Many gamers after completing the campaign of the PS3 game Last of Us had an emotional response to the amazing journey they had endured playing though the game. The Last of Us had a very emotional campaign especially in the terms of how the story ended. I, on the other hand, had a different thought after I completed the campaign, which was, "Could our society breakdown in a similar fashion such as depicted in the TLOU?"
I first decided I needed to analyze what is actually happening in both the public and private sphere of the world created in TLOU. Publicly in terms of the U.S. government and society, Marshall Law has been initiated in the US. Not much from what I can tell is mentioned about what was going on in the rest world and how the countries and their governments reacted to the virus. So, I will mostly focus on US society as depicted in the game. TLOU depicts the remains of the US government as localized to city safe havens where city/government officials monitor people and all their ways of life. So, what seems to be stressed by the game is that many civil liberties in the US have been suppressed for the betterment and safety of society. The main restrictions of civil liberties on citizens seems to be no one is allowed outside the city safe zone and food, medicine, and other supplies are rationed since resources seem to be very limited. The main grievance brought up by the US citizens in the game is that the city authorities give little grace to anyone in violation of any rules or thought to be affected by the virus.
Now, the question remains would a similar scenario happen if a crippling virus broke out around the world? I definitely think aspects of what happened in TLOU could happen in the world, but I think the government would more overtly try to find a cure and take care of its citizens. I am assuming a lot when I make that statement, in that I am not sure how many people, especially key leaders, government officials and infrastructure were plagued by the virus when it first broke out. If this number is high in the beginning of the outbreak than I think you would definitely have something close to what is depicted in TLOU.
And, the number people affected also depends on how widespread the virus was geographically when it first appeared. If it is like World War Z (the movie not the book), where the virus occurs in nature then the virus could have occurred anywhere on the world and did not need a patient zero. I would tend to believe in this notion that the virus didn't originate from a patient zero but occurred naturally and hence why so widespread in the game world. Otherwise, it would be hard for me to believe they couldn't contain the virus. It also has to be very widespread to be escalated to where many communication networks, governments, and religious and non-profit aid organizations were not able to help or organize and deploy help. If these things are not true its hard for me to believe society would deteriorate so quickly in its ability to care and hold looters at bay.
And, for the virus to be that widespread and crippling to the U.S. infrastructure it would seem the spores, or however the virus originally dispersed, would need to be more widespread than depicted currently in the video game. Joel and Ellie can navigate outside reasonably well for something that took out so many people initially (I am assuming). But, maybe the virus potency diminished or I am missing something and/or that's part of the mystery to the game. Either way I still think that that's the key to understanding the question if this could occur in our society by how widespread the virus was originally and how much infrastructure and how many people the virus took out. That is why I think, until I know more information, only parts of what the virus did to society in TLOU could happen in real life.
But, what are your thoughts? I am sure I missed something.