Zombie Plague Event
The Zombie Plague event was an in-game event in the computer game World of Warcraft. It ran from October 22nd to November 12th 2008. The event introduced a disease into the game that eventually turned players into zombies. Players were able to play as zombies with new abilities and limitations and they were automatically allied with all other zombies. The event was a precursor to the launch of Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard Entertainment's second expansion for the game. Zombie players were able to attack other non-zombie players and, by using certain abilities, transfer the disease to other players. Initially, the disease was relatively easy to get rid of and lasted 10 minutes prior to turning you into a zombie. Most players took the opportunity to turn themselves into zombies in order to experience the zombie's abilities and have a new form of fun. As time progressed, the disease duration was reduced and the zombies became difficult to avoid. Eventually players were only given 30 seconds in which to be cleansed of the disease before transforming. The intensity of the epidemic caused it to overrun most of the "normal" activities in the game. Cities were overrun with zombie players and non-zombie players found it extremely difficult to avoid becoming infected and converted. Ultimately, the event was ended on November 12th to make way for the new expansion.
The event was identified by several academics and doctors as having several parallels to epidemics in the real world. A previous event dubbed the "corrupted blood incident" had accidentally resulted in a very malicious disease spreading through the virtual world and crippling the normal activities in the game. Many articles were written declaring the event to be an intriguing look into the nature of infectious disease. The corrupted blood incident had some properties that made it a poor analog to modern epidemics. The rate of infection was far too high: any player that came in contact with an infected player had a 100% chance of becoming infected and there was No Cure whatsoever. In epidemiology, researchers assign each outbreak an R-value, which is a measurement of the number of individuals likely to be infected by one infected individual. The R-value was unrealistically high during the corrupted blood incident leading many to conclude that it was a poor model for actual disease spreading. The R-value of the Zombie Plague was much more realistic and the mechanics of disease spreading were more statistically plausible. As a player was exposed to an increasing number of infected players, their chances of becoming infected increased. There are several criticisms of the Zombie Plague model of epidemics, but many researchers conclude that virtual environments may have a great deal to offer in the struggle to understand and contain the spread of deadly diseases.