EVE Online Players Making Donations For Storm Victims

Following its fundraising campaign for Japanese aid, CCP Games has launched a PLEX for Good donation program in EVE Online for victims of last week's tornado outbreak in the United States. In late April, a series of violent storms and tornadoes devastated the Southern, Midwestern, and Eastern U.S., leaving at least 339 dead. In Alabama alone, the worst his of the states, 249 deaths have been reported so far. From today until May 16, CCP is accepting PLEX (Pilot License Extension items redeemable for a month subscription and traded as in-game currency) donations in EVE Online, which will be converted into cash and donated to the Red Cross. Though the online MMO is known for its heists and shady dealings, CCP warns players that it considers "any scamming attempts surrounding this effort to be morally reprehensible," and promises to meet those attempts "with swiftest action." The Icelandic firm (North American headquarters in Atlanta) has run similar PLEX for Good campaigns in the past, raising money for those affected by March's earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan, and July 2010's catastrophic flooding in Pakistan. EVE Online players have so far donated $107,000 through PLEX for Good campaigns so far (over $44,000 of that going to Japanese aid). and nearly $155,000 to charity since 2004.