to learn the information — there’s definitely a self-efficacy aspect to bio/science/building things here.
Finally, I think there’s a carrying over of fellowship in the game play to understanding the fellowship of science. There’s a lot of emphasis in the text, chat feature, etc that you are contributing to something bigger, and then in the website there’s a lot of discussion about how many hands make light work in the sciences.
Outcomes:
Core learning outcomes I see here are:
- Information: Learn about the basic structure of RNA, the bases involved, the bonds you can form, how folding works, lowest-energy structures, etc.
- Self-efficacy/attitude: Feel more confident and knowledgeable about doing science/biology; feel like molecular biology is more accessible
- Implicit skills: Be able to “think like a cell” or like a molecular biologist; optimize for low energy structures and consider different molecular folding patterns.
Overall, I did find playing this game kind of intriguing and fun, though it was pretty informationally dense. I have had my high school students previously play FoldIt and would definitely introduce this game to them as well in a classroom. It feels heavy on the learning and would be a great supplement to a lesson about RNA or about base pairing.
