The Corrupted Blood Incident: Lessons from a Virtual Pandemic

Here's a story about how a game bug unleashed a notorious virtual pandemic, impacting millions and becoming a major case study in the scientific community.

How It All Started

On September 13, 2005, a new raid was released in the multiplayer, online role-playing game: World of Warcraft. To complete this raid (namely, Zul'Gurub), teams of up to 20 players have to defeat a series of monsters and the final boss, Hakkar the Soulflayer. Hakkar possesses an ability called Corrupted Blood, a debuff that causes players to lose health over a period of time. Once caught, this debuff can also spread to nearby players, similar to the mechanism of infectious disease in the real world. Corrupted Blood was intended to only apply within the raid arena: if you die while fighting Hakkar and respawn in the main world, this debuff is automatically cleared. What nobody anticipated, though, was that Corrupted Blood would find its way to bypass the design and sneak into the main world.

In World of Warcraft, some characters can tame pets like imps or rabbits to aid in combat or purely for aesthetic purposes. These pets, which can be freely summoned and dismissed (put away) by their owners, are also susceptible to the effect of Corrupting Blood. One game bug, though, was that if a player dismisses their pet during the raid while having the debuff applied, then once the pet is resummoned in the main world, the debuff would still be active; furthermore, if this debuff enters the main world through this process, its effect would not automatically wear off after a fixed duration. And just like that, using pets as the host, Corrupted Blood was accidentally brought out of the dungeon.

Corrupted Blood began to spread uncontrollably. NPCs such as guards and vendors, who could contract the debuff but were immune to death, became reservoirs that continuously fueled the spread of the debuff. Hordes of low-level players instantly died, and as they respawned, there was nothing that they could do but contract the debuff and die again. Players who were not instantly wiped out began escaping the scene; some teleported themselves to nearby cities while having the debuff applied, which accelerated the spread. Skeletons of dead players began to pile up in major cities. Servers began to crash due to the overwhelming number of players impacted, making it even harder for players to navigate away from the zone of infection as they logged into the game.  Over the next four days, millions of players were affected. Finally, on September 17, Blizzard Entertainment initiated rolling restarts on all realms in War of Warcraft. They also corrected the bug so that Corrupted Blood could (actually) no longer exist in the main world.

The Corrupted Blood incident quickly caught the attention of the press and researchers. It was widely reported by media outlets such as the BBC and NPR (National Public Radio). Epidemiologists and public health researchers contacted Blizzard Entertainment to acquire and analyze the in-game data from the incident. It also became a major topic of discussion that was featured at various conferences and summits.

Beyond the Pandemic

To me, the highlight of this virtual pandemic was how the players responded and interacted while the event unfolded (according to available online resources). On the prosocial side, healers banded together to cleanse the debuff from others, while mages opened portals to help evacuate those in danger. At the gates of ruined cities, some stood guard, warning unaware players about the outbreak. Some infected players self-quarantined in the wilderness and avoided crowded hubs to contain the outbreak. Some also proactively utilized the global chat system to broadcast risks and routes around the affected hotspots. Not everyone chose the path of procosilaity, though. Some players, curious about the plague, deliberately ventured into infected cities; some, after learning about the mechanisms of Corrupted Blood's transmission, even went so far as to deliberately spread the plague to populated areas just for their enjoyment.

What Does The Corrupted Blood Incident Mirror?

Drawing from these available reports of what happened during this virtual pandemic, it is evident that the Corrupted Blood incident not only simulated the development of real-world pandemics but also mirrored how individual and collective behaviors could unfold in real social settings. There are several reasons why an online platform like World of Warcraft can be a nurturing ground for certain social phenomena.

