Fun Fact #274 Corrupted Blood

 Fun Fact #274

Corrupted Blood

September 13th, 2005 was supposed to be National Positivity day, but it wouldn't be quite so positive for one group. With its population of 6 Million players, World of Warcraft released it’s newest expansion, yet a bug would soon prove disastrous. In short, a Poisonous endgame debuff escaped its zone by infecting the play’s in-game pets starting an epidemic which the players took very seriously. They set up medical stations, Quarantine zones (Slowing the spread by 42%), then caused people fled the major areas. Some Guilds even took the time to weaponize the plague in order to weaken their rivals. By the time the bug was fixed it had gathered the attention of the CDC, WHO, and The MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease –all of whom thought it had been an intentional experiment. 

This event opened the eyes of the medical industry to the possibility of running experiments and research within video games which can provide stimuli to gather humanity's response. Thankfully the benefits have been gathered ever since. 

Image Credit: The Extra Credits Youtube Video on “Corrupted Blood”