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Redditor finds StarCraft source code in eBay box, returns to Blizzard, gets trip to BlizzCon

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In a fun story of fans and publishers doing right by each other, a humble denizen of the Internet made a lucky discovery, returned it to its rightful owner, and was justly and lavishly rewarded.

If you’re sitting on any gold master discs for these classic PC games, best send them on. You might get a nice plushie.

Rummaging through “a box of Blizzard stuff” he purchased off eBay, “that appeared to be from a storage unit”, Reddit user Khemist49 made a startling discovery: a disc claiming to be the Gold Master source code for the original StarCraft. Unsure what to do with it, he did what anyone would do and posted on Reddit. He was soon inundated with suggestions.

Some asked him to rip its contents and post them online in an ISO image (and later accused him of being “scummy” for not doing so), while others suggested he hand them to an archival group for preservation.

After a few days of agonising over the decision, Khemist49 says he spoke with Blizzard, who told him “the disc was in fact missing and believed to have been stolen.” After promising to return it, Blizzard said he would be rewarded, and sure enough, he was given a copy of Overwatch (Origins edition) and $250 credit on the Blizzard store. Cool.

But in another post just yesterday, Khemist49 elatedly reports that Blizzard are flying him out to BlizzCon, all expenses paid, and will take him out for drinks of an evening (besides sending him a ton of branded peripherals and assorted tat).

Blizzard confirmed the story to Kotaku, saying they “wanted to show an appropriate level of appreciation to the player for doing the right thing”.