Players for some SOE games can buy a cherry blossom through an in-game marketplace designed to raise awareness for the tragedy. SOE will donate $10 for each cherry blossom purchased between March 25 and March 28 to the American Red Cross to help the relief effort. In addition to the cherry bossoms, alternative items will be available in Magic: The Gathering-Tactics, Star Wars Galaxies and PoxNora. More information about the program can be found here.
SOE's is the latest relief effort by Sony Corp., which has donated $3.6 million to relief efforts in its native country so far. Meanwhile, the idea of melding social media and charity has proved to be effective in raising funds after various tragedies in recent years. Last year's earthquake in Haiti, for instance, prompted the Red Cross to experiment with a text-to-donate initiative, something the organization has repeated this year for Japan. Meanwhile, PayPal, Jiwire, Tumblr and others have offered other alternative ways to give to Japan victims this year. Zynga, maker of FarmVille and other Facebook-based games, has also offered ways for consumers to donate to the crisis by purchasing virtual goods in its games.