Applause, please, for Crazy Joe. The clever guy set up a way for players of the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game Ultima Online to donate in-game currency to benefit victims of the Asian Tsunami by offering to give all proceeds from eBay currency auctions to the Red Cross. He started it all off by giving $3K of his own cash to the treasure chest. That's pretty sweet.
Essentially, Joe has asked players to give him their platinum pieces, which he holds in a special account. Like other virtual traders, he then puts the currency on auction via eBay, and the winners get the goodies, while Joe gives the cash to the International Response Fund. This isn't the first in-game charitable action (according to Terra Nova), but it's a recognisable act of kindness.
However, eBay have turned Scrooge and have removed all of Joe's in-game currency auctions from their site, claiming they have strict policies regarding charitable fundraising activities. I expect they also have policies regarding not irking certain game publishers too.
Bah humbug.
