World of Warcraft has announced that it will be enforcing a 14-day quarantine on players as they move between zones.
The quarantine will come into effect immediately on all continents, for both horde and alliance players, and even in the alternate timeline of Warlords of Draenor, although it is thought unlikely that anyone is still bothering with that.
“The safety of everyone involved in World of Warcraft is paramount,” explained Blizzard representative Kelly Grace.
“Therefore, we have introduced a number of safety protocols to limit the spread of Covid-19 within the world. Chief amongst those is the 14-day quarantine, which will give us the ability to restrict any flare-ups of the disease to specific zones without it spreading to other zones.”
When moving from one zone to another, players will be directed to the new quarantine tents, where their character can wait for 14 days.
“Players will still be able to log on during their quarantine period and within the tent we have introduced a tavern and bank, so players will be able to dance near each other and cast irritating spells that see them kick a football at other players’ heads, but there will be no questing or dungeons available for everyone’s safety,” confirmed Grace.
Although there has so far been limited scientific investigation on the dangers of Covid-19 in a virtual world, many such games have introduced coronavirus-prevention guidelines. Players in Fortnite have been asked to sanitise hands after picking up new weapons and players in Destiny advised to avoid indoor structures and socially distance from any Hive or Vex who have a cough.
However, World of Warcraft’s 14-day quarantine is part of the most comprehensive series of measures yet introduced in a virtual world that include characters maintaining social distancing recommendations, wearing masks when visiting merchants and taverns, and shielding all characters over level 50.
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(Image by William Tung. Cropped. Licence details)
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