Sci-Fi News and Reviews

Plague Research...in "World of Warcraft"?

I found an interesting article over at Techdirt entitled "Researchers Want To Test How The Plague Would Spread In World Of Warcraft". Basically, they want to release a contagious plague onto an online game (WoW is specifically mentioned) and then measure how the disease spreads.

According to the article, WoW "...had its own plague a few years ago, which gave them [the authors] the original idea to approach Blizzard to work out some sort of deal to do this kind of research." From what I understand, the WoW event took place in 2005 and forced a server reboot as the disease spread unchecked.

I just happen to have been a part of an online plague within a different MMO game. The game was "Horizons" (which is still around) and the date was March 8th, 2004 (OK...I had to look that up). Here is the event description:

Event: Howls In The Dark
Date: March 08, 2004

EVENT BACKGROUND:
The disease unleashed upon Feladan has caused disruption in the ranks of the Living Races. All but Dragons, who have been actively trying to cure this ailment, have been affected and are suffering from this highly contagious illness.

Meanwhile, word comes from southwestern Aradoth that the undead have started sending troops westward, hoping to use the chaos as a distraction and to catch the Empire by surprise. The last attempt to take one of the towns met in failure at Aughundell. However, from the size of the forces amassing, it appears that the Undead hordes will be launching a sustained attack against one, or possibly many, of the cities. Can the Empire rally to fight both the disease and the assault, or will cities-or even the Empire itself-fall to the might of Withered Aegis?

The result of the disease was predictable minor. It was a nuisance, but it was pretty easy to find a Dragon with the cure. And, hey, if a merchant had the disease...people called a Dragon to cure him. I suspect the WoW event, although more widespread, probably had a

Now - I get it. The researchers are trying to find a full featured simulated world to gain data. But, the selection of a place where you cannot die is not the best place to be doing real research on the behavior of a populace in the face of a disease. I don't see this mirroring real-life - if the disease isn't permanent, there can be no real measurement of the actual response by those affected.

I love MMOs. They just shouldn't be used for vital research.

---

Posted by Fred on August 22, 2007 4:49 PM
Permalink | Email to a Friend | Add to del.icio.us | Digg This





More Recent Stories:
• "Pushing Daisies" Cancelled
• "Twilight"
• Expectations
• The 2008 Election
• National Novel Writing Month
• Best Vampire
• "Sarah Connor" & "Knight Rider" Get Full Season Orders
• "Galactica" Return Date Set!
• "Crusoe"
• Ratings Update