World of Warcraft—a multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment is extremely popular among gamers. The game was way ahead of its time. There are several conspiracy theories that were highlighted in the past year, as the world entered a pandemic and it appears Blizzard’s popular online game foresaw it too. In 2005, players already experienced a pandemic within the universe, and it mimicked the ongoing global crisis. Yes, you read it right. A viral Twitter thread underlined the eerie similarities between the WoW and COVID-19 pandemic, and it has shocked people online.

We all were quite fascinated knowing when American sitcom, The Simpsons predicted a virus outbreak, like many other events. On a similar note, WoW which was launched in 2004 provided gamers to explore an unintended event that is similar to the spread of a viral infection throughout its playerbase. Twitter user, Jen Keane highlighted the eerie similarities in a viral Twitter thread. She started with a Twitter poll revealing that less than half the people recalled the event took place, with about 56 percent, choosing for, ‘No what are you on about.’

“So it turns out more of ye didn't know about the WoW pandemic than did. 56% didn't know. It's honestly a pretty interesting thing. In 2005, a new raid and boss were introduced, and the boss had a debuff called Corrupted Blood,” she begins her thread on Twitter. A debuff is essentially any effect that makes a game character weaker.

Here's the Viral Twitter Thread: 

“The debuff was contagious, killed lower level players quickly (few seconds) and should only have been an issue when fighting this new boss, and in the specific area. But there was a bug that meant that pets carried the effects of the debuff outside of this,” she added. The corrupted blood spread quickly.

A Debuff! 

“And once out in the world, the corrupted blood spread quickly. NPCs (non player characters, the preprogrammed actors for players to interact with) in the game could catch it, but not die, so they effectively added as asymptomatic spreaders,” her Twitter thread highlights further.

The Corrupted Blood Spread Quickly! 

She noted the similarities between players acting within the universe and people’s reaction towards the pandemic, at present. “Players acted in much the same ways as real people are acting now - some tried to heal others, some stood guard to warn people that an area was not safe, and some people maliciously tried to spread it further,” says Jen.

Players' Behavior Towards the Corrupted Blood

WoW instituted a voluntary quarantine but some people did not avail it, noted Jen in the thread, as they did not take the pandemic seriously, much like COVIDIOTS in the recent time. You can read the full Twitter thread, by clicking HERE.

Jen went on concluding how it was easier to fix the WoW pandemic than our real life, using server resets and software patches to re-right WoW for its players. However, it provided some detailed insights revealing how people react to a pandemic. The Twitter user noted that the awareness of the 2005 WoW’s Corrupted Blood is not new and shared link to an article of The Washington Post released in April, 2020, which highlighted the similarities between the game and ongoing pandemic.

The spread of the corrupted blood and player’s behavioural changes to it, caught the attention. The virtual world closely sets an environment highlighting the mass behavioural reactions to outbreaks.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 05, 2021 09:15 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).