According to Charles Blair, deputy director for the CTIS, World of Warcraft's infamous "Corrupted Blood" epidemic of 2005 is a good source of study for terrorist behaviour. Apparently the deliberate spread of the disease offers unique insight that can't be simulated by computer models. For the parents who have kids keen on infecting their Pokemon with the Pokerus, beware: this is where terrorism starts!

For our part, this all seems like a bit of a stretch on the part of the article's author. While in-game terrorist tactics with biological weapons do reflect their real life counter-parts in many ways (e.g. hitting big population centers, focusing on travel hubs to maximize spread, etc.), we're not sure what sort of insights this sort of comparison could glean for people who are already experts on the topic. Moreover, when the most prominent group of pan-MMO cyber-terrorists are motivated by "lulz," it becomes evident that there's a profound disconnect with reality that has to be accounted for.

chautemoc via massively.com »