Plague Inc: Evolved, a strategy/simulation mix that supports Linux, has seen a sudden surge in popularity recently as China has a real-life Coronavirus outbreak people are testing it out in the game.
In the last 24 hours, it's hit a new all-time high peak-player count of over fifteen thousand people all trying to cover the world in something terrible. This is thanks to the modding support the game has with the Steam Workshop, there's multiple packs that add in some form of the new Chinese Coronavirus.
This sudden surge has led the developer, Ndemic Creations, to release a statement to remind people it's only a game and not a scientific model to follow:
The Coronavirus outbreak in China is deeply concerning and we’ve received a lot of questions from players and the media.
Plague Inc. has been out for eight years now and whenever there is an outbreak of disease we see an increase in players, as people seek to find out more about how diseases spread and to understand the complexities of viral outbreaks.
We specifically designed the game to be realistic and informative, while not sensationalising serious real-world issues. This has been recognised by the CDC and other leading medical organisations around the world.
However, please remember that Plague Inc. is a game, not a scientific model and that the current coronavirus outbreak is a very real situation which is impacting a huge number of people. We would always recommend that players get their information directly from local and global health authorities.
It's definitely a fascinating game though, and I think it's only natural for people curious about how such things work and spread to take a look at it.
You can pick up Plague Inc: Evolved on Steam where it's 60% off until January 27 in the big Steam sale. Also on Humble Store but no sale there right now.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Sadly the coop mode gets very little attention by the devs. There are only very few diseases available for multiplayer.
Quoting: TheRiddickI think like thousand people have got this virus (probably more) now and only ~26 confirmed deaths so far. Nature is going to need to do a HELL of allot better then that to wipe us out!Let's come back to this statement in ~10 yrs to do the math.
Quoting: bekoA fair point, but remember SARS (which was also a coronavirus)? The initial panic was very similar, then it all just sort of... fizzled out. Maybe this one's tougher or something, but I'll begin to worry when people I know are catching it.Quoting: TheRiddickI think like thousand people have got this virus (probably more) now and only ~26 confirmed deaths so far. Nature is going to need to do a HELL of allot better then that to wipe us out!Let's come back to this statement in ~10 yrs to do the math.
Quoting: DuncI doubt we'll have to deal with just one soon. Also there's this climate catastrophe that _already happened_. It's downwards from here - that's what science tells us and I'd wager it's the optimistic version :(Quoting: bekoA fair point, but remember SARS (which was also a coronavirus)? The initial panic was very similar, then it all just sort of... fizzled out. Maybe this one's tougher or something, but I'll begin to worry when people I know are catching it.Quoting: TheRiddickI think like thousand people have got this virus (probably more) now and only ~26 confirmed deaths so far. Nature is going to need to do a HELL of allot better then that to wipe us out!Let's come back to this statement in ~10 yrs to do the math.
This time they aren't taking any chances, thus they go hardcore with hazmat teams, field hospitals, city shutdowns etc.
The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has infected ~2500 and killed ~850 in 27 countries(2012-2019).
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-Cov), infected more than 8000 people over roughly 8 months (2002-2003) and killed nearly 800 in 32 countries.
The 'Wuhan coronavirus' (2019-nCoV) is close to 3000 infected in 13 countries and 81 deaths. So far. It's been what, 4 weeks? First case was reported on December 31, 2019. The virus hit the "jackpot" with the Chinese New Year.
Sources: mainly WHO.
Not sure if it's time to panic, but uh... there's flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, droughts, whole continents on fire, wars and rampant violence everywhere, even a damn plague of locusts currently destroying east Africa. :S:
edit:
Forgot to mention that the way more deadly disease Measles, which is caused by a virus in the paramyxovirus family and is easily preventable via vaccine, killed ~140,000 people globally in 2018. Before the vaccine was introduced in 1963, it killed millions every year. So, yeah.
Last edited by dpanter on 28 January 2020 at 2:24 pm UTC
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