Originally posted by SaintViktor Who hates ? When people do telethons or anything for charity do they keep all the money ? No, 100% go towards the charity they are raising money for. Perfect example is also Haiti. All the money people donated for the cause goes to the people of Haiti but yet some people will spin it as a hete thing towards Blizzard to make it look like it is not greed just because it is Blizzard. Sorry but alot of us out here in the real world do not look through those rose-colored glasses.
As someone who works in the charitable industry I'd say very rarely will 100% of a donation will go toward the mission. That's just a side note though. : )
I'd argue against your characterization of greed. Blizzard didn't have to raise money for Make-A-Wish, they choose to. Many companies will partner with charitable organizations on campaigns. How many times have you seen or heard 'a part of this purchase will go toward x organization'? In my opinion, and it's shared with every charitable organization I've worked with, that such partnerships are a great vehicle for raising donations.
There's no nefarious intent here.
I think the addition of a charitable donation is nice, but I don't see the promotion as compelling enough to be the sole reason of the purchase (i.e. I think people would've bought the item either way). What the promotion amounts to is supporting a cause while receiving a nice benefit.
I'm not going to argue and say it wasn't nice of them to donate some money because it was but the point it that they used charity as an excuse to slip in an item mall into their game. Mark my words, we'll see more than just a pet item shop in Blizzard's future.
I detest the purchase of virtual items within a sub base game. I recently quit World of Warcraft, due to this new trend of selling virtual item, if only they said before hand that they were going to donate the money to make a wish. Then maybe I would have purchased a little panda and not quit the game entirely. I have a new found respect for Blizzard; this is what a video game company is supposed to do. When you’re rolling in money and asking for more what better way to earn outstanding reputation but donate the extra to a needy cause.
They said that half of the proceeds would go to Make a Wish from the beginning. It was even on their launcher
I disabled the launcher back in 2004, but thanks for pointing that out. My main focus was props to Blizzard, they deserve it.
Originally posted by Daffid011 You are overlooking the fact that this was done when blizzard introduced a virtual item cash shop into their mmo.
That is the only reason they did it and you should acknowledge that. It does leave a nasty taste in the mouth, because they are exploiting the goodwill of charity in some attempt to buy acceptance for something that is controversial.
Myself and obviously many others have no issue with the item shop. Specifically, the Pandaran gives me nothing more than a virtual panda that follows me around Azeroth. With that said, I don't find anything wrong with a co-announcement of a new service along with a charitable donation promotion.
Organizations partner with corporations all the time. Whether the partnership is an employee giving program, event sponsorship, or a sales/donation program, both the corporation and the organization benefit.
Again, I don't see the nefarious intent. As to the other example you gave, who knows why the organization pulled away from the opportunity. It could have been that the organization didn't think the venue was a good fit; it happens all the time for various reasons.
What I will say is Make-A-Wish is an organization that values it's reputation. Had they thought Blizzard was acting unethically, I sincerely doubt Make-A-Wish would have followed through with the partnership.
Edit: I'm not empathetic towards the controversy of the item shop, but I don't agree with the characterization (or the severity of) describing Blizzard's intent.
Lets look at facts and only facts.. Blizzard is a business out to make money period. Due to them making money the Make a wish foundation has 1.1 million dollars they wouldn't have otherwise. the reason they did it don't matter. Beyond that people spent $20 on pet cause its $10 for a pet and donate $10 to charity so 2 birds with 1 stone. if u wanna bitch, donate ure $20 directly next time. a lot of players i know bought the pet just because it was to donate for charity....
But the main reason im posting is cause i h8 people that wine about shit that wont really even bother they.... idiots looking to complain for the hell of it.
The bottom line is that if they were really concerned about the charity then they would have given all the profits to Make A Wish. Though it seems they kept a million for themselves too.
<Rolls eyes> It doesn't matter that Make a Wish has 1.1 MILLION now that they other wise wouldn't? Any good PR(or profit) that Blizzard made from this is irrelevant. One might as well say that "If the US really cared about charity, they wouldn't spend 708 billion next year on their military"... ^^
Originally posted by Daffid011 It does leave a nasty taste in the mouth, because they are exploiting the goodwill of charity in some attempt to buy acceptance for something that is controversial.
By giving them $1.1mil, do you even read yourself?
Threads like this still amaze me, even though I guess they shouldn't. It's just human nature to act like this now.
People can be so blind with hate, greed, jealously, or some other emotion to actually think, and not just spew forth things that have no actual reason or meaning.
Blizzard had no real reason to donate half the proceeds to anything. They could have made the pets 10 bucks, and kept the 10 bucks all for themselves. They could have made them each 5 bucks, and sold more, and still donated nothing.
