The famed game developer Richard Garriott (creator of the Ultima series and known as “Lord British” in the game) was selling his blood on eBay. And oddly, the online auction company isn’t fond of allowing their users to sell their own blood–who would have thought? Pro tip: Don’t sell blood on eBay. But really, it’s not as strange as it sounds. Garriott had his blood drawn on a live stream (via Kotaku) which was then placed in six reliquaries made by artist Steve Burdniak to promote his upcoming RPG, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues. Okay, maybe it’s still weird.
If you’re prepared to check it out, skip ahead to the 19 minute mark in the video above.
The final product is actually a pretty sweet display piece–if you can get over the fact that there’s real blood in there. But yeah, you obviously can’t get this on eBay anymore. If you really want one, though, the reliquaries are up for sale on Portalarium’s Make a Difference store. Some of the proceeds will go to charity. At the moment only two are still available, and are going as high as $11,000. Pricey, for sure, but at least a portion of it does benefit a good cause.
This is definitely an interesting way of promoting your game. If anything, it has people talking, so good on Garriott and Portalarium.
What do you think about the route Portalarium took to promote Shroud of the Avatar? Does this get you more interested in the upcoming RPG? Would you spend that much money on a famous developer’s blood in a reliquary (I know, that sounds creepy)? Let us know in the comments below!
Image: Richard Garriott/eBay
