Corrupted Blood taught us that we needed to add the vital “I’m a malicious/selfish asshole” variable to our calculations.
I used to get so mad at movies that had unrealistic portrayals of how people would act in a crisis situation.
After COVID, I no longer question the unbelievable stupidity of humans, nor the amount of hatred humans have.
Yeah, at the time I assumed that the people intentionally spreading in game were just trolling because there was no actual danger to themselves. Reality proved that tons of people are fine with harming themselves as long as they harm others at the same time.
Or the miraculous assumption that surely I won’t become infected, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna be safe for other people!
Nothing clever to say except that this is fascinating and it would be cool to see mmorpg-like environments for other studies of virality, social phenomena etc. Anyone know of anything else like this?
Not exactly the same, but Borderlands 3 had a minigame that helped map the gut microbiome.
Developed in conjunction with McGill University, Massively Multiplayer Online Science, and The Microsetta Initiative, Borderlands Science is a puzzle game that benefits the real-world scientific community as you play. Borderlands Science presents you with simple block puzzles based on strands of DNA, and by solving them you’re helping to map and compare the microbes contained therein. Completing these puzzles also earns you in-game currency.
In case you’re curious about the practical applications for the raw data gathered through Borderlands Science, the human gut is linked to numerous diseases and conditions, including diabetes, depression, autism, anxiety, obesity and more. By mapping these microbes, the hope is that scientists will be able to better understand these ecosystems, which may help guide future research into novel treatments and interventions.
Exactly the sort of thing I was looking for thank you!
My pleasure! The game was actually fun, so I love seeing more of this stuff.
The project site has occasional updates on what is becoming of this data.
There’s only one I can think of, the Faldor Massacre. https://runescape.wiki/w/Falador_Massacre Basically a bug let players kill anyone they wanted even in safe zones. This meant a lot of people lost a lot of gear. Ironically occurring on the date 06/6/06.
“Everyone has AIDS!”
