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A Virtual Zombie Invasion

It’s long over by now, but recently Blizzard unleashed a zombie plague on World of Warcraft as part of the launching festivities for this year’s expansion.  It was pretty fun, I think, but it became quite a divisive topic among players.

It all started when ‘Conspicuous Crates‘ started showing up in one of the towns.  When players examined the crates, they were infected with a disease with a ten minute countdown.  It wasn’t all that big of a deal.  Argent Healers showed up in strategic places scattered across towns and cities.  Players began to discover that if they let the disease tick off all ten minutes without dispelling it, they would turn into a zombie.  Bands of players-turned-zombies formed, but it was very hard to get anywhere in town without getting jumped by non-turned players or the healers.  My brother waited until he almost turned, then flew into Stormwind and infected the flight master.  It was pretty lighthearted fun.

Then infected roaches started appearing in the towns, which would infect the player as soon as they were attacked.  The countdown on the disease was shortened, adding to the craziness – guards and auctioneers would be able to turn faster than people could dispel the disease.  The disease also seemed to become harder to dispel.  Rats and zombies would periodically spill forth from the Stockades in Stormwind, spreading the plague as they went.  Ironforge’s Commons area was strewn with hundreds of skeletons.  Players began to voice some complaints, as quest givers and facilities such as the auction house and banks were zombies more often than not.  The plague was ultimately reduced to a one minute countdown, and a lot of the Argent Healers disappeared.  It was chaos.  Then, abruptly as it began, the plague ended.  The skeletons gradually disappeared, no one was able to catch the plague and things returned to normal.

It was pretty amusing all in all – they even went to the added effect of making it so that no one could understand the zombies except other zombies.  All that showed up for the other players was ‘…’ or ‘braaaaaaiiinnnsss.’  I wish they had done something like set up auction houses and bankers in exile or something, but it was all good.  I can’t help but feel it’s not over just yet – Wrath of the Lich King lands next week.