At the beginning of 2008, the NASA Learning Technologies
Project Office issued a request
for information (RFI) on the development of a NASA-based massively multi-player
online (MMO) learning game.
The goal of such a NASA MMO would be a training tool similar
to what the U.S. Army intended to accomplish with the game. “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 quickly transfer this understanding to practical
problems,” NASA wrote in its original request.
After supposed hundred-plus responses to NASA’s inquiry, the
next step that the administration is taking proposals for partner after its
release of an RFP (PDF).
The interesting development is that NASA is looking for someone to complete
this project for free, as written in the RFP: “It is intended that this request
will result in the establishment of a non-reimbursable
Space Act Agreement (defined as one with no exchange of funds) that will
define the full roles and responsibilities of NASA and the proposing
organization.” (Bolded parts from original source.)
NASA described its proposed project as something comparable
to World of Warcraft and Second Life, and noted that it should “Present
real NASA engineering and science missions in a medium that is comfortable and
familiar to the majority of students in the United States today.”
The development and upkeep of an MMO, especially one that
would be comparable to the titles NASA used as examples, is not an affordable
affair, making NASA’s request for a deal that’s not monetary in nature seem
rather unrealistic in today’s game development landscape.
Such a developer partner won’t be completely empty handed,
however, as NASA noted in its RFP, “In exchange for a collaborator's investment
to create and manage a NASA-based MMO game for fun and to enhance STEM, NASA
will consider negotiating brand placement, limited exclusivity and other
opportunities”
As pointed out in the Second
Life Herald, it was originally expected that NASA would devote $3
million towards an MMO project, which has seemingly evaporated.
Nothing in the RFP prohibits the potential partner company from including in-game advertisements, or charging users a subscription fee. However it's now clear that NASA does not intend to fund an upcoming MMO in the same spirit of America's Army at all.
That is, assuming there are any takers at all.