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  2. Blizzard Charity Auction Benefitting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital® Coming Soon

Blizzard Charity Auction Benefitting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital® Coming Soon

by Blizzard Entertainment Oct 13, 2011 9:56 AM PDT
191
Blizzard Charity Auction Benefitting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital® Coming Soon

Want to own a piece of Blizzard Entertainment history? After a series of World of Warcraft infrastructure upgrades, we’ve preserved the retired HP server blades that once hosted many realms in our archives. In the near future a selection of these blades will be made available for auction, and the net proceeds will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

To find out more details and the auction schedule of available realm blades, please visit our information page. To be reminded via email when bidding starts, visit the Blizzard eBay page and select the realm or realms you are most interested in.

FAQ

Q: What is this World of Warcraft HP server blade auction all about?
A: This charitable effort allows the community to own a piece of Blizzard Entertainment history. After a series of World of Warcraft infrastructure upgrades, we’ve preserved the retired HP BladeSystem p-Class server blades that once hosted many realms in our archives.  These server blades will be made available for auction on eBay , and the net proceeds will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®.

Q: Who is St. Jude Children's Research Hospital?
A: 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.

Q: How much of my money goes to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital?
A: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will receive 100% of the winning bid on this auction less $50 for the actual costs for creation of packaging, handling, and insurance, any fee associated with the use of PayPal, and approximately 1% for the eBay listing fee.

Q: Is St. Jude Children's Research Hospital international?
A: Yes,children from all 50 states and from around the world have come through the doors of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital 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.

Every year, approximately 160,000 children around the world have a diagnosis of cancer and St. Jude international partners are seeing a wide range of childhood cancers each year.

The International Outreach Program (IOP) at St. Jude aims to improve the survival rates of children with cancer and other catastrophic illnesses worldwide, through the sharing of knowledge, technology and organizational skills. The IOP transfers the progress achieved in the treatment of childhood cancer in developed countries to those with limited resources.

In addition, through the International Visitors Program (IVP), dozens of healthcare professionals from around the world receive training at St. Jude each year that they can take back to their own communities.

Q: What is a server blade?
A: Each World of Warcraft realm is hosted on HP BladeSystem, which combines server, storage, network, power, and management capabilities into an integrated system.  HP BladeSystem is a flexible, modular system and provides the processing power needed to run the game world.

Q: Please describe this limited edition World of Warcraft server blade.
A: Each blade server comes with a commemorative plaque signed by the World of Warcraft team.

Q: Is the server blade functional?
A: The HP server blade is not functional and contains no World of Warcraft or Blizzard-related data. It's a barebones retired HP server blade, and is intended as a unique collector’s item and not a piece of functioning hardware.

Q: How long does the auction last?
A: There will be a total of four weeks of auctions. Each week will contain a new set of World of Warcraft server blades for the community to bid on. 

Q: Can someone bid on multiple World of Warcraft retired server blades?
A: Yes, there is no limit to how many World of Warcraft server blades someone can bid and win on.

Q: Do I have to pay for shipping?
A: Yes, winning bidders will have to pay for shipping.

Q: When will I receive my World of Warcraft server blade if I win one in the auction?
A: Barring unanticipated circumstances, the expected delivery time for items is 3-4 weeks after final payment is received and acknowledged.

Q: How will my World of Warcraft server blade be shipped?
A:  Your World of Warcraft server blade will ship in a custom-fitted brown box.

Q: What if my World of Warcraft server blade is damaged during shipping?
A: If your World of Warcraft server blade is damaged during shipping, you will need to contact Kompolt customer service for assistance.

