Community

Gamers rally for Katrina support

"Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) is rallying support for those caught up in the disaster via its massive community of players"

The gaming community tends to get a lot of negative press - addiction to gaming, gaming leading to violence, etc. But this story shows the other side of gamers - one that we're aware of but the general public are perhaps not.

Sony (who run Everquest and Star Wars Galaxies (that I play) and other similar games) have appealed for support via the community message boards. The SOE Director of Community Relations wrote the following:

Hurricane Katrina has left an incredible wake of destruction across the Gulf Coast States. Sony Online Entertainment would like to ask you to take a moment to make a donation to the American Red Cross in order to help alleviate some of the suffering.

Additionally, for our 13,000+ players actually in the affected areas, we will be suspending billing until such time as they are able to play again. In addition, any items or structures in any of our games, which decay over time, will be preserved until the user’s next login.

Thank you in advance for your support and generosity.
The SOE Family

The online gaming community is made up of people from all walks of life (not just spotty teenage males) and I know that many gamers will respond to this plea.

Although clearly SOE is there to make money, the gesture to suspend billing for those in the affected areas demonstrates that there is a unique relationship between supplier and consumer in the gaming industry. Obviously, their gaming account is no where on the priority list of those gamers affected but it is a small financial gesture that I'm sure will be appreciated when life returns to normal.

Even more so, the decision to ensure that property and possessions will not decay until gamers can access their account again will be most welcome. For those non-gamers, the importance of this may not be readily apparent. For many MMORPGs (massively multi-player online role play games) there is the ability to work, complete tasks or sell objects to make money. That money can then be spent on building houses and buying vehicles, clothes, weapons, artwork, etc. Like the real world, properties have to be maintained and possessions wear out.

Whilst the majorty of gamers are very capable of distinguishing between the real and the virtual, their online character becomes very important to them and many hours are spent developing their character. It seems appropriate that the affected gamers should not suffer any more losses due to the hurricane.

Well done SOE.