EVE Online Taking Donations for Pakistan Flood Victims

[Andy Chalk]

EVE Online Taking Donations for Pakistan Flood Victims

CCP is giving EVE Online [http://www.eveonline.com] players the chance to do some good in the the real world by donating PLEX to help out with flood relief in Pakistan.

EVE Online players have a reputation as a vicious lot, best known for the devastatingly creative ways they come up with to swindle, screw and slaughter each other in the vast coldness of space. But they're also capable of acts of great charity, as evidenced by the more than $40,000 donated by players to the victims of the Haiti earthquake earlier this year [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97975-CCP-Organizing-EVE-Online-Relief-Fund-for-Haiti]. And now they're at it again.

Pakistan was devastated by floods caused by extreme monsoon rains that began in late July and resulted in over two thousand deaths and the destruction of more than a million homes. An estimated 21 million people have been left injured or homeless, more than the combined total of people affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

"The situation for those affected by this tragedy continues to be dire, and many of you have expressed the desire to help these innocent victims using PLEX," Associate Community Manager CCP Fallout said in the EVE Insider Dev Blog [http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=794]. "Beginning September 15, 2010 and ending on October 6, 2010, CCP will be accepting PLEX donations for the PLEX for GOOD: Pakistan program. Each donation will be converted into cash currency and donated to the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian and relief organization based in Pakistan that is working towards helping those affected by the flooding."

CCP is famous for its "PLEX for GOOD FAQ at eveonline.com [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103417-45-000-Latest-Haul-in-Eve-Online-Scheme].

via: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/21/eve-online-raising-money-for-pakistan-flood-victims/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Fjoystiq+%28Joystiq%29]


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[oranger]

CCP does this for disasters sometimes.
Its really not something you could see actiblizz doing, is it?

 

[mParadox]

That is so awesome. Thank god some companies have humanity in them.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Here's hoping someone doesn't hijack and blow up the money... >_>;

 

[Jared]

Here's hoping someone doesn't hijack and blow up the money... >_>;

Oh god..the irony if that happened...again!

But, nice to see them putting them to work for a good reason!

 

[ma55ter_fett]

If I played eve I would screw over my corperation and give the proceeds to this cause.

 

[Therumancer]

Speaking entirely for myself I'm none too fond of Pakistan for reasons that should be pretty obvious. I would vastly prefer people raised humanitarian aid for other causes than that one.

Truthfully the only terms I'd offer aid would be something like a "food for nukes" program if the problem is that bad. Basically we help them with humanitarian aid to deal with the crisis, and in return they turn over their nuclear stockpile in it's entirety to be dismantled.

Fat chance I know, but even without the stuff going on with Afghanistan, Iraq, and the entire "War On Terror" the entire world has been watching these guys and India, wondering when someone was finally going to launch. Several efforts have been made to actually start that war, some of which seem to have been pretty narrowly averted.

As odd as it might sound, I do not think humanitarian aid generates the brownie points a lot of people seem to think it does, especially down there, when it's just given away. As "cruel" as it might sound if this incident is that big, it might be a good oppertunity to try and leverage them.

Apologies for those who this offends, and yeah I know how horrible it might be if your one of those millions of homeless, but I think there is a big picture here.

Even when dealing with private donations (like this) right now the global economy (and EVE has an international player base) is not in great shape. There are plenty of causes out there that could use the money, and are just as worthy, if not more so.

Less attention seems to be paid to it nowadays (though it's still mentiond) but I spent enough time worrying about the whole Pakistan/India situation before the whole "War On Terror" where I hardly think running out to their aid is a good idea. Their alliance against The Taliban and Al Queda with "us" has also been a mixed bag. While some of the leaders are willing to deal, those leaders have also had to deal with general population uprisings as a result since the Western World is hardly on their holiday gifts list.

 

[Callex]

Snip

The people suffering from these floods aren't the warmongerers or the corrupt politicians, they're the innocent civilians. The world is in a very dire state if we can't put politics aside to help people in need. It isn't about 'brownie points' or 'leverage', it's about compassion.

Society as we know it wouldn't exist if we all took the 'not my problem' stance.

 

[WelshDanny]

It's nice to see that games are doing some good for the needy. However, I bet the game hating media won't pick up on this.

