Well who’d have thought it, eh? According to the BBC, the European Space Agency is after some volunteers to take part in a simulated space trip to Mars! Now, I know what you’re thinking – grab six gamers who play DOOM and they’ve got all the necessary skills to cope with anything that happens up there, yeah? Or maybe, just to cover all bases, also stick someone in who’s played Zak McKracken through to the end? But no! It turns out that what the Esa really need are not gamers, but game developers!

You see apparently, their goal is to gain some sort of insight into human behaviour in the kind of conditions astronauts would encounter in your typical space flight to a scary planet. And aside from weightlessness and radiation, typical conditions include:

• Cramped conditions
• High workload
• Lack of privacy
• Limited supplies

Not unlike working in the games industry is it? Also, most programmers would probably be immune to the effects of radiation, and the fatties (a.k.a. engine programmers) could do with experiencing weightlessness.

Unfortunately, it seems the criteria for volunteers also include:

• Good health
• Non-smoker
• High motivation
• Non-drug taker

…which pretty much rules everyone from the games industry out. Oh well, it was a good idea until I read the article in more depth.

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