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We're guessing the interest in a NASA career is dying down after the last hype wave during the Space Camp years. So now the government space agency is looking for a fresh way to get young people interested in reaching for the stars, by following through with their earlier-reported plans of creating a NASA MMO. Hey, the online career-promotion thing worked for America's Army, didn't it?

The NASA MMO, still being in the infant stages of searching for an actual developer, is interested in making this the first educational MMO using the "STEM discipline". This promotes Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics within the game to get people interested in these subjects, and help them better understand how to pursue a career incorporating these skills. If you think about it, many MMOS already use this system, but the trick is disguising it in a thin veil of fun. That is the biggest challenge to creating a government-sponsored online game that aims to educate a particular target audience. But with the recent insane growth of games like EVE Online, we don't think the target audience will be a problem.

Do you like cuteness? Do you like monsters? Do you like puzzles?

If you said yes to all three, then do we have the multiplayer game for you! As we reported earlier, Mind Candy, the crazy developers behind the super-huge alternate reality game Perplex City, have been working on something for the children. Their result is Moshi Monsters, a cross between a Tamagotchi, Brain Age, and sheer attitude.

The picture to the right is Smigglesnuff. Smigglesnuff likes two things: the word "miasma" and choptastic moves. Oh, sure, she enjoys the tickles I give her, but don't mess with her unless you want your face re-arranged. Go visit her if you want to find out for yourself.

Genome Island in Second Life is a real treat if you're a genetics geek or a science geek. If you're not, it's still an amazingly cool place to visit. Max Chatnoir (Dr M. A Clark, Professor of Biology, Texas Wesleyan University) has brought this site to life along with the help of some skilled and able assistants, most notably Elizabeth Gloucester (Professor of Microbial Molecular Genetics at a medica school in New England), and Apaul Balut (Professor of Microbiology at a medical school in the Midwest USA).

Three-dimensional protein sequences hang in the air, among educational displays and trivia games, and giant reproductions of individual cells, with labeled structures in motion and larger than your head.

Educational games have traditionally occupied that strange territory between "don't know" and "don't care." The very phrase evokes an image of a brightly colored box adorned with the image of Dora the Explorer or perhaps, if you're lucky, Bob the Builder. The idea of an educational MMO is one that has eluded me entirely. That is, until we found out NASA may be working on one. But a more general question, and one that's brought up by the blog A Ding World: would MMOs be a good vehicle for teaching players basic grammar and vocabulary in a foreign language?

It's actually sort of an intuitive idea, as A Ding World points out. There are already games out there that have some sort of imbedded language mechanic built into the game. There's the language of the V'rix in Earth & Beyond, or the simple utility of the Logos language in Tabula Rasa. While it's debatable whether most players pay attention to these instructive nuggets within the game, it seems plainly obvious that the work/reward mechanic of an MMO would have some utility that high school Spanish teachers would have a hard time competing with. If studying had the same rewards grinding did, we might all be bi-lingual by now.