The MMO market is ever expanding, and an unlikely developer has decided to throw their hat in the ring.  NASA has announced that they are investigating the development of an educational MMO designed to promote technology, mathematics, and the sciences.

The NASA Learning Technologies (LT) project supports the development of projects that deliver NASA content through innovative applications of technologies to enhance education in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Research and development are at the core of the LT mission. LT seeks to enhance formal and informal education in STEM fields with the goal of increasing the number of students in those fields of study and is currently investigating the development of a NASA-based massively multiplayer online educational game (MMO).

Persistent immersive synthetic environments in the form of massive multiplayer online gaming and social virtual world, initially popularized as gaming and social settings, are now finding growing interest as education and training venues. There is increasing recognition that these synthetic environments can serve as powerful “hands-on” tools for teaching a range of complex subjects. Virtual worlds with scientifically accurate simulations could permit learners to tinker with chemical reactions in living cells, practice operating and repairing expensive equipment, and experience microgravity, making it easier to grasp complex concepts and transfer this understanding quickly to practical problems. MMOs help players develop and exercise a skill set closely matching the thinking, planning, learning, and technical skills increasingly in demand by employers. These skills include strategic thinking, interpretative analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, team-building and cooperation, and adaptation to rapid change.

Read more here.

That would be awesome! i'd actully pay to play that!

hehe i can imagine a mars rover simulator with a 40 min delay or whatever it is.

the players who dont constantly crash their rover, and accomplish missions get offered jobs :P

You'll have to take an IQ test, submit your college transcripts and SAT score in order to get into beta, maybe even to get a subscription.

haha maybe it'll be like ender's game where we think it's a video game but we're actually piloting things for NASA without our knowledge

hmmmm.....if they would let me play as an asteroid miner or a system pilot on the mars/moon run I would play it.

Never A Straight Answer

What is the biggest gas giant in are solar system

NASA because their full of shit.

Anyway I'll prolly try it out sounds interesting and cool and I love learning about space, when its the truth.

I want to play that!

Totally would play this would be nice if my online courses where like mmos too.

Maybe in the future kids will be able to go to school in a MMO.

Originally posted by OrionStar

Maybe in the future kids will be able to go to school in a MMO.

They sure make us (feel like we) work in em, so that would bethe next logical step :D

Originally posted by OrionStar

Maybe in the future kids will be able to go to school in a MMO.

Ya i'd say it will happen eventually.

Originally posted by OrionStar

Maybe in the future kids will be able to go to school in a MMO.

not that i never logged a lot of hours .... i logged  some decent numbers in d2&lod but nothing like todays grinders and raiders

i wonder if anyone can show statistical signficance and a relationship between game playing increases and percentage decline  in the number of american students in science, engineering, and computer science disciplines.

makes one wonder who is really schooling who in the art of skills progression

<<< believes in all good things in moderation and "too much of a good thing can be a bad thing" with the exception of $$$$ [is that the rule where there is always an exception to everything?]

if it's like linden labs - the kids would be generating flying sexual organs and nailing the teacher ....

xkey

Originally posted by tkreep

Never A Straight Answer

What is the biggest gas giant in are solar system

NASA because their full of shit.

Anyway I'll prolly try it out sounds interesting and cool and I love learning about space, when its the truth.

Yeah, feces isn't a gas. did you perhaps mean "hot air?"

Also, what the heck is up with the NASA hate? Did they reject your application?

glad to see my tax money hard at work

Very interesting concept...and about time too.