Wuhan coronavirus prompts netizens to study World of Warcraft epidemic
The now-legendary Corrupted Blood incident infected more than a million characters in Blizzard’s popular MMORPG
This incident has become a hot topic again as the Wuhan coronavirus has spread through China and beyond its borders, with hundreds of confirmed cases and multiple deaths.
How Douban went from China’s IMDB to its ‘spiritual corner’
How Weibo became China’s most popular blogging platform
Corrupted Blood started with a band of high-level players who took down an end-game boss with the ability to cast a blood-draining spell. While the players made sure they were free of the spell’s effect after the battle, they allegedly forgot to treat one of the pets. That pet was then able to carry the pathogen out of the dungeon as a result of a programming oversight, culminating in a full-blown pandemic.
Virus simulation game tops Apple’s App Store in China as Wuhan coronavirus spreads
Corrupted Blood quickly spread from city to city. Game developer Blizzard tried to quarantine some areas of the game in response, but to no avail. After a week, Blizzard only managed to put the kibosh on the mayhem with hard resets and patches.
Epidemiologists later found players exhibited some interesting behavior during this time. Some people volunteered to help, but wound up falling sick. Others “went to work” as usual (making money by dealing weapons) and infected others. And some got themselves infected out of curiosity.
US gamers call for a boycott, but Blizzard has a huge fanbase in China
Balicer pointed out that both the virtual and real epidemic faced failed attempts to quarantine infected people, and both cases demonstrated a high potential for rapid spread around the world. While the disease in WoW was spread by characters teleporting from city to city, Sars found its way to other countries by way of air travel.
Another Weibo user worried that the Corrupted Blood incident holds a more ominous lesson.