PLEX for GOOD - Japan Earthquake & Tsunami (2011)

PLEX for GOOD - Japan Earthquake & Tsunami (2011)

On 11 March 2011, the magnitude-9.0 Tōhoku earthquake struck off the coast of Japan's Miyagi prefecture. The resulting tsunami devastated coastal communities across north-eastern Honshū, killed roughly 19,500 people, and triggered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster - the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Millions were displaced.

CCP launched a PLEX for Good drive almost immediately. Announced for a start date of 14 March 2011 and running through 31 March 2011 (23:59 UTC), the drive routed donations to the Red Cross for tsunami and earthquake relief. Players donated PLEX via the established in-game contract flow at the PLEX-dollar rate of the time; CCP converted the proceeds 1:1 into a cash donation.

The drive raised $44,607.50 - close to the 2010 Haiti drive's $49,401 and noticeably above the 2010 Pakistan drive's $38,900. At this point in the programme's history (three drives across 13 months from Haiti through Japan, totalling $132,908), PLEX for Good had clearly settled into a routine: a major disaster, a 2-3 week donation window, mid-five-figure result.

That routine would hold until Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 broke the pattern with a $190,890 result - almost the cumulative sum of the three preceding drives in a single campaign.

For EVE-history context: the Japan drive ran in parallel with the lead-up to the Incarna expansion (June 2011) - the divisive "Walking In Stations + NEX store" launch that would precipitate the Summer 2011 player riots and the "Greed Is Good" microtransaction-document leak. The community-goodwill arc of the Japan drive in March stands in stark relief against the player-versus-CCP arc of the same summer.