WoW players have been known to spend quite a bit time donating to charity. Salahdin of Underscore on Lothar has come up with a unique way to encourage that public service. Though he doesn't outright say he's suffering from pre-expansion burnout, Salahdin does say that he doesn't play like he used to. And, he's got extra gold sitting around.

With that in mind, Salahdin found a unique thing to do with it. He challenges folks to get a picture of themselves doing charitable service to others. If you can't get a picture, write a 100 word essay about what you did. Post it to the forum, and he'll reward you 100 gold in game. His premise is that instead of grinding gold for an hour, he's paying you to do something good for the world.

It's a dang impressive idea, and I wish I had the extra cash around to do it myself. While the cynic in me worries that this might not be for real, the starry-eyed optimist is grateful to see a little goodness from this little corner of the world. I hope he gets a lot of people taking him up on his offer.

[Thanks, Abdul!]

Apparently it's natural disaster season in Asia. The massive cyclone that hit Burma () on May 3 has taken an estimated 78,000 lives with an additional 56,000 missing. Last week (May 12) an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale shook parts of china. The death toll for that quake has reached 34,000 with the body count expected to rise. Many of the quake victims have been children, as least 6 schools collapsed while classes were in session. It will take weeks, months, or even years to sort out the amount of damage caused by these events.

The Chinese government has declared a mourning period for three days for those injured, missing, and passed. This includes the closing of movie theaters, web portals and television stations. The9, who services World of Warcraft in is participating in the blackout as is Shanda Interactive Entertainment, host of the World of Legend game.

If you are helping out, there are a number of charitable organizations taking donations to assist in providing relief to victims in Asia. Studies show that making donations to such organizations actually help to boost your own mood in addition to helping those who are in need.

If you haven't heard of the fabulous raffle being hosted by the folks at the Bronze Kettle, then you must have been living in a box. A box where you hadn't heard that the donations count has reached $12,654.00! That is definitely cause for celebration; and celebrate we shall!

To be fair, one person donated $10,000, but as Shelbi points out, even if this hurts your chances to win one of their many prizes, the tickets are still for charity. In fact, 100% of the money raised will be heading straight to Child's Play.

If you haven't purchased your tickets yet, or you have a few extra bucks lying around, head over before it's too late! Currently, the raffle is scheduled to take place at 11:00pm CST today, Friday the 14th of December, at Booty Bay on the US server Dark Iron. Not only will you get the chance to participate in the server event, possibly hosted on vent, but the entire shebang will be liveblogged over at the Kettle. Although you don't need to attend the event to win, it's looking like it's going to be a blast. Just look for Shelbi and Jon on Aereyan and Kaelwryn.

Raffle entries will be closing as of 8:00pm CST, and although you can still donate after that point, you will not earn a ticket toward a prize. Make the jump for a complete listing of prizes, and remember; each $1 donated earns you one ticket, and one chance at one of twenty fabulous prizes.

Yesterday, Jon and Shelbi at The Bronze Kettle announced that they had added several more prizes to the list for the charity raffle they are sponsoring for Child's Play.

In addition to the already mentioned list of prizes, The Bronze Kettle revealed that Blizzard and FigurePrints have donated a custom FigurePrints action figure of your in-game World of Warcraft character to add to the raffle as the Grand Prize.

These figures have, to date, only been available either with the purchase of a Dell XPS M1730 laptop valued at around $4500, or by winning a place in the random drawing that FigurePrints will be holding on December 21st. This could be your chance to win one of these extremely exclusive figures, a full week before they go on sale to those lucky enough to win a place in the first official drawing.

You can read more about FigurePrints and their custom World of Warcraft action figures of your in-game character in this WoW Insider interview with Ed Fries, the founder of FigurePrints.

It's the season of giving, and the good folks at the Bronze Kettle have been auctioning their services for Child's Play, a gamers' charity that funds pediatric research and donates toys and games to hospitals. I am pleased to announce that the grand total of their efforts is a whopping $651 donated!

Unfortunately, they are no longer holding auctions. Instead, they have decided to broaden their efforts so more people can participate and win, without having to have a couple hundred dollars to contribute.

You will not only have the chance to win some amazing prizes, but you will also be invited to an in-game event hosted by Jon and Shelbi. As always, 100% of the donations will go directly to the charity. If you admired the prizes being auctioned, then make the jump for the full scoop!

If you're looking to cross a few names off of your gift-giving list this season, then consider an MMO-themed calendar published by MMO Portal. It's the perfect gift for any gamer, young and old; and hey, we can scribble our raid schedules on it!

MMO Calendar is a non-profit annual fund-raiser, with 100% of the proceeds going to support the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The calendar was put together in collaboration with game developers, and includes original artwork from some great MMOs, including World of Warcraft.

If a spiffy calendar and support for a wonderful charity weren't enough, each purchaser will be entered to win one of ten prizes for each MMO, totaling 130 possible prizes. In addition to potentially snagging one month of free WoW, you could also win free playtime for some other MMOs, a copy of Guild Wars: Platinum, or one of three beta keys.

Unfortunately, the calendars will only be on sale through November 25th 27th, which doesn't leave much time. Domestic and international orders are welcome. We will all need new calendars for the new year anyway; why not support the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital this holiday season!