Free Republic

Epidemiologist Eric Lofgren says the experience was a valuable snapshot into human behaviour during a pandemicIn the late summer of 2005, a mysterious plague affected an estimated four million people, but caused no deaths — at least not in the real world. When an update to the multiplayer online game World of Warcraft introduced an in-game condition called Corrupted Blood that acted as a viral disease, players around the world faced a virtual pandemic as their characters unwittingly infected others and rapidly perished. Today, some epidemiologists believe it can offer insight into the spread of viral infections, including a new...

As MMOs Continue to Grow Leaving Old Areas Behind, Gaming Archaeology has Risen Up to Explore and Remember their Past.MMOs such as World of Warcraft and Guild Wars have been going strong for years now continually growing their player base and the areas open to them. They’ve become so large that the games have taken on the same traits as real world cultures. As they continue to grow the community moves to new areas, new hub cities, leaving the old ones behind. Just as real world cities are abandoned and forgotten old hub cities in MMOs are quickly forgotten. Yet...

Only when cops entered Rodger’s nearby apartment did they find his first victims: three multiply-stabbed men whose names were withheld Saturday night, pending family notification. It remained unclear Saturday night if any of the three were Rodger’s two roommates. He had written in the manifesto that he would “have to kill” them so he could turn the place into “my personal torture and killing chamber.” “I will start luring people into my apartment, knock them out with a hammer, and slit their throats. I will torture some of the good looking people before I kill them, assuming that the good...

The 32-year-old Norwegian man arrested for gunning down children on the holiday island of Utoya has been named locally as Anders Behring Breivik. Described as 6ft tall and blond, he is reported to have arrived on the island of Utoya and opened fire after beckoning several young people over in his native Norwegian tongue. Reports suggest he was also seen loitering around the site of the bomb blast in Oslo two hours before the island incident. More than 30 are believed to have been killed - seven in Oslo and between 25 to 30 on Utoya Island, 50 miles north...

The man allegedly behind Norway's devastating terror attacks, Anders Behring Breivik, is now under arrest. And he should count himself lucky for—if entirely undeserving of—a penal system in that country that is among the cushiest in the world. There's no capital punishment, and the longest jail term allowed is 21 years (a caveat: if a prisoner is deemed to still be a threat, his sentence can be extended in five-year blocks indefinitely, though it's highly unlikely, according to Norwegian officials). In Norway, rehabilitation is the guiding principle, not punishment—a somewhat difficult notion to swallow given the gravity and callousness of...

A Swedish professor suggested Israel was behind the bloody terror attacks committed by Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik this past July, stirring up controversy in the country. Research professor Ola Tunander of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) published an article in the Norwegian academic journal Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift in which he called to further examine Brevik's motives. According to Tunander, it is possible that some country was behind the terror attacks, hinting that Israel might be that country.

Could there be a link between Norway-based LTTE operatives and Anders Behring Breivik, who bombed the Norwegian government headquarters in Oslo and wiped out a youth group on a nearby island on July 22 killing over 80 civilians? Responding to a query by The Island, informed sources said that the Norwegian could have had a link with the LTTEactivists in Norway. Breivik, in his 1,518 manifesto, which was released hours before he carried out the massacre, said had felt that Europe should follow the LTTE example of expelling the Muslims from Sri Lanka. He had interpreted the expulsion of Muslims...

Anders Behring Breivik is a conservative Christian who enjoys classical music and the video game World of Warcraft. Breivik has been named by several Norwegian media outlets as the suspected shooter at a youth camp in Oslo, where 10 people were killed Friday and he may be linked to a bombing near the prime minister's residence that killed seven others. On his Facebook page, which appears to only have been started July 17, Breivik mostly posted music videos and said his interests include hunting and bodybuilding. Under education, Breivik wrote he studied independently, noting he has "approximately 14,500 hours of...

Colleen Lachowicz is a Democratic candidate running for State Senate in Maine. She's also a level 85 orc in the massively popular online game "World of Warcraft." And for that, the Republican party says she is unfit for office. Maine's GOP has accused Lachowicz of living a "bizarre double life" and set up a website meant to out her participation in the popular online game -- a game that currently boasts some 10 million players around the world. Not only does the website show off a picture of the orc character she plays -- named Santiaga -- it also displays...

