EVE Gamers Raise $45K Online for Japan

The EVE online space science fiction gamers have something to be proud of, moving almost $45,000 to the Red Cross effort in Japan. The donation was executed via a digital fund drive that raised enough virtual funds that its operators were able to convert “pilot licenses” in the game (PLEX) to real funds. This shows the power of gaming and the spirit of the online gaming community. Domainers should take note of the strong community within a single online role play game and consider this when shaping a gaming domain site launch effort.

Wanted: Internet Url Police

As the Haiti relief flowed to the disaster area, scammers were registering exploitative domain names and setting up false charity websites to target well-meaning donaters. The London Daily News featured a story on the opportunistic and fraudulent nature of these scams, but experts wonder if an Internet policing authority might not be appropriate to take down sites before the public gets scammed. When you are one url away from getting fleeced, wouldn’t it be prudent to have set some domain handling controls in place?

Dotgay allies with Cause Org

Dot Gay Alliance unveils a plan to create the .GAY top-level domain that will provide a reliable and ethical source of online funding for LGBT civil rights. Website names and email addresses ending in .GAY  will sponsor a new Internet wave of self-identified LGBT businesses, individuals and organizations and all those who wish to communicate with them.

Ambitious claims:  .GAY will be a community that gives back: A majority of all profits will be returned to the LGBT community to fight for equality in the US and around the world.

Generic web addresses (known as top-level domains) ending in .com, .org, .net, .edu and .gov. will increase when early next year the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) once again starts accepting TLD applications. These top level domains for new web addresses from cities, companies, organizations and entrepreneurial ventures that want to create and support for business and civic causes.

“The LGBT community has always supported itself and its causes – no one was there to help us,” Dolce said. “We’ve made amazing progress in the 40 years since Stonewall. Now in the digital era a .GAY top-level domain is a logical evolution in our history of self sustenance”.

The Dot Gay Alliance is led by Founder & Executive Director Joe Dolce, whose media strategy firm, DolceGoldin, provides communications services for the Alliance. The Dotgay ICANN application has yet to be approved.

The technical infrastructure is provided by Minds + Machines, the international Internet consulting group that is working with a number of new top-level domain efforts, including .NYC www .dotnyc .net with former New York City mayor Ed Koch, and .ECO .supportdoteco .com with the Sierra Club and Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection.