Playing With Epidemics

摘要

Do you have an alter ego in Second Life, the booming virtual world? Watch out: Your double may catch a nasty virus someday. Scientists say introducing infectious diseases into online games could help them study epidemics.rnThe idea comes from Ran Balicer of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be'er Sheva, Israel, who was inspired by a plague that swept through the online fantasy game World of Warcraft in 2005. To spice things up, game administrators introduced an infectious disease called "corrupted blood." It spread much faster than anticipated, in part because administrators had made virtual "pets" act as reservoirs.