"Entire cities in the World of Warcraft have been destroyed with no one spared, not even the NPCs. About 13:00 GMT, forums on WOW started getting the first comments from users regarding players and NPCs dying on the Ragnaros-EU realm in Orgrimmar. Users of the online game started reporting that Draenor had a similar sight to offer. Some of the other realms where this was reported include Tarren Mill, and Twisting Nether." Also at Joystiq, and (with more screenshots) at WCCF Tech, which reports that "it appears the damage is most severe in World of Warcraft European servers."

hey freepers! anyone else out there waiting till midnight fpr MOP?

Perception is everything. We see the world through the truths as they're told to us, everything from what books are good to what TV shows are worth watching. Facts are played with, fast and furious, and there seems to be little need for any objectivity. The primary way in which we consume such truths is through the news. And there's a lot wrong with our modern news system. The vast majority of successful outlets are built more on getting readers' attention than finding truths in a story. This easily leads hyperbolic headlines (like this article's headline) and to a simulation...

A NORWEGIAN boy, 12, reportedly saved himself and his sister from a moose attack using skills he picked up playing the online role-playing game World of Warcraft. Hans Jørgen Olsen, 12, and his sister encountered a moose during a walk in the forest near their home in the central Norwegian town of Leksvik, said the Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen. It was then Olsen's WoW instincts reportedly kicked in. Firstly, he taunted the animal to get it away from his sister, the paper said. In WoW, players use taunting to shoo monsters away from weaker team members, the newspaper said. Then,...

World of Warcraft denizens are complaining that an anti-virus update published by Symantec over the weekend falsely labelled a component of the game as potentially malign. Instead of throwing spells or wielding axes, fans of the role-playing game who choose Symantec for their security protection complain that the firms is listing benign scan.dll.new library as an information stealer. Multiple posts on a WoW forum suggest that the problem is far from isolated. We asked Symantec if it could shed any light on the situation on Monday lunchtime, but have yet to hear back. There's been a rash of false positives...

Roberson didn't expect much back because of the limits of his jurisdiction, but Blizzard responded in spades. Online gaming offers you a new life: new friends, new face, new clothes, new home, new everything. It sounds like a perfect spot for a someone hiding from the law. But not quite perfect. Two weeks ago, an Indiana sheriff's deputy tracked down a fugitive by first locating him in the online game World of Warcraft The sheriff's department of Howard County had been searching for Alfred Hightower for two years without any luck, even with the help of U.S. marshals under Operation...

On Tuesday evening, 16-year-old Andrew Kane nonchalantly asked his mother and father if they would drive him from their Barrie, Ont., home to a hotel in nearby Midland, where he planned to meet a 42-year-old woman with whom he had been having a secret relationship over the Internet. His stunned parents refused and the teen calmly returned to the computer, telling them he would let the woman know he wasn't coming. At 2 a.m., Marlene Kane heard her front door open, and found her son gone, leaving behind a troubling trail of web chats that led to Houston, Tex., and...

Me dancing at the shelter,it was crowded today. At a weapons testing sandbox testing out a machinegun i bought. At Anthroxtacy dancing.

"Spider-Man" and "Evil Dead" trilogy director Sam Raimi is set to enter the world of "Warcraft." Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures announced Tuesday that Raimi will be at the helm of a live-action movie based on the blockbuster PC game franchise. The film will be distributed by Warner Bros. "At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story," said Raimi. "I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen." "Warcraft" debuted in 1994 and quickly developed a loyal following around the globe. It has since expanded to include several bestselling,...

Here is a video interview with the CEO of Activision Blizzard Inc., Robert Kotick, whose company owns such huge names in the video game industry as Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft. He discusses how the economy is impacting the video game industry. He says video games are actually doing very well since it is a relatively cheap form of entertainment. . . . . . (Watch Video)

I suddenly noticed that the next big expansion to the popular "World of Warcraft" online game, "Wrath of the Lich King", comes out on November 3rd. That's one day before the election. Anyone think basement-dwelling liberals will be too busy with the new game to go out and vote? Hey, I can dream...