Corrupted Blood: A Deleted Bug

Corrupted Blood is a digital archaeological study that examines the infamous digital plague from World of Warcraft. In the game, a contagious bug known as corrupted blood spread rapidly among players’ avatars, creating chaos and unforeseen challenges for the virtual community. This work employs Unreal Engine and machinima techniques to reconstruct the digital aftermath, inviting viewers to navigate the overlooked backstage of game development. By revisiting the digital ruins—termed Fallen Blood—the piece charts a journey through a space once overwhelmed by a viral outbreak and subsequently purged through debugging. The work interrogates how cyberspace is mapped and redefined when digital catastrophe strikes. It also connects the impersonal, gamified portrayal of death with broader reflections on mortality, especially against the backdrop of our post-epidemic era. Through its synthesis of digital art and archival inquiry, Corrupted Blood prompts us to reconsider the relationship between virtual existence and physical life, asking how technology reshapes our understanding of life, death, and the spaces that exist between.