As some one who is relatively new to Foldit, I too find it quite time consuming - especially the intro puzzles. If these could be made a bit shorter and 'punchier' that would be great! Also, it feels a bit daunting knowing that I have to work my way through 32 intro puzzles before I should really be playing the proper game. I've done 17, but this has taken me quite a long time…
Having shorter puzzles alongside the longer challenges may make the game more appealing, and you may get people committed to Foldit for a bit longer if they can just dip in and out and still feel like they are doing something worthwhile.
Yes, kind of like eteRNA.
It sounds like you have two choices - you can play FoldIt or you can play eteRNA - whichever suits your available time and resources.
I don't see a need to make one a mirror of the other.
I do not see how we can solve complex real problems without a minimum of training and personal involvement.
If someone finds a few hours spent solving tutorials too long, there is little chance he takes pleasure in playing Foldit.
If you only have a few minutes to play, Phylo seems to me more appropriate than Foldit but even Phylo is still long to tame.
Competition in limited number of movements could be fun and could alleviate the growing importance of recipes and power of computer.
But
- can we solve real problems in a limited set of movements?
- Foldit is made of diversity, limitation on the way to play will make him less interressing.
See also http://fold.it/portal/node/991666
Not really. Foldit is a protein shape minipulation tool. eteRNA is about RNA makeup. I mainly do foldit, but I do some eteRNA on the side, scince I can do a little here and there. Also, I have scripts I can use for foldit.
That was @Angus. I guess Foldit just has so much you can do, it takes a while to etach. In essence, it dosen't seem like much though. I guess if you can't do the tutorials, you wouldn't like the regular puzzles either. I mean, they are 6-8 days at a time, and to really do well, you have to use just about all of that available time.
I would expect that if someone can't complete the tutorials in maybe 8 hours of work, you might not have the aptitude for this.
See Zoran's comments at 14:17 in http://fold.it/portal/node/992849 a June 1 2012 developer chat about patents coming from Foldit discoveries. There he says "the UW developers have committed to assign all proceeds from patents back into the development of the foldit community" and "the foldit players as IP owners are free to choose how they would use their own proceeds".
The point isn't personal gain here. We are folding either: A) for high ranks (not usually), B) for a difference and scientific development, C) for fun, or D) a mix. I guess it would be a good incentive, but it's not the best place for the money to go. I would think most plaers would prefer for the money to go for science and continual foldit research and development.
I bet many would like the profits to go into improving the game, like hiring more people to implement the many Feedbacks that have already been posted.
