Slashdot Mirror
World of Warcraft is Infectious
ringbarer writes "News is coming in that the lands of Azeroth have become infected with a deadly plague which the developers never intended to spread. Originating from the new Zul'Gurub instance, the plague has spread from player to player via town NPCs. Entire cities are being wiped out, yet players are finding this surprise content entertaining!" From the article: " Some servers have gotten so bad that you can't go into the major cities without getting the plague (and anyone less than like level 50 nearly immediately die). GM's even tried quarantining players in certain areas, but the players kept escaping the quarantine and infect other players." Commentary on Terra Nova.
Sounds like a return of a Sims add-in for a pet gerbil.
c gi?entry_id=179
It was downloaded from TheSims.com, and it could infect players, which could infect other players, etc.
Some linkage on the item:
http://www.alexjacobson.com/cgi-bin/mt-comments2.
This was unintentional? We had no idea on our server and assumed it was something Blizz had added to add some depth to the game. It was actually quite amusing to watch it spread as people attempted to go about their business between the bank and auction house in Ironforge.
Well, now WoW finally has taken indiscriminate PK to a whole new level with your body itself as the weapon. Question is, would those be honorable or non-honorable kills for every person you spread the disease to (disregarding the rollback)?
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
This is absolutely great. This is an element of gameplay that even if unintended (which I'm not so sure about) can have far-reaching consequences.
Why shouldn't MMORPG characters get sick? Maybe once you're exposed and recover from a certain illness, you have immunity. Maybe this immunity will be helpful in a later instance.
I would love for more MMORPGs to release world-affecting things like this into the game. It might be hard to balance, but I think this is fantastic.
One of the reasons gameplay in MMORPGs gets boring is that typically, the world never changes except for the addition of new material.
Give me the four horsemen of the apocalypse any day!
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
The Romans used to fling diseased corpses into the towns that they were laying siege to, and not surprisingly the tactic worked quite well. But can you fling a player into a town in WoW?
Monstar L
Real plagues also affect everyone more or less the same. The world's greatest warrior isn't going to succumb 70,000x slower than some CPA or McDonald's cashier. Only natural variation in your immune system would offer a difference, and because extreme physical exercise actually weakens your immune system, the level 12 billion warrior would likely die more quickly than the CPA.
Of course, expecting a plague to affect everyone equally in a MMORPG is like expecting a fireball to burn everybody without armor equally.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Well fuck me with a chainsaw, that sucks.
It's only an insult if it's not true.
I agree absolutely. The reason I quit playing these MMORPGs was because nothing ever happened. I mean, I could go and try a quest, level some, and then wait in line to kill some MOB for an earring or some boots. It got old really quick.
I began to read the the article synopsis and got really excited. REAL PLAGUES! Oh yeah, that sounds cool! Unfortunately, it was not by design. I'm aware that it would be expensive and difficult, but thses types of events happening on a regular and accelerated basis would bring me back to MMORPGs in an instant.
Easy fix for when you are getting blocked, go to http://babelfish.altavista.com/ and enter forums.worldofwarcraft.com in the appropriate area and have it translate Chinese-simp to English. I'm on a military network and they block most forums and and game related stuff like WoW. This way I still get to surf the forums when I have nothing going on.
"Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
"I began to read the the article synopsis and got really excited. REAL PLAGUES! Oh yeah, that sounds cool! Unfortunately, it was not by design. I'm aware that it would be expensive and difficult, but thses types of events happening on a regular and accelerated basis would bring me back to MMORPGs in an instant. "
I sure hope Blizzard, et al read slashdot. Oh wait, of course the game companies do -- that's why release dates are pushed back.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Bleh, I had the same problem on the MUD I was coding in 92. I should have patented it.
Even cooler would be if such a plague were to hit the world and a randomly chosen player, or handful of players, were dropped limited amounts of the cure in their inventory, with directions for use.
Would they charge money for it? Would they give it away for free? Would they try to make copies of it so they could innoculate the whole world? Would they use it on themselves and destroy it?
Events where players across all levels of acheivement and dedication are allowed to influence the world to a significant degree would really drive subscriptions.
The question is would the subscriptions outweigh the costs enough to generate a substantial profit?
I think we all know who is to blame. LEEEEROOOOOY JHEEEKIIINS!!!!!!!!
I'm not scared of anonymous cowards.
Ah, right, I knew there was a good side to hanging around my apartment in my free time playing games instead of going out jogging.
My girlfriend with giggle about my gut when SHE's dropping from plague, ha ha.
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
It's not a bug, it's a feature!
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
According to Shacknews, City of Heroes are also affected by another disease.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
This isn't so much an "event" as a way for assholes to grief their fellow players (on the same faction, which is against the TOS, mind you).
Getting sick as a random event in the game is one thing.
Getting sick because some shithead decided that it would "teh funnay" to kill you while you were trying to get something done is quite another.
Bans have already been handed out. More should follow.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
Events where players across all levels were allowed to affect other players without their consent would really drive subscriptions... into the ground.
Most people don't play games to roleplay a victim.
Social experiments don't work outside of games designed to be a social experiment (like ATITD). I certainly don't wish to pay to be part of someone's master's thesis. I have better things to do with my free time.
Look at what happened to UO. A tiny minority liked the whole dreadlords era. The people that threatened to quit if that crap continued far outweighed that minority, so the game was changed.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
Hang on, why not talk to your fucking supervisor when they're paying you and you've got "nothing going on"?
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
Now if only SWG could find a cure for SOE...
*duck*