TIL that player behaviors to a software bug that created a pandemic in World of Warcraft had similarities to COVID-19 in the real world
TIL that player behaviors to a software bug that created a pandemic in World of Warcraft had similarities to COVID-19 in the real world
... researchers noted the similarities between the game and the real-world pandemics. Both had an immediate impact on dense urban areas, which limited the effectiveness of containment procedures in stopping the spread of disease, while air travel, like fast travel, allowed infections to spread across large parts of the world with ease. Lofgren compared the in-game "first responders", many of whom contracted Corrupted Blood when they attempted to heal others, to healthcare workers that were overrun with COVID-19 patients and became infected themselves. While a direct analogue was not made to griefers [players who engage in bad faith multiplayer game tactics], meanwhile, Lofgren also acknowledged individuals who contracted the COVID-19 virus but chose not to quarantine, thus infecting others through negligence.
I remember that my server - Emerald Dream EU - avoided having an outbreak for quite a long time. We knew what the problem was, and somehow it took a fair few hours for the first idiot to come along and do it for the lulz, before that everyone agreed to not carry the Blood Plague outside.
Once it happened, it was only 5-6 hours to the downtime where they fixed the bug, but it essentially depopulated the major cities, anyways.
Zero Punctuation made a video about it. It's worth a watch!
I love Yahtzee
Precautions were actually very effective for healthcare workers in COVID-19, believe it or not. I wore an n-95 as a COVID nurse with very sick patients and was coughed all over and never caught COVID until I went to a county fair without a mask while vaccinated. Most of my fellow nurses caught it from community spread and not hospital spread as well. This is closer to Ebola.
Would've been perfect if Arthas or whoever spread dangerous misinformation.
If anyone from the Warcraft universe is close to Trump, it's Galliwix.
Right. Arthus was actually charismatic, competent, and relatable.
If anyone's interested in the general network behaviour of infectious diseases and the like, this is a pretty cool interactive article: https://meltingasphalt.com/interactive/going-critical/
Im not sure I would like to be apart of this interactive disease
It's actually really interesting.
That was fantastic
I was there that fateful day. It was interesting to say the least. I was level 60 at the time but all the noobies dying made every city littered with corpses.
I remember all of the dead in the Auction House in Orgimmar. It was something!
I had just started the game prior to when WOTLK dropped
I was so confused, I thought it was an intentional event that Blizzard was running
Episode 10 of the podcast Let's Learn Everything! starts with a discussion of this incident and the ways that epidemiologists have studied it to draw real-world parallels.
It's a great comedy/science podcast; I strongly recommended it.
What is this titlegore bullshit?
Reminds me of Kingdom of Loathing's grey plague.