And yeah, blizzard is losing subs left and right, and will shut down by the end of this year according to most people who rage post on this forum, yet still have 11.5 million subs, and BC is about to release in china, IE subs will go up.
Good for blizzard, and it's great to see a company like that do something so good.
It does leave a nasty taste in the mouth, because they are exploiting the goodwill of charity in some attempt to buy acceptance for something that is controversial.
By giving them $1.1mil, do you even read yourself?
Yes and they get publicity and a nice tax write off and still make a profit in the RMT.
Threads like this still amaze me, even though I guess they shouldn't. It's just human nature to act like this now.
People can be so blind with hate, greed, jealously, or some other emotion to actually think, and not just spew forth things that have no actual reason or meaning. Blizzard had no real reason to donate half the proceeds to anything. They could have made the pets 10 bucks, and kept the 10 bucks all for themselves. They could have made them each 5 bucks, and sold more, and still donated nothing. And yeah, blizzard is losing subs left and right, and will shut down by the end of this year according to most people who rage post on this forum, yet still have 11.5 million subs, and BC is about to release in china, IE subs will go up. Good for blizzard, and it's great to see a company like that do something so good.
Agree .
So try talking with these people about gameplay ...
... if they can't even acknowledge the meaning of giving $1.1 mln to children with cancer.
Wait, perhaps in a few minutes/hours someone will come along and tell they lied about the donating stuff.
It is spewing hate all over with always the same faces.
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
It does leave a nasty taste in the mouth, because they are exploiting the goodwill of charity in some attempt to buy acceptance for something that is controversial.
By giving them $1.1mil, do you even read yourself?
No offense, but you are doing exactly what they are counting on. Giving to charity is great, but doing it in an effort to reduce the negative impact of your business decisions doesn't make it a real act of charity.
Originally posted by Daffid011 You are overlooking the fact that this was done when blizzard introduced a virtual item cash shop into their mmo.
That is the only reason they did it and you should acknowledge that. It does leave a nasty taste in the mouth, because they are exploiting the goodwill of charity in some attempt to buy acceptance for something that is controversial.
Myself and obviously many others have no issue with the item shop. Specifically, the Pandaran gives me nothing more than a virtual panda that follows me around Azeroth. With that said, I don't find anything wrong with a co-announcement of a new service along with a charitable donation promotion.
Organizations partner with corporations all the time. Whether the partnership is an employee giving program, event sponsorship, or a sales/donation program, both the corporation and the organization benefit.
Again, I don't see the nefarious intent. As to the other example you gave, who knows why the organization pulled away from the opportunity. It could have been that the organization didn't think the venue was a good fit; it happens all the time for various reasons.
What I will say is Make-A-Wish is an organization that values it's reputation. Had they thought Blizzard was acting unethically, I sincerely doubt Make-A-Wish would have followed through with the partnership.
Edit: I'm not empathetic towards the controversy of the item shop, but I don't agree with the characterization (or the severity of) describing Blizzard's intent.
Yes, you and others have no issues with it... yet. That is why I said controversial, because not everyone agrees with cash shops in subscription games.
The whole giving to charity was nothing more than a smoke screen and I do not for one second think that is worthy of praise. Great that charity got money, but I do not condone those who do with the mentality of "by any means necessary" and for such selfish reasons.
It does leave a nasty taste in the mouth, because they are exploiting the goodwill of charity in some attempt to buy acceptance for something that is controversial.
By giving them $1.1mil, do you even read yourself?
No offense, but you are doing exactly what they are counting on. Giving to charity is great, but doing it in an effort to reduce the negative impact of your business decisions doesn't make it a real act of charity.
See the difference?
You've been practicing your long range telepathy? How do you *know* what Blizzards motivations are? It doesn't matter in the least what motivated them. The fact remains that Make A Wish now has 1.1 Million dollars to use that they didn't have before. If Blizzard gained some good PR and some profit from it, then more power to them.
Originally posted by Daffid011 Yes, you and others have no issues with it... yet. That is why I said controversial, because not everyone agrees with cash shops in subscription games. The whole giving to charity was nothing more than a smoke screen and I do not for one second think that is worthy of praise. Great that charity got money, but I do not condone those who do with the mentality of "by any means necessary" and for such selfish reasons. No sir, that does not warrant praise at all.
Again, I think you're short-changing Make-A-Wish. I've worked with several MAW Chapters and the national org; believe me, they take their reputation quite seriously. I highly doubt Make-A-Wish would've partnered with Blizzard had they any concerns of unethical behavior.
