A closer look
World of Warcraft accidentally simulated a highly realistic global pandemic in 2005 during an infamous incident known as the Corrupted Blood incident. A raid boss named Hakkar cast a highly contagious health-draining spell that was only supposed to exist inside his specific dungeon area. However, players quickly realized that their virtual pets could catch the disease, be dismissed, and then re-summoned in crowded capital cities, instantly infecting thousands of innocent bystanders. The virtual disease spread uncontrollably for a week, leaving the streets of Azeroth literally paved with the skeletons of low-level characters while high-level players desperately tried to enforce makeshift quarantines. Epidemiologists actually published academic papers studying player behavior during the event, fascinated by the trolls who purposefully infected others just to watch the world burn. It was a stark warning that if humanity ever faced an actual global health crisis, a significant portion of the population would absolutely act with maximum selfishness just for the fun of it
