Getting humans to do quantum optimization - user acquisition, engagement and early results from the citizen cyberscience game Quantum Moves

Abstract

The game Quantum Moves was designed to pit human players against computer algorithms, combining their solutions into hybrid optimization, to control a scalable quantum computer. In this midstream report, we open our design process and present the constitutive building stages. We present our approach starting with designing a core gameplay around quantum simulations, to putting extra game elements in place to frame, structure and motivate players’ difficult path from internet flâneur to competent science contributors. Among statistical predictors for retention and in-game high scores, the data from our first year suggest that people recruited based on real-world physics interest and via real-world events, but only with an intermediate science education, are more likely to become engaged and skilled contributors. We discuss this relationship between in-world and in-game factors on intrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and its implications for using real live humans to do hybrid optimization via initially simple, but very cognitively complex games.