life imitates art imitating life

Somehow or other (clearly I am not enough of a geek) I missed a major development in the computer game "the World of Warcraft"(henceforth referred to as WoW) Apparently the creators of WoW developed a monster called Hakkar which unleashes a "corrupted blood" infection which can kill weaker players. Supposedly, this infection was only to affect characters within close range, the problem is, it found a reservoir. The reservoir is an "in game virtual pet" which is responsible for spreading the virus more widely than intended. Amusingly, epidemiologists have begun studying the behavior of characters in relation to the infection, and have noted that players are presenting the same variety of reactions to the disease as real people would.

For more info see:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6951918.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4272418.stm