Tags: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Charity Auction
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Ramyshamy
Whisperwind
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Ramyshamy
11/30/2012
yea this seems like something for a die hard blizzard fan but its kinda pointless but i like wat the moneys going to
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Jamisha
Maiev
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Jamisha
11/19/2012
haters gunna hate
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Thumperz
Kil'jaeden
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Thumperz
11/16/2012
Blizzard does it again they turned a turd into a polished turd and sold it for way more than it was worth. the fact that they are using some of the profit to cover the overhead in the donation is simply smart. If you friend asks you to help move you say sure but you're buying the pizza. They are going to get tons of cash for these blades that frankly would have been ewasted and sent to china to be refurbed and host susanexpress gold farmers web storefront so Ty blizz for yet again doing something great with leftovers.
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Cahsteel
Deathwing
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Cahsteel
11/16/2012
@Thumperz: If people want to spend their own money, why do you care?
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Maneri
Ysera
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Maneri
11/9/2012
This is awesome and realy nice for Blizz to do this :)
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Slakter
Dark Iron
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Slakter
7/23/2012
lol looking at the dates i am very delayed hahaha
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Zornfein
Nemesis
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Zornfein
11/13/2012
@Slakter: lolz same
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Slakter
Dark Iron
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Slakter
7/23/2012
when do austions begin and is there a blade for dark iron
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Neroesh
Vek'nilash
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Neroesh
12/12/2011
with the right tools someone could get one of these blades running again i know im gunna be trying to win one just so i can figure out how to make it work again and to say i own a piece of blizz history
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Gnomorefire
Windrunner
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Gnomorefire
11/13/2012
@Neroesh: No blizzard data, It's not a simple case of "get blade restore it" but rather "get thing blizzard had put in the trash and decided to sell instead for charity"
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Rebeccablack
Silver Hand
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Rebeccablack
11/8/2011
We have a blade center in our banking offices that the IT just HAD to have....needless to say, they don't work worth a damn, or our IT dept. just has no clue what they are doing. Haven't had a solid running work day since they switched to these things......that was 2 years ago....off topic, but the word "blade" just ruins my day!
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Kadiiee
Fenris
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Kadiiee
11/5/2011
This is really amazing! :o)
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Snipy
Eonar
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Snipy
11/3/2011
i need one
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Birf
Aman'Thul
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Birf
10/27/2011
Lol wonder if my server is up there
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Arilith
Argent Dawn
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Arilith
10/25/2011
Where are the US Argent Dawn blades? :(
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Xyrg
Shandris
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Xyrg
10/24/2011
Does anyone who knows anything about these HP blades have an idea of how tough it would be to *make* them functional again?
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Gnomorefire
Windrunner
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Gnomorefire
11/13/2012
@Xyrg: You would need a team from blizzard with all the original files and about 10 grand to actually fix the scratches they put in it to make it working again, Good luck
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Rane
Feathermoon
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Rane
10/18/2011
I know I'm not going to be able get a blade but this is a cool idea. I could see the IT company I work with or another great group that has a lot of WoW fans buying one. Its a great charity and a cool piece of gaming history.
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Obsidianoth
Kael'thas
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Obsidianoth
10/18/2011
guys, aside from the obvious fact that they are not about to release all of their codes or possible "personal information" of their customers on the blades.. look at the picture.. they will have a plaque mounted on it with the information about what battlegroup was on it, it will be signed (it appears by dev's) and have a large plastic piece over the main curcuit board that has the W.O.W. logo on it. their not sending you a new out of the box blade. lol.. they even say in the notes " After a series of World of Warcraft infrastructure upgrades, we’ve preserved the retired HP BladeSystem p-Class server blades that once hosted many realms in our archives.". they are not just "poping it out" of a server to send to you. I appreciate the humor, but some of these posts sound like people are really thinking blizz is gonna send you something you could "get running". lol.
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Martag
Greymane
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Martag
10/17/2011
So these is are completely "non-functional" ? Can you describe how they're not working? I don't care for the internal Blizzard server-software, but if these blades can be "renewed" for entrepreneurial-like adventuring, then, (besides feeling great about donating to charity), this auction would be so much more awesome. =p
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Cthuhlu
Archimonde
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Cthuhlu
10/17/2011
imo i think that Blizz should match the price that these servers go for
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Giglespawn
Argent Dawn
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Giglespawn
10/17/2011
Why do I get the feeling each blade will climb up to astonishing prices?
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Sintor
Mal'Ganis
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Sintor
10/17/2011
@Giglespawn: I'm predicting the average server will probably go for 500-1000, some lower pop realms probably significantly cheaper, higher pop realms could have bidding wars. Will be interesting for sure.
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Keyete
Kael'thas
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Keyete
10/16/2011
Just one more reason to love World of Warcraft.
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Incanto
Detheroc
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Incanto
10/16/2011
Q: When will I receive my World of Warcraft server blade if I win one in the auction?

