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For so many of us, I reckon EVE Online remains a distant curiosity: “oh it’s the space spreadsheet game where cold-blooded operators are always Enron-ing each other.” And you know what? God bless the corporate samurai of EVE Online, it’ll never not rule when they pull off another Heist of the Century (opens in new tab) amidst a supernova (opens in new tab) or alien invasion (opens in new tab).
First reported by Massively Overpowered (opens in new tab), EVE developer CCP is giving its boardroom sharks of the far future another opportunity to prove they really do care though, reactivating its PLEX for Good (opens in new tab) initiative. For those not in the know, PLEX (short for “Pilot’s License Extension”) is one of EVE’s two in-game currencies. PLEX is the premium option, purchasable with real-world money or EVE’s other currency, ISK. PLEX can also be traded as an in-game commodity, and is a key building block in EVE’s famously intricate and reactive virtual economy.
CCP has been running PLEX for Good on-and-off for almost 18 years now, activating the initiative and raising money for victims of humanitarian crises like the 2010 Haitian earthquake, the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and most recently the war in Ukraine. Since 2005, PLEX for Good has raised over $1.2 million.
EVE Online players can take PLEX out of their vault and contract it to a special in-game NPC (opens in new tab), with CCP tallying up the proceeds and converting it to real life currency at the end of the drive. Funds will go to Doctors Without Borders (opens in new tab) and the Turkish charity Ahbap (opens in new tab), and players have until February 21st to make a contribution. If you’re a PLEX-less pleb like myself, you can donate directly to these organizations at those preceding links.