This is the true impact of computer technology: in what is considered to be the most popular online game in the world, thousands of virtual characters have fallen victim to a fatal computer virus.
To give … powerful characters more of a challenge, Blizzard [the creator of WOW] regularly introduces new places to explore in the online world.
In the last week, it added the Zul’Gurub dungeon which gave players a chance to confront and kill the fearsome Hakkar – the god of Blood.
In his death throes Hakkar hits foes with a “corrupted blood” infection that can instantly kill weaker characters.
The infection was only supposed to affect those in the immediate vicinity of Hakkar’s corpse but some players found a way to transfer it to other areas of the game by infecting an in-game virtual pet with it.
This pet was then unleashed in the orc capital city of Ogrimmar and proved hugely effective as the Corrupted Blood plague spread from player to player.
Although computer controlled characters did not contract the plague, they are said to have acted as “carriers” and infected player-controlled characters they encountered.
Apparently, this isn’t the first computer virus to affect online games. According to the article, hundreds of Sims died from an infected guinea pig. Remember, it’s all virtual. (I hope it isn’t a hoax because it’s too delicious a story.)
If you somehow created a virus or event which could destroy virtual property in a game world in a manner not in keeping with the game rules, I wonder if you’d be responsible for the real costs incurred in the real world (virtual terrorism!) I can see the news reports now, “… at 100000 credits to the dollar, the five thousand canadian dollar virtual houses were lost under suspicious circumstances… police are searching for a man known as l33thaxx0r”
I hated when you got to pay a monthly fee, but then I’m only on dialup which don’t make a different. I really don’t have the money to get a faster connection or buy world of warcraft gold like most people, so I found some free tips and information on world of warcraft gold here.
I think the real story is how looking back at how fast Blizzard fixed this virus.
They had an update ready in 3 days.
One issue that nobody else seem to bring up is what about the loss of virtual assets to the players that were affected. When you look at the time and energy required, then bam you loss all your hard work.
I think maybe someone should came out with an insurance policy for players accounts.
Nice theme.