A: Barring unanticipated circumstances, the expected delivery time for items is 3-4 weeks after final payment is received and acknowledged.

AKA Working as intended! :)
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Hellgraizer
Undermine
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Hellgraizer
10/16/2011
@Incanto:
You will receive it in the mail "Soon".
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Kalous
Ner'zhul
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Kalous
10/16/2011
I love you BLIZZARD!
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Mugglës
Alleria
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Mugglës
10/16/2011
Blizzard should do this a little more often. I'm glad they're doing this and also with what they did for the Japan Tsunami victims.
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Diaddva
Stormreaver
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Diaddva
10/16/2011
Every servers blade will get auction except moonguard.
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Chelk
Tichondrius
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Chelk
10/16/2011
Omg, I seriously cant wait for a guy to buy this and get it up and running, Unless blizz put a C&D on it and f**ked it all up, Well then blizzard, Good job.
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Obsidianoth
Kael'thas
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Obsidianoth
10/16/2011
Very funny to read some of the posts. I am sure the blade will be wiped clean. you are not buying YOUR REALM. you are donating money to a GREAT cause, and in turn getting a piece of nestalgia that once housed your favorite realm. its about the fact you once played on that blade, NOT that you might be able to get it functional. lol. you can go buy a blade if you just WANT THE BLADE. its all about holding a piece of WoW history and knowing you helped children that are deserving of the help.

Lets try to not bash blizzard for doing something to help.

I /praise them for the thought. they did not have to do ANYTHING to help this worth charity
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Sithelues
Garrosh
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Sithelues
10/16/2011
Cool
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Larter
Argent Dawn
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Larter
10/16/2011
I'd love to have the blade for my server but, like most, I'm sure the prices are rapidly going to move out of my price range. This is still going to be fun to watch and I'm glad that the WoW community will have a chance to help a great cause.
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Laurasha
Eitrigg
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Laurasha
10/15/2011
That's a pretty cool item to be auctioning off. Wish I had the money to make a realistic bid. Will be nice to watch and see how it goes.
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Dunarth
Garona
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Dunarth
10/15/2011
More things like this should be done more often. Pets, mounts, etc. The community will obviously support it.
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Hydrax
Gnomeregan
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Hydrax
10/15/2011
I think this is really cool, although I'd imagine the price is going to soar out of what I could afford to pay, so I'll just be watching from the sidelines.

It would be even more awesome if there was a cheap blade host we could buy somewhere and actually use the hardware, I think it would be even more awesome not only to own my old server, but to use it as a firewall with m0n0wall or make it into my media server.

Would be a cool story to tell people.
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Brahmasdruid
Dark Iron
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Brahmasdruid
10/15/2011
I /applaud you Blizzard for donating to such a good charity but seriously... $50 we pay for on top of w/e the top bid will be? You have millions of subscribers on an average $15/month subscription something tells me you can afford to eat that cost to be truly noble.
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Reportthis
Skywall
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Reportthis
12/2/2012
@Brahmasdruid: I thought the same thing.
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Reddeath
Garrosh
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Reddeath
10/14/2011
St. Jude is an excellent charity! I give to them whenever I have extra money.
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Driggs
Nazgrel
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Driggs
10/14/2011
How cool would it be if blizz sold us real realms that we can customize ourselves and make them public and give blizz the monthly fee. It would be cool to learn computer designing and stuff by yourself to see if you really want to go with that as your future career.
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