WOW
We talked about viruses in class and how quickly they can spread even when people have to actively open the file on their computer but it’s even more amazing at how fast it can spread when it carries just like a disease.
Last week a deadly virtual plague broke 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. Recently added was 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.
When we begin to take human conditions and then apply them to internet idea it’s amazing how quickly things can spread. So we really should watch things like this if we start to apply more person al and private things in such situations and we might begin to have internet pick pockets that can just grab our information and run as we are walking around the internet.
Comments
Posted by: Britt
Posted on: December 1, 2005 12:42 PM
Yeah. Its really scary. Before coming to Case I must say that I was oblivious to the impac that viruses could have, but here it seems as if almost every day someone has a virus on their computer. I have had one virus on my computer and the thing that bothers me is that they couldnt tell me where it came from. So, how am I supposed to change my behavior in the future?
Geesh!
Posted by: Katie Riley
Posted on: December 2, 2005 02:43 AM
i thought when we talked about that it was really interesting too.. the stupid AIM viruses bug me because the first two times i saw it i clicked bc i really thought it was from my buddy.. but nope it was a disease trying to infect me!