The item shop announcement was an opportunity to partner with a charity and do some good. Would you apply the same cynicism to all the shops that slap St. Jude stickers on their front doors during the Thanks and Giving Campaign? No, I doubt it and you shouldn't.
Another view would be: do you think the promotion did anything to mitigate the FUD on the item shop? Would Blizzard be so concerned about some apocalyptic response that they'd stoop to this type of unethical behavior? Imo, the answer to both is no.
"For every dollar you spend we will donate another dollar"
As opposed to.
"For every dollar you spend we will take half!!´"
it is still a good thing, but it is NOT charity!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Originally posted by Jerek_
I wonder if you honestly even believe what you type, or if you live in a made up world of facts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Daffid011 Yes, you and others have no issues with it... yet. That is why I said controversial, because not everyone agrees with cash shops in subscription games. The whole giving to charity was nothing more than a smoke screen and I do not for one second think that is worthy of praise. Great that charity got money, but I do not condone those who do with the mentality of "by any means necessary" and for such selfish reasons. No sir, that does not warrant praise at all.
Again, I think you're short-changing Make-A-Wish. I've worked with several MAW Chapters and the national org; believe me, they take their reputation quite seriously. I highly doubt Make-A-Wish would've partnered with Blizzard had they any concerns of unethical behavior.
The item shop announcement was an opportunity to partner with a charity and do some good. Would you apply the same cynicism to all the shops that slap St. Jude stickers on their front doors during the Thanks and Giving Campaign? No, I doubt it and you shouldn't.
Another view would be: do you think the promotion did anything to mitigate the FUD on the item shop? Would Blizzard be so concerned about some apocalyptic response that they'd stoop to this type of unethical behavior? Imo, the answer to both is no.
Perhaps I should be a little more clear.
I'm not saying this is a stain on make a wish at all. Nothing wrong on their part what so ever. This is a stain on blizzard and it ends there.
Blizzard could have chosen any number of ways to get involved with a charity. Just for example they could have done it with authenticators and the would have been a benefit to players, blizzard and charity. People would have gotten a free pet out of it to boot.
I think it is pretty clear why mmo companies are attaching charities to the cash shop launches.
Who hates ? When people do telethons or anything for charity do they keep all the money ? No, 100% go towards the charity they are raising money for. Perfect example is also Haiti. All the money people donated for the cause goes to the people of Haiti but yet some people will spin it as a hete thing towards Blizzard to make it look like it is not greed just because it is Blizzard. Sorry but alot of us out here in the real world do not look through those rose-colored glasses.
Telethons are run for the sole purpose of raising money and awareness towards a charity/cause. Blizzard are not holding a telethon...they are a company with shareholders, and as such have to make money by selling their products. They didn't remotely have to donate 50% of their proceeds to charity, yet they chose to.
It's not a matter of looking at the world through rosey glasses, it's a matter of taking off the glasses of doom and gloom and seeing facts for what they are - facts. The comments being flung around here are pathetic as they're no doubt coming from people who rarely, if ever donate to charity themselves, as I said.
Originally posted by Daffid011 Yes, you and others have no issues with it... yet. That is why I said controversial, because not everyone agrees with cash shops in subscription games. The whole giving to charity was nothing more than a smoke screen and I do not for one second think that is worthy of praise. Great that charity got money, but I do not condone those who do with the mentality of "by any means necessary" and for such selfish reasons. No sir, that does not warrant praise at all.
Again, I think you're short-changing Make-A-Wish. I've worked with several MAW Chapters and the national org; believe me, they take their reputation quite seriously. I highly doubt Make-A-Wish would've partnered with Blizzard had they any concerns of unethical behavior.
The item shop announcement was an opportunity to partner with a charity and do some good. Would you apply the same cynicism to all the shops that slap St. Jude stickers on their front doors during the Thanks and Giving Campaign? No, I doubt it and you shouldn't.
Another view would be: do you think the promotion did anything to mitigate the FUD on the item shop? Would Blizzard be so concerned about some apocalyptic response that they'd stoop to this type of unethical behavior? Imo, the answer to both is no.
Perhaps I should be a little more clear.
I'm not saying this is a stain on make a wish at all. Nothing wrong on their part what so ever. This is a stain on blizzard and it ends there.
Blizzard could have chosen any number of ways to get involved with a charity. Just for example they could have done it with authenticators and the would have been a benefit to players, blizzard and charity. People would have gotten a free pet out of it to boot.
I think it is pretty clear why mmo companies are attaching charities to the cash shop launches.
