Читать книгу Principles of Virology, Volume 2 - Jane Flint, S. Jane Flint - Страница 35

The hugely popular online video game World of Warcraft became a model for the transmission of viral infections. In 2005, a dungeon was added to the fantasy world in which players could confront a powerful creature called Hakkar. In his death throes, Hakkar hit foes with “corrupted blood,” infected with a virus that killed the virtual player. The infection was meant to affect only those in the immediate vicinity of Hakkar’s corpse, but the virus spread as players and their virtual pets traveled to other cities in the game. Within hours after the software update, a full-blown virtual epidemic ensued as millions of characters became infected.

Although such games are meant only for entertainment, they do model disease spread in a mostly realistic manner. For example, as in real life, the spread of the virus in Hakkar’s blood depended on the ease of travel within the game, zoonotic transmission by pets, and transmission via asymptomatic carriers. Moreover, such games have a large number of participants, at one point more than 10 million for World of Warcraft, creating an excellent community for experimental study of infectious diseases. The players’ responses to dangerous situations approximated real-world reactions. For example, during the “corrupted-blood” epidemic, players with healing ability were the first to rush to the aid of infected players. This action probably affected the dynamics of the epidemic because infected players survived longer and were able to travel and spread the infection. A more reality-based smart phone app called Plague Inc., downloaded more than 85 million times, asks: “Can you infect the world?” and gives players the opportunity to choose a pathogen and influence its evolution. Players compete against the clock, trying to destroy humanity before the world can develop a cure.

Scientists themselves recognize the educational value of such games. A professor at Drexel University developed CD4 Hunter, in which players enter the bloodstream as a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 particle. The goal is to find and infect CD4⁺ T cells, white blood cells of the adaptive immune system that are the main targets in this infection. The game mimics virus binding and entry, and was created as a supplementary teaching tool for graduate students and undergraduates in advanced-level courses (http://bit.ly/Virology_Twiv489).

With all of these games, successful players learn to integrate multiple variables simultaneously, including environment, time, and population density. These applications also demonstrate how the reproductive cycle of a virus may change over the course of an epidemic. However, the parallels to real-world epidemiology end there; a defeated player can begin again with the click of a button or the flick of a finger. Alas, real life does not come with “do-overs.”

 Lofgren ET, Fefferman NH. 2007. The untapped potential of virtual game worlds to shed light on real world epidemics. Lancet Infect Dis 7:625–629.