The Angry One wrote...
I think the auction itself is a novel idea, but it's implemented all wrong.
They shouldn't have this idiotic link spammage, or Twitter stuff. Instead find ways to reward forum and community participation (on top of game registering).
You guys are missing the point. Yes they are rewarding the community (as well as people that don't even care about bioware) but that's NOT their goal.
This is a form of advertising. They give out free stuff, which is valued at 60K (but the real cost to them is much lower, probably more like 20K). And they get a TON TON TON TON TON of word-of-mouth style advertising.