Lets cut the BS right here. This isn't about charity or Make a wish. This is about Blizzard. If any other MMO company (with perhaps the exception of SoE) had done this (CCP, Turbine, Funcom, etc) you wouldn't hear a peep from no one. This site brings out the worst WoW haters, everyone knows that. So it's very convienient to bag on Blizzard for anything they do, even if their intent is good.
The point still stands, they gave over a million dollars to charity, something they did not have to do. They would have made that one million whether it was announced it was going to charity or not. People did not buy the pets for the express reason of the charity. The charity was a bonus. Better yet, this was announced before that half was going to charity. If people had a problem with that, guess what, they wouldn't have bought the damn thing. I've never seen someone give a company grief because it donated over a million dollars to a charity.
Ask yourself this. Do you really believe that all those people who bought the panda would of given to MaW themselves if Blizzard wasn't involved? I don't think so.
Lets cut the BS right here. This isn't about charity or Make a wish. This is about Blizzard. If any other MMO company (with perhaps the exception of SoE) had done this (CCP, Turbine, Funcom, etc) you wouldn't hear a peep from no one. This site brings out the worst WoW haters, everyone knows that. So it's very convienient to bag on Blizzard for anything they do, even if their intent is good.
The point still stands, they gave over a million dollars to charity, something they did not have to do. They would have made that one million whether it was announced it was going to charity or not. People did not buy the pets for the express reason of the charity. The charity was a bonus. Better yet, this was announced before that half was going to charity. If people had a problem with that, guess what, they wouldn't have bought the damn thing. I've never seen someone give a company grief because it donated over a million dollars to a charity.
Ask yourself this. Do you really believe that all those people who bought the panda would of given to MaW themselves if Blizzard wasn't involved? I don't think so.
Perhaps you should check post histories before you run off calling anyone with a criticism a WoW hater. I am sure there are a few people that would get a good laugh at someone calling me a wow hater.
While I do agree there are a lot of haters here (for all games) and you are also correct that there was no mention of this when soe did it, but perhaps that is because soe didn't post their results? I don't know.
My complaint is not about the charity, but about blizzard and their cash shop. When you rip into someone criticizing that blizzard is hiding behind a charity, you are in fact doing what companies hope will happen. You are defending certain actions, because they are being shielded by the goodwill of charity. I chose to look beyond the smokescreen and see the true intentions of the company. They want people to accept cash shops and I find it deplorable that they hide behind charity to do so.
Again, I have no problem with make a wish getting a bucket full of money and I wish they got 100% of the proceeds.
Could we all just get this right? This is not charity, not even by a long shot! Charity would have been if they said: "For every dollar you spend we will donate another dollar" As opposed to. "For every dollar you spend we will take half!!´" it is still a good thing, but it is NOT charity!
DUHHH. So giving money to a charity organisation can be defined as either 'a good thing' (LOL!) or charity, now 'a good thing' is when you only donate a section of your profits, REAL charity is when you donate ALL your profits!
So if you donate 50 bucks from your weekly paycheck, assuming you earn more than $50, that is not considered charity because it doesn't encompass all your earnings (a dollar for every dollar as you stated)?
Perhaps you should check post histories before you run off calling anyone with a criticism a WoW hater. I am sure there are a few people that would get a good laugh at someone calling me a wow hater.
While I do agree there are a lot of haters here (for all games) and you are also correct that there was no mention of this when soe did it, but perhaps that is because soe didn't post their results? I don't know.
My complaint is not about the charity, but about blizzard and their cash shop. When you rip into someone criticizing that blizzard is hiding behind a charity, you are in fact doing what companies hope will happen. You are defending certain actions, because they are being shielded by the goodwill of charity. I chose to look beyond the smokescreen and see the true intentions of the company. They want people to accept cash shops and I find it deplorable that they hide behind charity to do so. Again, I have no problem with make a wish getting a bucket full of money and I wish they got 100% of the proceeds.
Regardless of your personal view, "you don't like cash shops". You have to realize why a charity would want a partnership with Blizzard. To raise awareness, because "out of sight out of mind" is more than just a quote to be used. It's the way humans work, and function.
I'm sure make a wish was tickled that Blizzard had an interest in doing this. They were able to reach a market they might not of otherwise had an ability to. It's in how it's presented that is important for MAW, blizzard obviously did a good job at that. They made plenty to give toward the foundation.
My only concern is that it was temporary, why not always give a portion of those sales to MAW? If that's what they created those two pets for.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Lets cut the BS right here. This isn't about charity or Make a wish. This is about Blizzard. If any other MMO company (with perhaps the exception of SoE) had done this (CCP, Turbine, Funcom, etc) you wouldn't hear a peep from no one. This site brings out the worst WoW haters, everyone knows that. So it's very convienient to bag on Blizzard for anything they do, even if their intent is good.
