During a pandemic, illness is not the only thing that is spreading. Fear and fear have crept in, leaving room for negative information to slip into the newly formed mess on the public foundation. Some people believe that sunlight kills covid-19. Some think that drinking water it is enough to keep him in trouble. Some do not know what to believe. Because of this confusion, the management became famous The World of War deputy supporter Elysium felt they had a moral obligation.
At the weekend, Elysium – an illegal, fan-driven project that allows players to redo their versions Yeah The Sans Blizzard is in charge of the registration requirement for the "Pandemic In Azeroth" event. The concept was ambitious, but risky: Without warning, Elysium & # 39; s admins threw the virus into the game world that, in 15 hours, infected 2,276 players. Within 24 hours, that number jumped to 7,000. At its peak, physical illness affected 88 percent of active players.
After the virus has had time to spread, the lawmakers tell everyone what happened: The virus was placed in the game. The player, called "zero zero", had previously touched the item and had contact with other players and NPCs, any of whom had the opportunity to get the virus. It can spread to objects. If equipment-related players or characters associated with a germ fail to hurry to town and wash their hands using a special "soap" item, their character will have an illness that results in a reduction of 5 percent and 10 percent movement speed. Oh, and of course, they are a danger to other players, too.
After showing the viral power, the directors reset it. They then infused players by completing collectively collected quices containing covid-19 & # 39; s twins. These include a combination of social deductions (read: keeping you separate from other players while killing a certain number of different animals like some sort of stuff, Ark-low reverse-Noah), wearing face mask items, and chewing items with anti cleansing item . Players can also use a robot that monitors the symptoms, according to a signpost from the World Health Organization website, to look for signs of infection.
The main purpose of the event was education, according to an Elysium director named The rain, which was chasing the fans project two years ago back a scandal involving thousands of dollars it almost sank everything in 2017.
"I know we have a lot of players who are young or can't find the information I do – or at least the same amount," he told Rain Kotaku on top of Discord's voice call, it calculates that Elysium's total of 3.5 million accounts and between 10,000-15,000 players logging songs each week represents a major platform. "I felt like I was able to inform people and help at this time."
He was also aware of the risk of HIV transmission more than 130,000 lives have been claimed worldwide in the cartoon-y fantasy game: "I've been very aware that people are dying of this, and it's affecting people in a number of unfortunate ways," says Rain. “It was always a small risk to do this. I'm sure that's why most illegal sports companies do nothing, because they are so sensitive. I wanted to make sure that whatever we did was 100 percent about education and providing information and not something that would cost us money or that we would not get it wrong by the people we were trying to inform. ”
That's why Elysium didn't just repeat the scourge, which is notoriously widespread. The World of War in 2005. Incident Blood incident, when a hijacker is dragging HP from an attacking boss from everyone because of an unexpected accident involving pets, it is used to study a real epidemic by epidemics. now they help fight covid-19. However, it has led to deaths in the game world, especially among the lower level players. Rain and the Elysium team wanted players to understand the speed of fitness through which viruses could spread, but they didn't want to make them intensify the smell of death and decay.
"We didn't want to repeat (Damaged Blood) because, in it, there is death," Rain said. "In our projects, in this particular event, the players couldn't die in it. I wanted to keep its light and make sure it didn't affect people too much."
There were other, more serious things to consider. In difficult times, people turn to similar games The World of War as a means of escape. In an instant, Elysium players watched the scene where, trapped by disappointing news from the war's end of the disease, they could log on to their favorite MMO server and … be gathered in the fight against the epidemic. That is why the event was limited by time and level. The Azerothian scourge lasted only one weekend, and even players under 10 were overwhelmed. At the end of the event, players were able to kill preexisting Yeah manager, Noth the P is a fobringer (because he brought the disease, you see), and has found a solution that he can share with other players. The two organizations that handled the feat found the strength to succeed in all of them The World of War to see.
So the event was based on the struggle we all face right now, but it had a momentum to it. It was meant to be fun. “I did not want it to despair,” said Rain.
It was also time- and there are levels-limited for another reason: to keep trolls from getting any funny (read: disrespecting real people) ideas. Rain said that, in part because of covid-19, the simultaneous player count of Elysium has nearly doubled in recent times, and new players would have taken a closer look at trolls' goals.
"I am shocked at the obvious contempt that some people have been for this event."
"You always have everybody, especially the private server, who wants to create chaos, The World Joker," he said. “They want to go around and infect people. So I don't want people who have just joined (to come in). ”
Rain said that, generally, the event was well received, even though "maybe one in 10" didn't like the strong truth about the MMO's rushing rain. The players I spoke with emphasized this feeling.
"I believe that what Rand did was a good idea, or even frustrating me, (because) anyone who doesn't understand the issues now has a much better idea," said DJDawan's lead actor Kotaku on top of Discord.
However, the game's epidemic also proved to be eye-opening in ways that players didn't expect.
"I am shocked at the obvious contempt that some people were attending the event," said the playwright Eldrinae. “(They) just kept on happening. Most people did the right thing and tried to help others. A lot of people just stop playing during the epidemic, which is very good (sexual isolation), but some people just refuse to realize that this is the real world we live in as much as one we hide to avoid seeing things with our eyes open. ”
The rain was very happy with the results. After players learned to defend the virus, infection rates dropped dramatically, from 88 percent to 42 percent. He takes that as a sign that people will be inside the information provided and will use it hopefully and in the real world. But even if the lessons learned by the epidemic developed in the form of Elysium stick with only a handful of players, Imvula will have found its purpose.
“If I can help even one person with information, I think I should,” she said. "We can all feel uncomfortable within a few days if it can help people without our condition."
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