BBC Focus - 04.2020_

PORTRAIT: KATE COPELAND ILLUSTRATION: SCOT T BALMER

WhatcanonlinegameWorld Of Warcraft teach

us about COVID-19?

“Theprogrammers

didn’trealisethat

non-playercharacters

andpetscouldspread

the infection”

twaslateintheafternoonwhen

Ericandhisbuddiessetout

onanadventuretoa newpart

oftown.It wassunnyandthe

birdsweresinging,astheyalways

did.Andit washere,inthistranquil

littlecornerof theadventurers’brave

newworldthattheycaughtthebug

thatwouldtakedowna civilisation.

Ericfirstrealisedsomethingwas

upwhenhisbuddyZeldenstarted

spewingbloodfromhiseyes.“Holy

crap!”hethoughttohimself,before

tappingouta healingspellonhis

keyboard,andthrowingit acrossthe

screen.It landedontargetandthe

bleedingsubsided,butZeldenhad

takendamage.Andsohadthegang.

AnyonewithinZelden’sbleeding

distancewastouchedbyCorrupted

Blood,thepandemicthatdestroyed

alllifeinthetownsoftheonline

gameWorldOfWarcraft. Thedisease

wasmeanttoonlylastfora short

timeandberestrictedtoa certain

regionofthegame.Butduetoan

oversight,theprogrammersdidn’t

realisethatnon-playercharacters

andpetswerecapableofspreading

theinfection.It becomea pandemic,

affectinga numberof theWorld Of

Warcraftservers.

It was2005,andvirtualworlds

researcherslikemeweretransfixed

bywhathumanbehaviourwemight

observeinthesedigitalsocialPetri

dishes.Therehadbeenconferences

aboutplayer-createdgovernments

and justicesystems, economics

and social contagions. But until

CorruptedBloodwasaccidentallylet

loose,wehadn’twitnessedsomething

likethisunfoldinthewild.And

epidemiologistEricLofgrengot

caughtrightinthemiddleofit.

Theresultofhisserendipitous

fieldwork was several papers

published in highly respected

infectiousdiseaseandepidemiology

journals.Heandhiscolleagues

describedthethingsthatpeople

didwhichtheyhadbeenunableto

predict.Therewerethehealerswho

chosetoputtheir(virtual)livesat

riskonthefrontlineof the(virtually)

deadlypandemic;therumourmills

thatshutdowntheeconomicand

transportsystems;thepeoplewho

brokequarantine;characterswhohid

inthewilderness.“Travelbansdon’t

work,” Eric told me recently. People

haveto goto work.Theywantto see

family.Theydon’tbelievehealth

officials.Andsomepeopleliketo

beagentsofchaos,spreadingthe

disease“forthelolz”– or forransom.

Thisisn’tjustinformationhe’s

pickedupfromobservinga virtual

pandemic;thesearethingslearnt

fromtheevoluionofreal-world

pandemics.Andyet,thevirtual

worldprovidedaninterestingplaceto

watchhumanbehaviourthatreflects

whatmayhappenwithsomething

likeCOVID-19.However,heisthe

firsttopointoutthedifferences–

mostlyit comesdownto “it’sa game”.

Yetthat’snotwhatdigitaldesigners

believe.There’sa lotofthinkingin

SiliconValleyabouthowouronline

andofflineVenndiagramsoverlap.

Technology,theybelieve,canbea

windowintooursubconscious.But

wecannotcreatefacsimilesofthe

complexityof naturalhumansocial

systems.CorruptedBloodwasan

unpredictableincidentdueto human

error. What might bring down

civilisationisn’ta buginthesystem;

it’sthebeliefwecanfixthesystem

and the humans within it.

A L E K S

KROTOSKI

Aleksis a social

psychologist,

broadcaster

andjournalist.

Shepresents

TheDigital

Human.

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