Download How did “World of Warcraft” help advance virus research?

Virus vs. Computer Virus
http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/world-warcraft-advance-virus-research
How did "World of Warcraft" help
advance virus research?

In 2005, "World of Warcraft" developers released a virtual
virus into the game called "corrupted blood" [source: Wired].
The virtual virus was intended to test the best players of the
game, but it succeeded so well that it became an infectious
disease that killed off many weaker characters in the virtual
world of the game. Some of the players avoided the infected
areas, as they were warned to do by the game's developers.
However, other players were too curious to stay away.
These players intentionally risked their characters' own
"health" to investigate the infected areas. Most disturbingly,
some infected characters went out of their way to infect
other players, although other players with the cure went into
infected areas to heal those infected.
How did "World of Warcraft" help
advance virus research? – Con’t

The reaction of the players to the "2005 plague" was of
great interest to epidemiologists, scientists who study the
spread of infectious diseases. Epidemiologists use
computer models to predict how an infection might spread
throughout a population. One of the weaknesses of their
models has always been that they can only be created using
data from past outbreaks, making them backward-looking:
They can be used only to guess how people will behave in a
future epidemic. (This makes sense because, clearly, they
can't release a virus into the world just to see what would
happen in real time.)
How did "World of Warcraft" help
advance virus research? – Con’t

When news of the "World of Warcraft" plague
reached epidemiologists, the scientists realized
they finally had a safe incubator within which to
study and track how humans react to infections.
They could study how the characters in the game,
guided by real people, reacted to a virus. The tool
of virtual epidemiology was born. Now, the game's
developers may put more viruses into their virtual
community to help researchers study epidemics.
Matrix Virus