Viral Twitter Thread Notes Eery Similarities Between The COVID-19 Pandemic And The Corrupted Blood Incident

If you were playing World of Warcraft in 2005, then you may think of the COVID-19 Pandemic as the second major world-altering pandemic of your lifetime.

In 2005, WoW experienced what would come to be known as the Corrupted Blood Incident, when the entire WoW community was brought to its knees by a bug in the game which spread the "Corrupted Blood" debuff, which drains health, around the MMORPG, killing low-level players. The debuff was intended to be localized in one boss fight, but players found they could leave the boss arena with the debuff and spread it in densely populated areas. NPCs could get it and spread it but not die.

What followed proved a strangely valuable case study in how societies handle an epidemic. Some players set up voluntary quarantines, some of which were ignored by players who felt the debuff was not a serious issue, while others intentionally spread the debuff maliciously. Eventually, developers patched out the issue, but not until a legendary week made its mark in gaming history.

At the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic, some remembered the Corrupted Blood Incident. The Washington Post wrote about it in April, while Yahtzee Croshaw published a video remembering the incident.

On Sunday, the Incident was at the forefront of Twitter's mind thanks to a viral thread by Jen Keane, who told the story over a series of tweets.

The thread proved educational for a swath of Twitter users who were unfamiliar with one of the oddest and surprisingly prescient moments of gaming history.

The thread also brought back war memories from Corrupted Blood survivors.

Though Keane is not the first person to make the COVID / Corrupted Blood comparison, the WoW incident proves that those who have not lived through history, even virtual history, are doomed to repeat it.