PLEX For GOOD - COVID-19
Dear EVE Online community,
This month marked my 20th anniversary working for CCP. Over the past two decades I have watched our community grow from strength to strength. From starting meta gaming on the EVE Forums before the game was even out, to the world record fleet fights, the prowess of the community around EVE Online is well known to the world. Behind all that are some of the kindest, most helpful groups of people I have ever known. This was clear to see when in 2005 we reached out and asked EVE players to help in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami that hit on Boxing Day, 2004. Back then, the community around EVE was small and tightly knit, and they gave big. Since then, PLEX for GOOD has raised over $500,000 to help with good causes all around the world.
- 2005 - $25,326 – South East Asia (tsunami)
- 2010 - $34,350 – Haiti (earthquake)
- 2010 - $38,900 – Pakistan (monsoon)
- 2011 - $44,600 – Japan (earthquake and tsunami)
- 2011 - $32,900 – United States (Hurricane Irene)
- 2013 - $190,890 – Philippines (Typhoon Haiyan)
- 2015 - $103,650 – Nepal (earthquake)
- 2020 - $107,454 - Australia (bushfires)
We now face an unprecedented global challenge for all humankind, and given the global nature of EVE and the solidarity of the EVE community, we are activating PLEX for GOOD again to begin on 3 April 2020 with the aim of raising funds for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
It is time to unite once more and help fight this unprecedented worldwide health challenge. The money raised through this PLEX For GOOD campaign will help the World Health Organization (WHO) to coordinate the global effort, support countries to prevent, detect, and respond to the pandemic. It will also help the WHO to ensure that all countries - especially those with the weakest health systems - are prepared, as well as supporting their work to understand the virus, to ensure frontline workers get essential supplies and information, and to accelerate efforts to develop vaccines, tests, and treatments.
We are seeing a lot of players joining EVE these days; close to 300,000 players logged into EVE for the first time so far this year. We remain committed to improving the entry into the game, and now more than ever the world can benefit from the kind of community and connection we have produced together over the past two decades. Physically distant does not have to mean socially isolated!
While it might not be within everyone’s means right now to support the EVE community’s charity drive through PLEX for GOOD, we can all still do a lot to help support courageous healthcare workers globally. The best current expert advice I have heard - and this is subject to change as the situation develops - is to take no chances. It's important to stay informed about the latest advice to the public from the World Health Organization. Right now, it’s essential for our healthcare workers to have access to - among other things - as many N95 level masks as possible, so that they do not have to face this battle missing any valuable resource from their armory! To help support this message, I’d like to share a concept we have been experimenting with in our character creation system:
On the CCP front, we have been taking care of our employees and doing all we can to slow the spread of COVID-19. As of Monday 15 March, everyone at CCP in the Iceland and UK offices has been working from home. Our Shanghai team started working from home on 10 February and are now actually returning to work at our office under strict health and safety protocol. Everyone is doing well and we remain quite productive, even if we are all feeling the state of the world. So far, no one has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
I wish you all the very best, see you in New Eden.
Regards,
Hilmar
To contribute to this effort, EVE players can contract PLEX in-game to the character CCP PLEX for GOOD. The real-world monetary value of all PLEX collected will be donated by CCP either to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund or the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (CHS) at the conclusion of the campaign on behalf of EVE Online players. Players can specify whether their donation is to be directed to the WHO or Johns Hopkins in the description field when creating the contract.
We are requesting that players respect a minimum donation of 240 PLEX. This will help us process donations as efficiently as possible while also allowing those with only a small amount of PLEX to participate.
IMPORTANT: CCP regards any scamming attempts surrounding PLEX for GOOD to be morally reprehensible, and any attempts at scamming relating to this program will be met with the harshest and swiftest action at our disposal. If you become aware anyone of attempting a scam related to PLEX for GOOD please notify us at support@eveonline.com
