This is really cool

Deadly plague hits Warcraft world
By Mark Ward
Technology Correspondent, BBC News website


A deadly virtual plague has broken out in the online game World of Warcraft.

Although limited to only a few of the game's servers the numbers of characters that have fallen victim is thought to be in the thousands.

Originally it was thought that the deadly digital disease was the result of a programming bug in a location only recently added to the Warcraft game.

However, it now appears that players kicked off the plague and then kept it spreading after the first outbreak.

Since its launch in November 2004, World of Warcraft (Wow) has become the most widely played massively multiplayer online (MMO) game in the world.

Its creator, Blizzard, claims that now more than four million people are regular players.

Last rites

Wow is an online game that gives players the chance to adventure in the fantasy world of Azeroth that is populated by the usual mixture of humans, elves, orcs and other fantastic beasts.

As players explore the world, the characters they control become more powerful as they complete quests, kill monsters and find magical items and artefacts that boost abilities.

The Warcraft world is a familiar fantasy setting
To give these powerful characters more of a challenge, Blizzard 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.

Body count

The first server, or "realm" as Blizzard calls them, affected by the plague was Archimonde; but it is known to have spread to at least two others.

The spread of the disease could have been limited by the fact that Hakkar is difficult to kill, so some realms may not yet have got round to killing him and unleashing his parting shot.
Artwork for World of Warcraft, Blizzard
In World of Warcraft players can be orcs, humans or other fantastic creatures

The digital disease instantly killed lower level characters and did not take much longer to kill even powerful characters.

Many online discussion sites were buzzing with reports from the disaster zones with some describing seeing "hundreds" of bodies lying in the virtual streets of the online towns and cities.

"The debate amongst players now is if it really was intentional although due to the effects of the problem it seems unlikely," Paul Younger, an editor on the unofficial worldofwar.net site, told the BBC News website.

"It's giving players something to talk about and could possibly be considered the first proper 'world event'", he said.

Luckily the death of a character in World of Warcraft is not final so all those killed were soon resurrected.

Blizzard tried to control the plague by staging rolling re-starts of all the servers supporting the Warcraft realms and applying quick fixes.

However, there are reports that this has not solved all the problems and that isolated pockets of plague are breaking out again.

The "Corrupted Blood" plague is not the first virtual disease to break out in online worlds. In May 2000 many players of The Sims were outraged when their game characters died because of an infection contracted from a dirty virtual guinea pig.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4272418.stm

Ghey.

ROFL.

"Bring out yer dead! Bring out yer dead"

"But I'm not dead yet!"

Tagged to show my computer genius kid.

wowaids.ytmnd.com/

There are pictures of it spreading at its effects on the game.

[Bevis]Ha ha ha... Cool[/Bevis]

Quoted: ROFL. "Bring out yer dead! Bring out yer dead" "But I'm not dead yet!"

I don't want to go on the cart!!!

Quoted: http://wowaids.ytmnd.com/ There are pictures of it spreading at its effects on the game.

Everyone has AIDS!!!!

That's some funny stuff right there!

RPGers should like this. It is just like the black plague, which should enhance their gameplay.

FEMA should have moved into the affected servers more quickly to stem the effects of the disease.

This is obviously Bush's fault.

Quoted: FEMA should have moved into the affected servers more quickly to stem the effects of the disease. This is obviously Bush's fault.

Bush hates orcs.

Quoted: Quoted: http://wowaids.ytmnd.com/ There are pictures of it spreading at its effects on the game. Everyone has AIDS!!!! That's some funny stuff right there!

Yeah, except if you're at work!

Quoted: ROFL. "Bring out yer dead! Bring out yer dead" "But I'm not dead yet!"

 Exactly what I was thinking!

Now that is funny stuff!

amazing free research for those studying Artificial Immune Systems and various genetic algorithms.

I think that's the only "social disease" that Warcraft players are in danger of getting.  Ever.

Quoted: I think that's the only "social disease" that Warcraft players are in danger of getting.  Ever.

+1

Kharn

Quoted: Quoted: FEMA should have moved into the affected servers more quickly to stem the effects of the disease. This is obviously Bush's fault. Bush hates orcs.

Picture taken in the aftermath of the plague in the Orc capital city.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: FEMA should have moved into the affected servers more quickly to stem the effects of the disease. This is obviously Bush's fault. Bush hates orcs. Picture taken in the aftermath of the plague in the Orc capital city. i10.photobucket.com/albums/a103/thedoctors308/looterface23td.jpg

LOL!

So how long before we see "The Looter" on the talk show circuit?

This video is old as hell, but it cracks me up every time.

LEEEEERRROOOY JENNNKKKINNSS!!

media.putfile.com/Movie2887

OMFG-
Some opf the comments here are even better than the actual article

Quoted: I just ordered the game today on half.com

It's a great game Wave and I like it a lot. I have a 60 Rogue that I play on Tichondrius, a Player vs Player server.

The assholes spreading this stupid plague are on your team and keep it going by a bug that they exploit. They then walk up to people infecting them over and over till they die. Some moron killed me the other day while I was away from my computer. I reported a few people that were specifically trying to kill teammates through the exploit and a GM spoke with them and hopefully they have a warning on their account.

Luckily it doesn't last long. It's only supposed to last a few seconds but there is an exploit that people use to keep it going so they can keep hurting/killing teammates.

And to the people that say WoW players have no life, I'm posting this from my 40 hour a week job. I play a couple hours at night and a few hours on the weekends. It's better than TV.

Quoted: This video is old as hell, but it cracks me up every time. LEEEEERRROOOY JENNNKKKINNSS!! media.putfile.com/Movie2887

WTF was that shit??



LEEEEEERROOOOOOOOOOY jEEENNNNKKKKIIIIINNNSSS!



That's going to be my new battle cry!

Frankly thiswould be interesting if it was a planned event, and WOW was a single server game.

As it is its just a silly little bug.

Quoted: Quoted: This video is old as hell, but it cracks me up every time. LEEEEERRROOOY JENNNKKKINNSS!! media.putfile.com/Movie2887 WTF was that shit?? LEEEEEERROOOOOOOOOOY jEEENNNNKKKKIIIIINNNSSS! That's going to be my new battle cry!

I am CRYING I am laughing so hard....

Wtf I can't even figure out what actually happened from that article written while someone was jacking off to computer magazines.

Deadly plague hits Warcraft world In May 2000 many players of The Sims were outraged when their game characters died because of an infection contracted from a dirty virtual guinea pig.

AhhhhhhHaaaaaaaa

Quoted: Quoted: This video is old as hell, but it cracks me up every time. LEEEEERRROOOY JENNNKKKINNSS!! media.putfile.com/Movie2887 WTF was that shit?? LEEEEEERROOOOOOOOOOY jEEENNNNKKKKIIIIINNNSSS! That's going to be my new battle cry!

"Least I have chicken"
Oldie but goodie.

Kharn

You have no chance to survive make your time!

All your Warcraft are belong to us.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: This video is old as hell, but it cracks me up every time. LEEEEERRROOOY JENNNKKKINNSS!! media.putfile.com/Movie2887 WTF was that shit?? LEEEEEERROOOOOOOOOOY jEEENNNNKKKKIIIIINNNSSS! That's going to be my new battle cry! I am CRYING I am laughing so hard....

No kidding. I was laughing and snorting and choking on sunflower seeds so hard the kids out in the cubicle farm thought I was dying.



LLLEEEEEEEERRRROOOOOYYYY   JJJJEEEENNNKKKIINNNSSS!@!!

 

leroy, you're a dumbass.


It's not my fault.  I'm so stoned.