In 2005, a bug in World of Warcraft turned Azeroth into a virtual pandemic, and gave scientists a rare glimpse into human behavior during an outbreak.
So recently I started a page in a notebook where I jotted down article ideas. Older games with interesting stories to them. Just as a part of a series of retrospectives I’ve been writing. So far I have done:
- Seaman
- GoldenEye 007
- Star Fox 2
- EarthBound
- Dune II
- Uniracers
…and now, obviously, World of Warcraft. This one is a bit more brief than the others, but the story is fascinating to me. An unexpected bug caused so much drama, and it ended up being studied. It came back to focus when Covid hit, it was covered by regular ‘big’ news services, the whole thing is such an odd story to me.
Anyway, I had a great time writing this up, maybe you were ther when it happened? I’d love to hear a comment if so!
My neighbor was a shithead. There were lots of places where masks were mandatory, so she got herself a “protest mask” which was a decorative mask - almost like a thin chainmail - that didn’t actually do anything. Stupid people are assholes.