EVE Online players contribute to Project Discovery by classifying real scientific data inside the game. Their repeated pattern-recognition submissions are aggregated to support researchers and, in some phases, AI training. The current activity focuses on flow-cytometry data for cancer immunology; players help analyze data, but they do not diagnose cancer.
What is Project Discovery?
Project Discovery is an in-game citizen-science activity developed by CCP Games with Swiss organization MMOS. It is not a separate laboratory or standalone product: players access it through EVE Online. CCP describes the collaboration as one in which “EVE players and the scientific community” use virtual worlds to contribute to understanding the real world. (CCP Games / EVE Online)
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Its research topic and task have changed over time. The first phase asked players to classify protein-location images; a later phase used telescope light curves to search for exoplanet transits; the current official project page describes a cancer-immunology activity based on flow cytometry. These are distinct research phases, not three modes that the current page says are all still active. (CCP Games; CCP Games, March 2026)
How do EVE players contribute to real science?
Project Discovery turns many individual classifications into a larger set of annotations that can be used in scientific analysis. Players perform tasks designed for non-specialists; scientists can then work with the combined results rather than treating any one player’s submission as a finding. In the protein phase, the Human Protein Atlas reported that aggregated player classifications helped identify rare protein-localization classes and annotate patterns for which training data was unavailable. It also found that AI performed better for many common classes, showing complementary strengths rather than an overall victory for players over AI. (Human Protein Atlas)
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What do players do in Project Discovery now?
CCP’s current project page describes the active iteration as cancer research using flow-cytometry data. Players use a tracing tool to draw polygons around cell clusters in plots. Those classifications support scientists studying how immune systems interact with and combat cancer, and help train AI models. They are one input to research and model development—not individual diagnoses, treatment advice, or proof that a player independently discovered a result. (CCP Games / EVE Online)
Players reach the activity in EVE Online from the Neocom menu after character creation and the introductory tutorial. CCP’s page lists in-game rewards, including SKINR colors, a ship skin, and apparel. It presents Professor of Immunology Andrea Cossarizza as the in-game scientific guide; that presentation does not establish that players are communicating directly with the professor. (CCP Games / EVE Online)
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How Project Discovery’s research phases differ
| Phase and topic | Data and player task | Documented contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Protein localization and cellular biology | Microscopy images; players recognized and classified protein-expression patterns. | CCP said in 2017 that players categorized a database of more than 250,000 protein images and submitted more than 25 million classifications. The Human Protein Atlas later described aggregated player data as useful for rare localization classes and patterns without available training data, alongside AI’s better performance for many common classes. |
| Exoplanet searches, introduced in 2017 | Real telescope light curves; players identified curves resembling planetary transit events. | CCP’s retrospective describes this as the project’s shift from cellular biology to exoplanet detection. The sources cited here establish the activity and phase, not a specific number of confirmed planets attributable to player classifications. |
| Cancer immunology, begun in 2020 and later expanded in Phase IV | Flow-cytometry plots; players outline cell clusters with polygons. | CCP says submissions support research into immune responses to cancer and AI training. The current official page describes the task, but the sources cited here do not establish a measured impact or discovery total for this phase. |
CCP’s March 2026 retrospective says Project Discovery has covered the three broad fields above and that the 2020 immune-cell classification phase later expanded to new datasets in Phase IV. The Human Protein Atlas’s 2016 launch announcement invited EVE players to recognize expression patterns in images and “help bring science forward.” (CCP Games, March 2026; Human Protein Atlas)
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What scale does CCP report?
In its 2026 decade retrospective, CCP Games reports nearly one billion classifications, 471 years of cumulative analysis time, and more than 1.9 million participants across three research phases. CCP also reports that nearly 29,000 participants took part in all three phases. These are CCP’s publisher-reported cumulative figures, not independently audited measurements in the sources cited here. (CCP Games, 2026)
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CCP calls Project Discovery “a body of work that has changed the way scientists think about what citizen science can achieve.” That is the EVE Online team’s assessment of the project, rather than an independent scientific conclusion. (EVE Online Team, 2026)
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