The point still stands, they gave over a million dollars to charity, something they did not have to do. They would have made that one million whether it was announced it was going to charity or not. People did not buy the pets for the express reason of the charity. The charity was a bonus. Better yet, this was announced before that half was going to charity. If people had a problem with that, guess what, they wouldn't have bought the damn thing. I've never seen someone give a company grief because it donated over a million dollars to a charity.
Ask yourself this. Do you really believe that all those people who bought the panda would of given to MaW themselves if Blizzard wasn't involved? I don't think so.
Perhaps you should check post histories before you run off calling anyone with a criticism a WoW hater. I am sure there are a few people that would get a good laugh at someone calling me a wow hater.
While I do agree there are a lot of haters here (for all games) and you are also correct that there was no mention of this when soe did it, but perhaps that is because soe didn't post their results? I don't know.
My complaint is not about the charity, but about blizzard and their cash shop. When you rip into someone criticizing that blizzard is hiding behind a charity, you are in fact doing what companies hope will happen. You are defending certain actions, because they are being shielded by the goodwill of charity. I chose to look beyond the smokescreen and see the true intentions of the company. They want people to accept cash shops and I find it deplorable that they hide behind charity to do so.
Again, I have no problem with make a wish getting a bucket full of money and I wish they got 100% of the proceeds.
We'll just disagree with intent then. You have a problem with cash shops, there's is nothing wrong with that opinion. But you also believe that they launched the shop by using the charity as a smoke screen, which I disagree with. I think (as most others have said) that Blizzard is a business first, they analyze the market and their subscriber base, as well as analyze feedback from their subscribers and discovered that they could make some money with these items. Blizzard did not launch their cash shop behind the veil of Make a Wish because they didn't need too. They could of launched those two pets without mentioning Make a Wish and they make as much (or pretty close) money as they made anyway. They did not make a substantial amount of money off these pets due to the charity. If you believe that then you don't know the WoW subscriber base very well.
Regardless of your personal view, "you don't like cash shops". You have to realize why a charity would want a partnership with Blizzard. To raise awareness, because "out of sight out of mind" is more than just a quote to be used. It's the way humans work, and function. I'm sure make a wish was tickled that Blizzard had an interest in doing this. They were able to reach a market they might not of otherwise had an ability to. It's in how it's presented that is important for MAW, blizzard obviously did a good job at that. They made plenty to give toward the foundation. My only concern is that it was temporary, why not always give a portion of those sales to MAW? If that's what they created those two pets for.
Imo, the highlighted portion will be a growing trend. Organizations invested a little to test the waters in SL; not sure how well that worked to be honest. That said, I've heard everything from opportunities with vanity items (as was the case here) to in-game consumables, such as potions. Relatively speaking, if the studio takes on the burden of coding, this is a low cost-per-dollar-raised event.
Regardless of your personal view, "you don't like cash shops". You have to realize why a charity would want a partnership with Blizzard. To raise awareness, because "out of sight out of mind" is more than just a quote to be used. It's the way humans work, and function. I'm sure make a wish was tickled that Blizzard had an interest in doing this. They were able to reach a market they might not of otherwise had an ability to. It's in how it's presented that is important for MAW, blizzard obviously did a good job at that. They made plenty to give toward the foundation. My only concern is that it was temporary, why not always give a portion of those sales to MAW? If that's what they created those two pets for.
Imo, the highlighted portion will be a growing trend. Organizations invested a little to test the waters in SL; not sure how well that worked to be honest. That said, I've heard everything from opportunities with vanity items (as was the case here) to in-game consumables, such as potions. Relatively speaking, if the studio takes on the burden of coding, this is a low cost-per-dollar-raised event.
Given this was in large part a success you're probably right. I'm sure we'll see it again, companies with pre-existing cash shops probably won't be to far behind. Turbine is a company I could see going this route with DDO. It's win win for everyone if you think about it, well maybe not those who have a distaste for RMT.
IMO the player the company and the charity gain from this, in and of itself it's a good thing. I'd like to see a company put up something permanent though. Rather than just a short term event.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Originally posted by Malickie Regardless of your personal view, "you don't like cash shops". You have to realize why a charity would want a partnership with Blizzard. To raise awareness, because "out of sight out of mind" is more than just a quote to be used. It's the way humans work, and function. I'm sure make a wish was tickled that Blizzard had an interest in doing this. They were able to reach a market they might not of otherwise had an ability to. It's in how it's presented that is important for MAW, blizzard obviously did a good job at that. They made plenty to give toward the foundation. My only concern is that it was temporary, why not always give a portion of those sales to MAW? If that's what they created those two pets for.
