Katrina: Help Flowing From 3D Worlds

The BBC News has an article about how donations are being gathered by residents of online worlds, namely There and Second Life:

Virtual worlds Second Life and There are using their community and technology to let players donate funds from within the games.

In Second Life, a virtual memorial has been created, where residents have been donating and placing virtual candles.

The companies behind There have also pledged to match gamers’ contributions.

“In support of these Community efforts and in response to this disaster, Makena Technologies, together with The Maya Foundation, will match the Community’s contribution up to $50,000,” a statement on the website read.

The contribution system in Second Life, notably, allows people to turn game money into real dollars, making the process even more efficient.

In these troubled times, after days of media coverage and seeing the efforts but also the awful things happening in the wake of the hurricane, it’s good to see that even in something as abstract as a “video game”, people also contribute to the much needed help.