Game Developer Selling His Own Blood on eBay [UPDATE]

[UPDATE] The blood packages have been removed from eBay. However, you can still buy them at developer Portalarium's own Make a Difference store. As part of this, Portalarium will donate a percentage of the sale price to charity.

People have already purchased three of the reliquaries, shelling out as much as $8,000. At press time, there are only two more available.

It's unclear why the blood was removed from eBay, but as Kotaku notes, it might have something to do with eBay's "Human remains and body parts policy." On the list of prohibited items is blood.

The original story is below.

Famous game developer Richard Garriott, who created the iconic Ultima series and also went to space, is now selling his own blood on eBay.

Garriott had his blood drawn during a livestream yesterday to promote his new RPG, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues. If you're up for it, skip to around 19 minutes to see it happen (via Kotaku UK).

Garriott then handed over his blood to artist Steve Burdniak, who built six reliquaries containing his blood, along with executive producer Starr "Darkstarr" Long's. These are now on sale on eBay for $5,000 each.

"The Lord British Blood Reliquary is a beautiful and unique piece of art made of bakelite, copper, nails, glass, and mirrored glass that can be hung on your wall," reads the item's description.

Its dimensions are 4.75" x 9" x 1." Here is what it looks like:

For $5,000, you get a lot more than blood. Also included is Episode 1 of the game itself, a number of digital items including a /bloodrain emote (see the full list here), as well as the opportunity to visit the Portalarium offices in Austin, Texas (travel costs not included).

Go to eBay to learn more about this.

Shroud of the Avatar was revealed in March 2013. Garriott and his team successfully funded the game on Kickstarter, while the developer continues to accept pledges on its website.