 

[Therumancer]

Snip

The people suffering from these floods aren't the warmongerers or the corrupt politicians, they're the innocent civilians. The world is in a very dire state if we can't put politics aside to help people in need. It isn't about 'brownie points' or 'leverage', it's about compassion.

Society as we know it wouldn't exist if we all took the 'not my problem' stance.

The differance being that when it comes to cultural wars, there is no real differance between the civilians and the goverment/people actually doing stuff for the most part. The thing to consider with Pakistan is that there have been riots and uprisings when the goverment has actually assisted the US. The thing that allows conflicts like the one we're engaged in is the culture of, and support of, the people themselves.

It's sort of like World War II, the Hollywood version of history would have you believe that the Nazis were a tiny group of people who were oppressing all the innocent German people, and the rest of the world. For the most part all that paranoia, and secret police junk is a whole lot of bunk. That's one of the reasons why it was so bloody in the final days when we moved on Germany, and why we had to contend with things like the Volkssturm and Hitler Youth. We write things to be more morally palatable in the history books (the winners usually do) but people should not confuse that with the reality. We won World War II by basically committing ideaological genocide. We took one of the largest and prolific movements in history, and wiped it out to a tiny fringe. People forget all the fans Hitler had in the US, and throughout Europe, how he was wan international "man of the year" and everything else.

I say this because we never would have won if we hadn't bombed Germany including farms, factories, etc... worse than the London Blitz, and then basically went in to the cities fighting building to building, killing as we went, to dig out and kill the leaders. The civilians of Pakistan are not innocent, misunderstood people, who would love to embrace peacce and friendship with the rest of the world if it wasn't for their horrible leaders. Actually a lot of the time it's been the opposite with the educated elite running the goverment wanting to deal with the Western World, but facing opposition from their masses
of people.

The point of this rant is that humanitarian aid is a wonderful thing, it's good for allies or more or less neutral parties. However propping up a nation like Pakistan in the current climate is a bad idea all around.

What's more there are tons of problems all around the world right now. Many patches of squalor, sickness, and disaster which could benefit from that aid. I'm not saying that humanitarian aid is a bad thing (though to be honest we need to pace ourselves with economic realities), but rather that there are many places we should be helping before nations like Pakistan. Sure, they had a big natural disaster, but their homeless and starving people are fundementally no differant than those in similar state throughout the rest of the world.

Normally I wouldn't say we should use Huminatrian aid for leverage, but then again we're not normally in a situation like this one with the group we're thinking of aiding. Pakistan being something of a "special case" so to speak, with us using their misfortune to deal with the problems they present.

We'll doubtlessly have to agree to disagree, but that's my opinion on things.

 

[Fusionxl]

In case anyone is wondering how the GTC ( Game Time Card ) and PLEX ( Pilot License Extension ) system works:

Meet John, a middle aged British gentleman who works as an accountant in a respectable company. In EVE, John is known as Pawn Noubs, a player with below average wealth, but great ambitions. For quite a while now, John has been keeping an eye on a very shiny new ship that would, without a doubt, help him become the alpha male in Player versus Player combat. The problem is, John cannot afford it. As a full time employee, John is a very busy man and he prefers to spend his time in EVE shooting people in the face, not making money.

Meet Chris, a young college student from the USA. In EVE, Chris is known as JurassicPain, an experienced player with a love for running missions, often referred to as quests in other games. As an unemployed student, Chris has more than plenty of free time. Time, which he would gladly spend playing EVE Online. The problem is, Chris often cannot afford the monthly subscription.

Meet PLEX, an ingame item that adds 30 days to your EVE Online subscription. You can create a PLEX card by buying a GTC from various affiliates of CCP. A GTC can then either be sold to another person on the official forums or converted into two PLEX cards ingame.

John decides to buy a GTC and sells the two PLEX cards to Chris for 700 million ISK. With his newly acquired wealth, John buys an expensive high tech battleship. Chris converts the PLEX cards into subscription time and happily continues his adventures.

A few days later, John's new battleship is blown to bits by a cheap battlecruiser because he didn't outfit his ship properly and flew to low security space with no escort. John is deeply saddened by the loss, but instead of quitting EVE he learns from his mistakes and decides to fly more affordable ships in the future.

John decided to harden the fuck up.