8 things NASA needs to get right

by Akela Talamasca Jan 31st 2008 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Real life, Sci-fi, Culture, Game mechanics, New titles, Tips and tricks, Opinion, Education

As mentioned previously here, NASA is in the process of gathering information from the public on how best to proceed with designing their proposed educational MMO. If you've been feeling doubt about their ability to pull this off, then you'll want to read this blogpost, entitled Eight Steps to The Stars: How NASA Can Make A Successful Massively Multiplayer Online Game. This was written by BJ West, a former colleague of mine from our days at Atari (Warning: occasional NSFW language).

BJ is a man who cares passionately about space exploration, so it was without surprise, and a good deal of pleasure, that I came across his list of things NASA needs to do to make this work:

It's about people, not science
Make it dangerous
Make it social
Make it big
Show me, don't tell me
Failure is not only an option, it's necessary
Embrace the past, embrace the future
Rise above NASA culture

Check out the meaning of each of these list items, and hope that someone out there's paying attention.

Tags: 8-items, atari, bj-west, eight-steps-to-the-stars, nasa

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

GRT said on 1:03PM 1-31-2008

Wow, that image is in pretty bad taste....

akela.talamasca said on 1:10PM 1-31-2008

Take a closer look at it. It's the Straw Shuttle from an article by The Onion. http://www.theonion.com/content/node/50100

Believe me, no one is more sensitive about the NASA tragedies than I am. I was watching with my class when Challenger exploded, in the same classroom as Ellison Onizuka's niece. It was the most horrible thing I'd ever seen. Give me a little credit for sense!