WoW plague and Player vs Real World dynamics

In Collision Detection, Clive Thompson comments on the WoW plague saying:

"Maybe we should be using online games to study the effects of a real-world bioterror attack? Maybe FEMA and the government should hire Blizzard to build them an online world, and populate it with players by offering it for free. They researchers can test the effects of a contagious bioterror attack such as smallpox -- by releasing a virtual version of it, and seeing how players react."

I have never heard a worse idea in my life. Has this guy ever played an MMORPG?

Real-world behaviour does not exist in these worlds. The whole draw of them is the escapism from the constraints of the real world - players are breaking the quarantine because they can, with no fear of recrimination. They break the rules just for the sake of breaking the rules, when most of them wouldn't dare in real life. I'm sure some of them go out an infect as many people as they can just because it's funny to see animated avatars collapse into skeletons - when it's your real world cousin who catches Ebola and dies it's not so funny, and no one in their right mind would break a quarantine in order to spread the disease.

My point is that you can never use gamers to predict real-world behaviour, because the very essence of gaming is to escape those real-world restrictions and consequences and get away with behaviour you would never be able to in real life. And therein lies their beauty.