First of all, the efficient nature of the virtual world is an accelerator that can amplify behaviors. When engaging in online gaming, people are freed from the constraints of time and space: by simply controlling a few buttons, experiences like navigating the virtual environment, engaging in social interactions, and completing tasks can be quickly fulfilled. These condensed highways of goal fulfillment facilitate the brain's reward pathways, which translate to motivation and the reinforcement of behaviors. Second, the virtual world offers protection of existing identities and cultivation of new ones. Similar to how people can become more comfortable with social interactions when dressed up as different characters (during Halloween, for example), the virtual world provides the same type of "mask" that conceals one's identity and enables one to step into the role of another; a user can counterfactually simulate the experiences of a differently-gendered character; someone who is a subordinate in real life can craft the persona of a fearless leader in the virtual world. Thirdly, online platforms dilute social costs and responsibilities. Given that people can freely customize self-presentation and easily implement actions online, the costs of prosocial and antisocial behaviors are low. That is to say, one can provide help to others without compromising excessive personal time, attention, and resources; on the negative side, one can also impose suffering on others while avoiding social consequences to a certain degree.

In short, within the virtual world, physical and temporal restrictions are reduced, anonymity can be maintained, imagination can be actualized, and social responsibilities can be dodged. Consequently, people are more comfortable experimenting and disinhibiting their desires and behaviors.

Although we don't know precisely what was going through the players' minds during the Corrupted Blood incident, it is useful to infer some potentially relevant phenomena as the takeaways from this virtual pandemic:

1. Emotional and Behavioral Responses to the Unknown

   While the unknown and the uncertain can induce fear and panic, they can also ignite positive emotions like curiosity, excitement, and awe, especially when a safe distance can be maintained. Furthermore, these positive emotions might also synthesize creativity and imagination about the "what if"; What if I get myself infected? What if I bring this pandemic to another city? In the context of the Corrupted Blood pandemic, the virtual nature of the pandemic provided a safe distance, given that what happened in the game stayed in the game. As a result, while the spreading of the pandemic prompted some players to flee, it intrigued other players, who decided to approach or engage with the mechanics of this game bug.

   
   

   We might see some parallels between this phenomenon and real-world social conflicts. When people see a serious fight break out on the street, some people might immediately avoid the scene, while others might observe, record, or even playfully engage with the situation from a distance (such as shouting bitter comments to escalate the situation). With enough distance, it’s easy for us to transform into spectators of a gladiator match in ancient Rome — engaged, but untouched.

   
   

2. Agency and the Exercise of Free Will

   "Why? Because I can!" When an overwhelming force disrupts order in a social system, people's ways of exercising free will can become polarized. Some people tightly hold on to their morals and humanity; others see chaos as an opportunity to unleash their inner beasts. Furthermore, when countermeasures to chaos are enforced, people's desire to protect individualism and personal agency may also be lured out. In the context of the Corrupted Blood pandemic, this is captured by the disparity between players' prosocial and antisocial responses, as well as their compliance or non-compliance with the counteractions implemented by the prosocial players. On a similar note, we can also see this divide in people's willingness to adhere to the mask mandate and receive vaccinations during the COVID pandemic.
   

Conclusion: Games as Mirrors

Taking a step back, the Corrupted Blood incident is a powerful reminder that valuable insights about the human mind can be derived from the gaming process. We often see games as an activity that serves to destress, entertain, or promote social bonding. However, let's not forget that each round of a game is essentially an episode of social narrative. Regardless of whether it's an online or a board game, a single-player or a multi-player game, the process of gaming simulates and reflects how humans make decisions and engage with social forces. Through the lens of games, we might see a person's existing behaviors become amplified, or suppressed and hidden behaviors become unveiled: an overachiever might exhibit obsessions with winning or scoring; someone who chronically suppresses their emotions might channel frustrations outward during a game; a more altruistic and less dominant person might turn on their supportive, nurturing mode when new players are struggleing; a cheeky, playful person might be more comfortable sabotaging other players and making humourous comments. Games are mirrors and simulations of life. Just as the Corrupted Blood Incident deepened our understanding of epidemiology and Social Psychology, if you pay attention to how people around you behave during games - whether it’s Mario Party, Marvel Rivals, League of Legends, chess, or even sports - you might discover equally fascinating insights!