I do realize that and I agree with it. There is nothing wrong with make a wish partnering with blizzard to raise funds.
Originally posted by Malickie Regardless of your personal view, "you don't like cash shops". You have to realize why a charity would want a partnership with Blizzard. To raise awareness, because "out of sight out of mind" is more than just a quote to be used. It's the way humans work, and function. I'm sure make a wish was tickled that Blizzard had an interest in doing this. They were able to reach a market they might not of otherwise had an ability to. It's in how it's presented that is important for MAW, blizzard obviously did a good job at that. They made plenty to give toward the foundation. My only concern is that it was temporary, why not always give a portion of those sales to MAW? If that's what they created those two pets for.
I do realize that and I agree with it. There is nothing wrong with make a wish partnering with blizzard to raise funds.
My entire problem is with blizzard.
So, what you're saying is that you are going to disagree and poo-poo anything with Blizzard's name on it? You don't have a coherent argument, you just don't like anything that Blizzard does. You must be one of those people who thinks that success= evil intent but wishes that they were successful themselves. Either develop a coherent argument or get help. I recommend Net Trolls Anonymous
Comments
As someone who works in the charitable industry I'd say very rarely will 100% of a donation will go toward the mission. That's just a side note though. : )
I'd argue against your characterization of greed. Blizzard didn't have to raise money for Make-A-Wish, they choose to. Many companies will partner with charitable organizations on campaigns. How many times have you seen or heard 'a part of this purchase will go toward x organization'? In my opinion, and it's shared with every charitable organization I've worked with, that such partnerships are a great vehicle for raising donations.
There's no nefarious intent here.
I think the addition of a charitable donation is nice, but I don't see the promotion as compelling enough to be the sole reason of the purchase (i.e. I think people would've bought the item either way). What the promotion amounts to is supporting a cause while receiving a nice benefit.
I'm not going to argue and say it wasn't nice of them to donate some money because it was but the point it that they used charity as an excuse to slip in an item mall into their game. Mark my words, we'll see more than just a pet item shop in Blizzard's future.
They said that half of the proceeds would go to Make a Wish from the beginning. It was even on their launcher
I disabled the launcher back in 2004, but thanks for pointing that out. My main focus was props to Blizzard, they deserve it.
Myself and obviously many others have no issue with the item shop. Specifically, the Pandaran gives me nothing more than a virtual panda that follows me around Azeroth. With that said, I don't find anything wrong with a co-announcement of a new service along with a charitable donation promotion.
Organizations partner with corporations all the time. Whether the partnership is an employee giving program, event sponsorship, or a sales/donation program, both the corporation and the organization benefit.
Again, I don't see the nefarious intent. As to the other example you gave, who knows why the organization pulled away from the opportunity. It could have been that the organization didn't think the venue was a good fit; it happens all the time for various reasons.
What I will say is Make-A-Wish is an organization that values it's reputation. Had they thought Blizzard was acting unethically, I sincerely doubt Make-A-Wish would have followed through with the partnership.
Edit: I'm not empathetic towards the controversy of the item shop, but I don't agree with the characterization (or the severity of) describing Blizzard's intent.
Lets look at facts and only facts.. Blizzard is a business out to make money period. Due to them making money the Make a wish foundation has 1.1 million dollars they wouldn't have otherwise. the reason they did it don't matter. Beyond that people spent $20 on pet cause its $10 for a pet and donate $10 to charity so 2 birds with 1 stone. if u wanna bitch, donate ure $20 directly next time. a lot of players i know bought the pet just because it was to donate for charity....
But the main reason im posting is cause i h8 people that wine about shit that wont really even bother they.... idiots looking to complain for the hell of it.
<Rolls eyes> It doesn't matter that Make a Wish has 1.1 MILLION now that they other wise wouldn't? Any good PR(or profit) that Blizzard made from this is irrelevant. One might as well say that "If the US really cared about charity, they wouldn't spend 708 billion next year on their military"... ^^
By giving them $1.1mil, do you even read yourself?
Threads like this still amaze me, even though I guess they shouldn't. It's just human nature to act like this now.
People can be so blind with hate, greed, jealously, or some other emotion to actually think, and not just spew forth things that have no actual reason or meaning.
Blizzard had no real reason to donate half the proceeds to anything. They could have made the pets 10 bucks, and kept the 10 bucks all for themselves. They could have made them each 5 bucks, and sold more, and still donated nothing.
And yeah, blizzard is losing subs left and right, and will shut down by the end of this year according to most people who rage post on this forum, yet still have 11.5 million subs, and BC is about to release in china, IE subs will go up.
