World of Warcraft Servers Auctioned for $330,000

Like any hardware, World of Warcraft's servers are inevitably retired and replaced. Generally it's just chucked. But Blizzard decided to do something special with its retired hardware.

Instead of throwing it out or recycling it, they chose to auction the blades of its servers off for charity. Each blade came with a commemorative plaque signed by the Blizzard team. The hardware had no information about the game or any other kind of data: it's simply a piece of MMO history.

The auctions were run as an ongoing series on eBay, allowing fans to bid. The auction was so popular and successful it took Blizzard a little while to run the numbers and come up with a final total: $330,000

Blizzard didn't keep the money for itself. That was instead donated to St. Jude Children's Hospital. In Blizzard's words:

"St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, is one of the world's premier centers for the research and treatment of pediatric cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases. Families never pay St. Jude for treatment and St. Jude covers the cost of food, travel and lodging for patients and a family member.

St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute.

Children from all 50 states and from around the world have come through the doors of St. Jude for treatment, and thousands more around the world have benefited from the research conducted at St. Jude — research that is shared freely with the global medical community."

It's always great when gamers band together and pitch in for the community, and $330,000 will go a long way towards some sick child getting help.