You certainly didn’t see this one coming. Announced in a new trailer today, Borderlands 3 has added a mini-game on board the Sanctuary III that, yes, helps real scientists sort through data collected on microbes.
Scientists have collected an enormous amount of data on the human gut microbe, and due to the sheer amount of data, the computers have had a bit of trouble. That is where you, in Borderlands 3, come in.
Developed alongside McGill University, Massively Multiplayer Online Science, and The Microsetta Initiative, Borderlands 3 introduced a mini-game called Borderlands Science that actually lets you help sort the data through puzzles, and the data is sent back to the scientists. If the idea of helping out some scientists doesn’t appeal to you, you can win in-game currency by playing the free game as well.
But don’t take my word for it; listen to a real, actual scientist explain it in the trailer:
Who knew you could help science by playing Borderlands 3?
The puzzle looks to be a puzzle in the vain of Tetris or, dare I say, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, but instead of simply completing a row, there are set rows for each tile that you must try to fill.
So go out and do some good while we are all stuck at home! Boot up Borderlands 3 while you’ve got the time, and help sort through some data. While you’re there, you can also check out the two new events that launched this week.