Good for blizzard, and it's great to see a company like that do something so good.
By giving them $1.1mil, do you even read yourself?
Yes and they get publicity and a nice tax write off and still make a profit in the RMT.
Agree .
So try talking with these people about gameplay ...
... if they can't even acknowledge the meaning of giving $1.1 mln to children with cancer.
Wait, perhaps in a few minutes/hours someone will come along and tell they lied about the donating stuff.
It is spewing hate all over with always the same faces.
Want a real mmorpg? Play WOW with experience turned off mode and be Pve_Pvp King at any level without a rat race.
By giving them $1.1mil, do you even read yourself?
No offense, but you are doing exactly what they are counting on. Giving to charity is great, but doing it in an effort to reduce the negative impact of your business decisions doesn't make it a real act of charity.
See the difference?
Myself and obviously many others have no issue with the item shop. Specifically, the Pandaran gives me nothing more than a virtual panda that follows me around Azeroth. With that said, I don't find anything wrong with a co-announcement of a new service along with a charitable donation promotion.
Organizations partner with corporations all the time. Whether the partnership is an employee giving program, event sponsorship, or a sales/donation program, both the corporation and the organization benefit.
Again, I don't see the nefarious intent. As to the other example you gave, who knows why the organization pulled away from the opportunity. It could have been that the organization didn't think the venue was a good fit; it happens all the time for various reasons.
What I will say is Make-A-Wish is an organization that values it's reputation. Had they thought Blizzard was acting unethically, I sincerely doubt Make-A-Wish would have followed through with the partnership.
Edit: I'm not empathetic towards the controversy of the item shop, but I don't agree with the characterization (or the severity of) describing Blizzard's intent.
Yes, you and others have no issues with it... yet. That is why I said controversial, because not everyone agrees with cash shops in subscription games.
The whole giving to charity was nothing more than a smoke screen and I do not for one second think that is worthy of praise. Great that charity got money, but I do not condone those who do with the mentality of "by any means necessary" and for such selfish reasons.
No sir, that does not warrant praise at all.
By giving them $1.1mil, do you even read yourself?
No offense, but you are doing exactly what they are counting on. Giving to charity is great, but doing it in an effort to reduce the negative impact of your business decisions doesn't make it a real act of charity.
See the difference?
You've been practicing your long range telepathy? How do you *know* what Blizzards motivations are? It doesn't matter in the least what motivated them. The fact remains that Make A Wish now has 1.1 Million dollars to use that they didn't have before. If Blizzard gained some good PR and some profit from it, then more power to them.
Again, I think you're short-changing Make-A-Wish. I've worked with several MAW Chapters and the national org; believe me, they take their reputation quite seriously. I highly doubt Make-A-Wish would've partnered with Blizzard had they any concerns of unethical behavior.
The item shop announcement was an opportunity to partner with a charity and do some good. Would you apply the same cynicism to all the shops that slap St. Jude stickers on their front doors during the Thanks and Giving Campaign? No, I doubt it and you shouldn't.
Another view would be: do you think the promotion did anything to mitigate the FUD on the item shop? Would Blizzard be so concerned about some apocalyptic response that they'd stoop to this type of unethical behavior? Imo, the answer to both is no.
Could we all just get this right?
This is not charity, not even by a long shot!
Charity would have been if they said:
"For every dollar you spend we will donate another dollar"
As opposed to.
"For every dollar you spend we will take half!!´"
it is still a good thing, but it is NOT charity!
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Originally posted by Jerek_
I wonder if you honestly even believe what you type, or if you live in a made up world of facts.
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Again, I think you're short-changing Make-A-Wish. I've worked with several MAW Chapters and the national org; believe me, they take their reputation quite seriously. I highly doubt Make-A-Wish would've partnered with Blizzard had they any concerns of unethical behavior.
The item shop announcement was an opportunity to partner with a charity and do some good. Would you apply the same cynicism to all the shops that slap St. Jude stickers on their front doors during the Thanks and Giving Campaign? No, I doubt it and you shouldn't.
Another view would be: do you think the promotion did anything to mitigate the FUD on the item shop? Would Blizzard be so concerned about some apocalyptic response that they'd stoop to this type of unethical behavior? Imo, the answer to both is no.
Perhaps I should be a little more clear.
I'm not saying this is a stain on make a wish at all. Nothing wrong on their part what so ever. This is a stain on blizzard and it ends there.
Blizzard could have chosen any number of ways to get involved with a charity. Just for example they could have done it with authenticators and the would have been a benefit to players, blizzard and charity. People would have gotten a free pet out of it to boot.
I think it is pretty clear why mmo companies are attaching charities to the cash shop launches.
