Is KSP stimulating interest in space?

[crubs]

Do you think KSP is stimulating significant interest in topics surrounding space exploration and rocket engineering? In our personal lives, I'm sure the answer for many of us is a blatant "Yes", but do you think it's slowly acting as a game-changer in the grand scheme of human space travel? Do you think it will in the future?

[Borklund]

I would post simply "No." but I can't, so I'll elaborate. KSP is just a game, it's not a "game changer in the grand scheme of human space travel", that's a ridiculous notion. I was interested in space exploration before I ever heard of KSP and I'd bet that's the case for most people who play KSP. If you want some small part in changing human space travel, get into politics or get a job in a related field.

[SolNG]

I think for KSP to have greater impact in actual scientific pipelines it needs to be more accurate. Specifically regarding fuels, weights, etc. The systems and weights used now are useful as simple numbers that interact with each other, but like another thread mentions, they are not equivalent to real-world. If KSP were to include real-world fuels and a more realistic physics curve, I think it could see much more use in the actual scientific/educational community. Which would, in turn, be a yes to your answer.

[crubs]

The reason I say this is because I've seen how children can easily be excited by basic facts of astronomy. In high school, I voluntarily taught 4th-5th graders about astronomy and these kids were hooked. But I can only stimulate interest in a classroom full of kids per week. A game like KSP on the other hand can possibly stimulate a whole generation of excitement for space-travel (if it gets popular enough). I've had a decade long interest in astronomy, but only recently have I been interested in space exploration, that I owe to KSP. With that excitement comes frustration as to how NASA has done nothing outside of LEO due to a lack of funding for 40 years now.

Politics has failed us for 40 years and I imagine it will continue to. I think that what we need is a grassroots movement to get our space-program going. Politicians have too many issues to deal with as it is. Things like jobs, the economy, healthcare, social security, and other things are far easier to market then playing golf on the moon.

I don't think excessive scientific accuracy is necessary. All scientific models are inaccurate to some degree, otherwise they wouldn't be models. Models are designed to help us better understand a complex world.

Right now I'd say KSP is a pretty popular cult-community. Though I'm guessing we're vastly outnumbered by bronies, but that can change.

[K^2]

I think, KSP is more of a reflection of latent interest that's there and needs to be reawakened in general public. The game itself won't do it. It's one of the things that helps, but it's not going to be the thing that changes everything. Neither will any other game.

[Nicholander]

I agree with crubs and K^2, and I think the KSP Community CubeSat will certainly dramatically increase KSP's influence and popularity. Do you guys agree on that?

[NovaSilisko]

I feel sometimes that KSP makes people think spaceflight is a lot easier than it really is, and it doesn't really promote learning in a number of areas without mods. It teaches orbital mechanics through trial and error quite well*, but the lack of basic rocket science information such as delta-v or thrust-to-weight ratio dampens how much it could help people learn about how spaceflight really works. We'll see what KerbalEdu brings to the table whenever it surfaces properly, though.

An argument from the past comes to mind, where one party who had only KSP as a reference point, was arguing that NASA was stupid because they didn't "just" send up a Soyuz to maintain HST. I've seen other people use KSP as justification for why something should be done in real life, not listening to why it won't work, and it makes me sad.

*assuming the player is willing to listen, I would put the number of people who have really learned and understand orbital mechanics as a direct result of KSP at probably less than 10% of players

Edited August 15, 2014 by NovaSilisko

[Borklund]

I agree with crubs and K^2, and I think the KSP Community CubeSat will certainly dramatically increase KSP's influence and popularity. Do you guys agree on that?

That thing is never happening, for many reasons. Even if you somehow got it built and secured funding for a rideshare, it would violate Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty and would never get to fly.

[Nicholander]

Laughed a bit due to how much you misinterpreted it... I mean that more people will know about KSP and play it, and a lot of people could be inspired and be into aerospace and astronomy because this showed that normal people who love space can do something awesome together, like launch a freaking real world satellite!

[Mitchz95]

I think, KSP is more of a reflection of latent interest that's there and needs to be reawakened in general public. The game itself won't do it. It's one of the things that helps, but it's not going to be the thing that changes everything. Neither will any other game.

This is my opinion as well.

[crubs]

I feel sometimes that KSP makes people think spaceflight is a lot easier than it really is, and it doesn't really promote learning in a number of areas without mods. It teaches orbital mechanics through trial and error quite well*, but the lack of basic rocket science information such as delta-v or thrust-to-weight ratio dampens how much it could help people learn about how spaceflight really works. We'll see what KerbalEdu brings to the table whenever it surfaces properly, though.

