World of Warcraft: PWNing the War on Terror

Counterterrorists, epidemiologists, sociologists and economists love WoW. Because they love to watch you get PWN’d.

Wired magazine reported that scientists and researchers in the fields of counterterrorism, epidemiology, and sociology have all noted how terrorism and the spread of diseases in WoW bears a striking resemblance to the way real life suicide bombers and bioterrorists would do things.

WoW’s network of 10 million players gives scientists a ready made virtual model of the world, complete with participants capable of making their own decisions-as rational or irrational as they may be. Even the Deputy Director of the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies says that WoW offers a revolutionary new way to study how terrorist cells form and operate.

It’s no wonder terrorism is still an ongoing problem. All the people who should be solving the problem are busy PWNing people online. And although Wired magazine does come up with some cool stuff on occasion, this is one of the stupidest articles ever. Namely because it’s….well, complete BS.

In real life, there is no respawning in 10 seconds. And the motivations of a bored 15 year old aren’t even remotely comparable to a brainwashed suicide bomber on every level. Counterterrorists, epidemiologists, sociologists, and economists are coming up with really cool reasons as to why they should be playing WoW at work…

And that’s the lesson I’ll be taking from this article—if you’re good enough at BSing people, you can do anything. Even get to play WoW at work.

http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/news/2008/03/wow_terror