| Hi, Zheping here. I just returned from the strangest Lunar New Year break ever. I usually celebrate China's biggest annual festival with friends and family. This time, I spent most of the week in my bedroom in Shanghai, unleashing a pathogen to try to wipe out humanity. In a video game, not for real. The game is called Plague Inc. and it was released more than seven years ago. But it has found new relevance -- and become a huge hit -- as the all-too-real coronavirus spreads across China and beyond, killing hundreds of people and sickening many more. As of Feb. 3, Plague Inc. was the most downloaded paid game on iPhones in 80 countries, according to research firm App Annie. That's up from six countries at the end of 2019. There's an obvious reason for this. Millions of people like me are stuck inside looking to entertain themselves and mobile games are fun. On the first day of the holiday, Tencent's Honor of Kings raked in 2 billion yuan through in-app purchases of weapons and other digital goods, its highest grossing day ever, Sinolink Securities analyst Pei Pei estimated. And right before the holiday wrapped up, PC gaming platform Steam hosted a record 18.8 million people playing at the same time, according to Steam Database. But why Plague Inc., specifically? The game mimics the spread of an epidemic. Players must optimize their chosen digital disease to kill as many people as possible. You can tweak your virus to make it more resilient, spread fake news about it or discredit scientists searching for a cure. "Real life is always the best drama," one Plague player wrote on Chinese microblogging site Weibo. Plague Inc.'s revived popularity spurred its developer to issue a statement reminding players that the game is not an accurate scientific model of how real viruses behave. Although, public health officials have praised it before. And the game's developer noted that a surge in players often correlates with outbreaks as people seek to understand how diseases spread. Even my mom got hooked -- but on a quiz game in the shopping app Pinduoduo, rather than Plague Inc. She logs on religiously every day now to earn drops of virtual water to grow her virtual plants. In return, Pinduoduo will send her free real potatoes and peaches once in a while. The way she sees it, at least this game leads to something tangible. —Zheping Huang, with Vlad Savov | 
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