Pop quiz, hotshot! What’s the best way to stop world hunger? If you said, “Hold a benefit concert,” congratulations … you’re Bono. For the rest of us, the question is a little more intimidating. Complex problems often call for equally complex solutions, but what if you could break these mental and mechanical roadblocks down into smaller, specific questions and ask thousands of your closest friends to work together and hammer out an answer? Where would we find a large segment of smart, tech savvy humans used to solving challenges in large, virtual, online environments …

Hit any gamer messages boards lately?

Gamers — loosely defined as anyone who spends significant time playing video games more advanced than Minesweeper — are known for completing virtual tasks, from repetitive button-mashing to solving complicated visual puzzles, all for a little bleep-bloop acknowledgment and an arbitrary number of points they can brag about to their friends.

“Do they have the numbers?” you ask. The online game World of Warcraft has 10.3 million subscribers. (It dropped to that number in 2011, from a peak over 12 million in previous years.) Now imagine if all those warriors and mages were instead playing a game with real-life implications. At 10 million strong, it would be the equivalent of everybody in the Czech Republic deciding to dedicate themselves to the digital betterment of mankind.

And that’s just fans of ONE game.

It’s not wishful thinking. Already, gamers have helped to discover new planets and sequence DNA. Last year, it took online gamers three weeks to figure out the structure of a protein (pictured above) that allows HIV/AIDS to multiply — a problem that had stumped scientists and supercomputers for over a decade. From simulating hypothetical future calamities to loaning their spare CPU power to NASA, gamers have been doing their part to make that outside world they rarely see into a better place.

And for those I just offended … GG, d00ds. GG indeed.

Bern’s is booked solid and you don’t have a reservation.