Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

centrum — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:26 GMT

Scientists are crazy.

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

Indelible — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:25 GMT

So you propose letting bird flu rip through my town just so some white-coat can see if my overweight next door neighbour runs or not? ;o No thank you. There are far more refined things one can do with ones time...like...well...setting a man-made virus on an unsuspecting village of tribal folk O_o

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

Moorderer — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:24 GMT

I sense that the scientists were americans...seriously, no harm meant...

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

Moorderer — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:23 GMT

Main Mailing Address; Tufts University School of Medicine; 136 Harrison Avenue; Boston, MA 02110;

but ofc... why am I surprised? :S

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

Rofocal — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:22 GMT

Didn't kill Hakkar in his early days but I don't recal getting the disease from his corpse. Is this true?

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

Indelible — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:21 GMT

Yes - very true lol It was plastered all over the news. It isn't the first time a virtual virus has broken out because of a programming bug. Archimonde US was the first server for it to happen on I believe. It only happened on a few serverswhen Hakkar was brand new. They fixed it fairly quickly as you might imagine.

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

dreamon3111 — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:20 GMT

To be able to cure a disease you must be able to understand it and what it does to people. They are not saying that they want to let a real virus rip through a real town, it specifically says they wouldn't want to do that because it would be unethical. But to be able to put a virtual virus in a game like Second Life, where you could observe the way that a massive population reacts when there is an epidemic, is an awesome opportunity to be better prepared for if it ever happens in real life.

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

Indelible — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:19 GMT

...O_o...A) it was a sarcastic responce to someone elses post. B) What you said is what I said when I posted the article.

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

gorgeth — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:18 GMT

article is a bit flawed.. the problem was pets.. essentially what happend was :

during the fight players could get afflicted with a disease.. as could pets.. if players die pets despawn..

Players then rezzed if they resummon pets everyone near pet including player gets disease at which point its a chain reaction..

Some jerks on a server or 2 thought it would be "funny" to do this in a packed AH and thus the madness ensued..

For the record this was the SECOND time this problem happened (it also happened earlier in the game IIRC but was hotfixed)

What this has to do with real world modeling I have no idea.. since short of figuring out just how many people are idiots/jerks this has 0 to do with real world disease spreading..

However.. a HIDDEN disease could likely be effectively modeled in an MMO (if the players didnt know they where exposed then tracking how quickly it spread.) but even then.. without knowing you are potentially a carrier of said disease all it would really model would be traffic/player populations in that same virtual world.. not the real world?

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

gandalfsc — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:17 GMT

"it would be unethical to release a real virus into a population simply to observe how people reacted."

Do you actually believe this statment though??  /Equip foil hat

Seriously though; A virtual world with no real consequences and no real death - Compared to the real world. Would there be so many people trying to spread the disease? I don't think this is a valid study

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

atreiyu — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:16 GMT

i think you'd be surprised how closely virtual worlds resemble the real world in cases like this. sure some of it's exaggerated, but not as much as you'd think. with respect to epidemics and deadly viruses, to say that people wouldn't deliberately attempt to spread them is a very naive statement. misery loves company, and when someone with a propensity to be malicious contracts a deadly virus, dont be surprised when they try to spread it. It happens all the time with HIV carriers.

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

Simmo — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:15 GMT

i read this ages ago in a new scientist magazine... its a good idea but players wouldnt react in the same way in game and in real life, tbh if i got a disease like that on my pet, i would dismiss it go to org/shattrath and cause utter chaos, and so would many other players.

So in my opinion repeating this idea for scientific research would not be a good way to research the spread of disease and control, due to the carelessness of players (carelessness FTW :D).

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

Indelible — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:14 GMT

As another poster has mentioned, it is not uncommon for people to intentionally spread disease irl either. If everyone acted with care and consideration then the world would be perfected. There are people who have little to no care for the lives of others. There are people who's religions dictate the act of killing people as a good thing.

There are people who are willing to walk into a crowded street and blow themselves up just to cause as much suffering and torment as possible. They die as well but they don't care. They just care about how many people they kill. What would stop one of these people from infecting themselves with a fatal disease and spreading it throughout the world? Nothing.

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

cathuluwarlock — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:13 GMT

as it says, they dont think it would be accurate, but there is no other way for them to really study this sort of thing... you do have malicious players who would run through town stirring grief and you have some that would try to prevent it... unfortunately i'd be stirring up grief in the alliance towns, biological warfare ftw!

does that make me evil? well i am a warlock...

Scientists claim Virtual game is a 'disease model'

Indelible — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:11:12 GMT

well i am a warlock...

No - you are not evil...just simple :-) :-P