$33,000 EVE online ship sale, highest ever, to benefit Australian wildfire relief

Clocking in at nearly $33,000 dollars worth of internet spaceship, a rare Gold Magnate has sold for 1,001,001 PLEX in EVE Online. Space and science YouTube star Scott Manley made the winning bid, winning an auction from ship owner Kelon Darklight—that’s an in-game name—to benefit Australian wildfire relief via CCP Games’ Plex for Good campaign. PLEX is a currency used as game time in EVE, and purchasing that 1 million PLEX directly from CCP Games would cost you roughly $32,500. The Gold Magnate is one of the rarest ships in EVE Online, arguably the game’s most powerful Frigate. The Gold Magnate has only even been available as a tournament prize, and then only a handful of times throughout EVE’s history. Most of the Gold Magnates have been destroyed in combat or lost to player pirates since their distribution. 

For in-game reference, the 1 million PLEX is 170 years of game time. It's worth about 3.3 trillion ISK, the primary EVE currency. A new player begins with a ship worth about 5 million ISK at most, which translates to about $0.05.

This is just the latest in a series of recent campaigns by games companies and gamers to support relief of the extensive bushfires in Australia. Humble Bundle has a special package to benefit animal rescues. Destiny developer Bungie has a charity t-shirt. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has an Outback Pack. Finally, Universim developer Crytivo is donating profits to support Australia. If you know of other gamer-focused relief efforts—or other generally worthy causes—please post them in the comments.