Game designer and confirmed eccentric Richard Garriott -- aka Lord British -- has officially launched Operation Immortality. Aimed to re-propagate the human race in the event of "alien invasions, errant asteroids or genetic engineering projects gone awry," Mr. Garriott is asking for the DNA samples of several lucky gamers to be collected and shot off into space to serve as a genetic archive for the ages.

Included in the Operation Immortality sign-up package? Cotton swabs and a contract.

While the thought of mankind being replenished by a collection of gamer DNA is scary in itself, the release form and Right of Publicity agreements required to participate in Operation Immortality are equally chilling -- just take a look at the scanned PDF.

Nevertheless, we admire the altruistic work of Mr. Garriott and the Tabula Rasa team at NCSoft for putting this endeavor together. At this point we can only wish that one day, perhaps thousands of years from now, the cloned gamer souls of the future will look down upon our charred, long-dead remains on planet Earth and laugh at us for not having better foresight.