To an extent, I agree, some things are greatly oversimplified. On the other hand I feel that my case is the opposite. For example my dad (also an astronomy nerd) wondered why we never put a lander on Mercury, and why we only got an orbiter there recently. After all, it's a lot closer than Jupiter or Saturn. I may have wondered the same thing until I discovered the pains of doing so with Moho. I used to think that you just point in the direction of the planet and fire. Now I know that this method is horribly inefficient and this has allowed me to sympathize with the struggles that NASA goes through.

But still, KSP helped me realize that a lot is possible when resources are available. I now grasp how much technology NASA has available but can't put to use because the money isn't there.

I would also disagree with your statistic, but I wouldn't know. It would be interesting to see a formal study on KSP players to see what they've learned and if they've gained any misconceptions about real-world spaceflight. And for that matter, how it's influenced their interests in such.

[Niklavs]

I think people will appreciate the difficulty of space travel and seeing that kerbin is only one-tenth of the size of earth it would take ten times the amount of rocket fuel to get to LEO. But it wouldn't be all out game changer. It would just be a fun little game. Amazing game to be honest.

[christok]

Personally, I think Squad is doing a lot for public education with this game. They created what all those stupid "educational games" were supposed to be. And I do not fault the game for simplification nor for being a little too easy--it's a stepping stone to greater understanding.

[gozzle]

It's impossible to know the actual answer to you question. I like to think, though, that KSP is riding a wave of renewed interest in space travel rather than creating one. I can't tell if it's just because I'm more attuned to it, but I see a lot of exciting reports around about space exploration than I used to; the imminent reality of private space travel is possibly a big driver behind this.

Regarding KSP's influence, realism is entirely irrelevent (indeed can be a detriment). The game does a fantastic job at exciting people about the mechanics of space flight, without getting bogged down in the Rocket Science. The fantastic thing is it demonstrates fundamentals without ever doing so explicitly (e.g. the exponential tradeoff between payload and required fuel; the difficulty gulf between getting to space, and getting to orbit; etc). The thing it does excellently is fire up an interest - people need to be excited first before they'll be interested to learn all the hard bits! When applied to children, this could mean shaping careers in aerospace.

Personally the (first) thing that gave KSP such wonder was how it showed the seamless transition from: On the Ground, to In Space. These had always been disconnected things in my mind previously. Now I look at the sky and realise I'm closer to space than I am to my parents' house!

[Woopert]

Well, KSP certainly re-ignited my interest in spaceflight and space exploration. I had always been interested when I was younger (most kids are anyways), but I think it also has to do with the timing of which I started playing KSP. I bought the game January of 2013, and at the time I was facing severe anxiety (from OCD) and had a mild case of depression. KSP focused my mind on science and gave me the mindset that you should actually be productive in life, actually discovering and learning new knowledge. At the moment, I'd like to go through aerospace engineering courses in college and have a career in the aerospace industry.

Cheers

[Aethon]

I'll go out on a limb here and say we're currently playing this game with some of the first people (astronauts) who will (eventually..........) walk on Mars.

[G'th]

As someone who never used to have an interest in the space program (despite literally living next to Kennedy. Even shuttle launches were completely boring to me), playing Kerbal has completely reversed that attitude. So it definitely can stimulate that kind of interest.

But on a national scale, KSP would have to be as popular as Call of Duty (while at the same time being no different than it is now) for it to really stimulate widespread interest in space.

[Borklund]

As someone who never used to have an interest in the space program (despite literally living next to Kennedy. Even shuttle launches were completely boring to me)' date=' playing Kerbal has completely reversed that attitude. So it definitely can stimulate that kind of interest.

But on a national scale, KSP would have to be as popular as Call of Duty (while at the same time being no different than it is now) for it to really stimulate widespread interest in space.[/quote']

If KSP were as big as Call of Duty, it would have the same influence on space exploration as Call of Duty does on recruitment for the Armed Forces.

Spoiler: Negligible to none.

[Motokid600]

I don't know, but I bet money 20 or so years from now you'll hear future astronauts say "Well I played Kerbal Space Program before".

[linkxsc]

Personally, I think Squad is doing a lot for public education with this game. They created what all those stupid "educational games" were supposed to be. And I do not fault the game for simplification nor for being a little too easy--it's a stepping stone to greater understanding.

I have to agree with that. After all, last year when I was subbing in a physics teacher towards the end of the year and we were getting into the short little "astrophysics" part of the class. Thats when I came across KSP myself and good lord, threw that on my laptop, brought it into school and put it up on the projector. "So kids, how do i get this thing to the mun?" single best teaching aid for that part of the class ever. Because its childish, and any kid can pick it up and get to the mun within their first hour of play.

Spent over a week doing explanations of newtons laws and how basic orbit works with no kids understanding any of it. 10 minutes of flying a little probe around in orbit, and now I have some kids who... may not know the math perfectly, but they understood the concept.