Nothing clever to say except that this is fascinating and it would be cool to see mmorpg-like environments for other studies of virality, social phenomena etc. Anyone know of anything else like this?
Remembering the Corrupted Blood incident: That time WoW was overrun by a virtual plague now referenced by Covid-19 researchers
Submitted 1 day ago by ooli@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
Comments
j4p@lemm.ee 1 day ago
bangsnooter@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Not exactly the same, but Borderlands 3 had a minigame that helped map the gut microbiome.
Developed in conjunction with McGill University, Massively Multiplayer Online Science, and The Microsetta Initiative, Borderlands Science is a puzzle game that benefits the real-world scientific community as you play. Borderlands Science presents you with simple block puzzles based on strands of DNA, and by solving them you’re helping to map and compare the microbes contained therein. Completing these puzzles also earns you in-game currency.
In case you’re curious about the practical applications for the raw data gathered through Borderlands Science, the human gut is linked to numerous diseases and conditions, including diabetes, depression, autism, anxiety, obesity and more. By mapping these microbes, the hope is that scientists will be able to better understand these ecosystems, which may help guide future research into novel treatments and interventions.
j4p@lemm.ee 1 day ago
Exactly the sort of thing I was looking for thank you!
DrDominate@lemmy.world 1 day ago
There’s only one I can think of, the Faldor Massacre. runescape.wiki/w/Falador_Massacre Basically a bug let players kill anyone they wanted even in safe zones. This meant a lot of people lost a lot of gear. Ironically occurring on the date 06/6/06.
Speculater@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
Did the victors get to keep all the gear?!
Blaster_M@lemmy.world 1 day ago
“Everyone has aids!”
gnomesaiyan@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
If I remember correctly, this happened in Everquest Frontiers. You’d catch some shitty AoE debuff in town and give it to other people, including attackable NPCs like guards. Guards were not easy to kill, so they just carried that shit for weeks. The only way to remove the debuff was die, but it just kept spreading, so the best way was to not coach to other towns, but Freeport was basically fucked. That was SOE for ya, and they did that shit on purpose.
scops@reddthat.com 1 day ago
Corrupted Blood taught us that we needed to add the vital “I’m a malicious/selfish asshole” variable to our calculations.
spankmonkey@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah, at the time I assumed that the people intentionally spreading in game were just trolling because there was no actual danger to themselves. Reality proved that tons of people are fine with harming themselves as long as they harm others at the same time.
Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Or the miraculous assumption that surely I won’t become infected, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna be safe for other people!
dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
I used to get so mad at movies that had unrealistic portrayals of how people would act in a crisis situation.
After COVID, I no longer question the unbelievable stupidity of humans, nor the amount of hatred humans have.
GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 11 hours ago
I used to think there was nothing more stupid in zombie movies than uninfected humans just leaving each other alone and killing off the zombies. Why would you bother taking guns from other people when you have so many just lying around after 90% of the people died? If everyone just killed 10 zombies, the whole thing would be cleared up. I don’t think that anymore.