Comments on: What can World of Warcraft teach us about pandemic response? http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/05/what-can-world-of-warcraft-teach-us-about-pandemic-response.html medical blog Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:15:05 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: GG Freeman http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/05/what-can-world-of-warcraft-teach-us-about-pandemic-response.html/comment-page-1#comment-91600 GG Freeman Fri, 29 May 2009 06:23:16 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=30032#comment-91600 @ paul: I don't know much about how one finds the healers in Warcraft, and I'm sure they don't set up shops - do they? ...but it would be interesting to see you could track how many players flock to the healers they know to get an idea of the general numbers utilizing the known "healthcare system" in the pandemic. I for one think WoW is the perfect place to test these kinds things given the population and dynamics. True chaos beats chaos theory any day. @ paul: I don’t know much about how one finds the healers in Warcraft, and I’m sure they don’t set up shops – do they? …but it would be interesting to see you could track how many players flock to the healers they know to get an idea of the general numbers utilizing the known “healthcare system” in the pandemic.

I for one think WoW is the perfect place to test these kinds things given the population and dynamics.

True chaos beats chaos theory any day.

]]> By: Matt S. http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/05/what-can-world-of-warcraft-teach-us-about-pandemic-response.html/comment-page-1#comment-91591 Matt S. Thu, 28 May 2009 22:34:58 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=30032#comment-91591 The neat thing about the WoW plague was all the similarities that could be drawn between it and the real world: teleporters = intercontinental air travel pets = zoonotic reservoir non-player characters = asymptomatic hosts low-level players = elderly, immunocompromised To learn more about the use of video games and health care, I'd recommend Googling the following: 1. The CDC-sponsored fake flu in the children's game Whyville 2. The hamster (...maybe gerbil) outbreak in The Sims 3. All of the creative ways Second Life is being used for medical education Cheers! The neat thing about the WoW plague was all the similarities that could be drawn between it and the real world:

teleporters = intercontinental air travel
pets = zoonotic reservoir
non-player characters = asymptomatic hosts
low-level players = elderly, immunocompromised

To learn more about the use of video games and health care, I’d recommend Googling the following:

1. The CDC-sponsored fake flu in the children’s game Whyville
2. The hamster (…maybe gerbil) outbreak in The Sims
3. All of the creative ways Second Life is being used for medical education

Cheers!

]]> By: paul http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/05/what-can-world-of-warcraft-teach-us-about-pandemic-response.html/comment-page-1#comment-91584 paul Thu, 28 May 2009 19:53:17 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=30032#comment-91584 did players flood the virtual ED if their character got so much as the sniffles? did players flood the virtual ED if their character got so much as the sniffles?

]]> By: VendorMD http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/05/what-can-world-of-warcraft-teach-us-about-pandemic-response.html/comment-page-1#comment-91581 VendorMD Thu, 28 May 2009 17:39:10 +0000 http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/?p=30032#comment-91581 Oh boy !. After reading the whole thing ...it does sound scary. There are always anti-social elements who do exactly the opposite of survival. We already see this in reality. Oh boy !. After reading the whole thing …it does sound scary. There are always anti-social elements who do exactly the opposite of survival. We already see this in reality.

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