The Martian Game: Exploring Open-Ended Question-Asking via an Online Gaming Environment

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Question asking is a crucial human skill, influencing social cognition, creative problem solving, and information seeking. Yet, its cognitive mechanisms remain poorly understood due to challenges in studying it naturally. We developed The Martian Game, an open-ended online question-asking game that simulates creative problem solving in realistic contexts. Players design a solar energy system for a Martian city through two stages: (1) a problem finding phase where they ask an AI chatbot (“Mark”) questions to gather information, and (2) a solution-planning phase producing written and visual designs. Questions are coded for complexity, originality, and relevance; solutions are rated for originality and appropriateness. This game offers an ecologically valid, interdisciplinary tool to study question asking and supports the hypothesis that complex questions promote effective problem solving. A pilot study validates its potential for examining open-ended cognition beyond the lab.