Telethons are run for the sole purpose of raising money and awareness towards a charity/cause. Blizzard are not holding a telethon...they are a company with shareholders, and as such have to make money by selling their products. They didn't remotely have to donate 50% of their proceeds to charity, yet they chose to.
It's not a matter of looking at the world through rosey glasses, it's a matter of taking off the glasses of doom and gloom and seeing facts for what they are - facts. The comments being flung around here are pathetic as they're no doubt coming from people who rarely, if ever donate to charity themselves, as I said.
Again, I think you're short-changing Make-A-Wish. I've worked with several MAW Chapters and the national org; believe me, they take their reputation quite seriously. I highly doubt Make-A-Wish would've partnered with Blizzard had they any concerns of unethical behavior.
The item shop announcement was an opportunity to partner with a charity and do some good. Would you apply the same cynicism to all the shops that slap St. Jude stickers on their front doors during the Thanks and Giving Campaign? No, I doubt it and you shouldn't.
Another view would be: do you think the promotion did anything to mitigate the FUD on the item shop? Would Blizzard be so concerned about some apocalyptic response that they'd stoop to this type of unethical behavior? Imo, the answer to both is no.
Perhaps I should be a little more clear.
I'm not saying this is a stain on make a wish at all. Nothing wrong on their part what so ever. This is a stain on blizzard and it ends there.
Blizzard could have chosen any number of ways to get involved with a charity. Just for example they could have done it with authenticators and the would have been a benefit to players, blizzard and charity. People would have gotten a free pet out of it to boot.
I think it is pretty clear why mmo companies are attaching charities to the cash shop launches.
Lets cut the BS right here. This isn't about charity or Make a wish. This is about Blizzard. If any other MMO company (with perhaps the exception of SoE) had done this (CCP, Turbine, Funcom, etc) you wouldn't hear a peep from no one. This site brings out the worst WoW haters, everyone knows that. So it's very convienient to bag on Blizzard for anything they do, even if their intent is good.
The point still stands, they gave over a million dollars to charity, something they did not have to do. They would have made that one million whether it was announced it was going to charity or not. People did not buy the pets for the express reason of the charity. The charity was a bonus. Better yet, this was announced before that half was going to charity. If people had a problem with that, guess what, they wouldn't have bought the damn thing. I've never seen someone give a company grief because it donated over a million dollars to a charity.
Ask yourself this. Do you really believe that all those people who bought the panda would of given to MaW themselves if Blizzard wasn't involved? I don't think so.
Lets cut the BS right here. This isn't about charity or Make a wish. This is about Blizzard. If any other MMO company (with perhaps the exception of SoE) had done this (CCP, Turbine, Funcom, etc) you wouldn't hear a peep from no one. This site brings out the worst WoW haters, everyone knows that. So it's very convienient to bag on Blizzard for anything they do, even if their intent is good.
The point still stands, they gave over a million dollars to charity, something they did not have to do. They would have made that one million whether it was announced it was going to charity or not. People did not buy the pets for the express reason of the charity. The charity was a bonus. Better yet, this was announced before that half was going to charity. If people had a problem with that, guess what, they wouldn't have bought the damn thing. I've never seen someone give a company grief because it donated over a million dollars to a charity.
Ask yourself this. Do you really believe that all those people who bought the panda would of given to MaW themselves if Blizzard wasn't involved? I don't think so.
Perhaps you should check post histories before you run off calling anyone with a criticism a WoW hater. I am sure there are a few people that would get a good laugh at someone calling me a wow hater.
While I do agree there are a lot of haters here (for all games) and you are also correct that there was no mention of this when soe did it, but perhaps that is because soe didn't post their results? I don't know.
My complaint is not about the charity, but about blizzard and their cash shop. When you rip into someone criticizing that blizzard is hiding behind a charity, you are in fact doing what companies hope will happen. You are defending certain actions, because they are being shielded by the goodwill of charity. I chose to look beyond the smokescreen and see the true intentions of the company. They want people to accept cash shops and I find it deplorable that they hide behind charity to do so.
Again, I have no problem with make a wish getting a bucket full of money and I wish they got 100% of the proceeds.
DUHHH. So giving money to a charity organisation can be defined as either 'a good thing' (LOL!) or charity, now 'a good thing' is when you only donate a section of your profits, REAL charity is when you donate ALL your profits!
So if you donate 50 bucks from your weekly paycheck, assuming you earn more than $50, that is not considered charity because it doesn't encompass all your earnings (a dollar for every dollar as you stated)?
Seriously the people on these fucking boards...
O_o o_O
Regardless of your personal view, "you don't like cash shops". You have to realize why a charity would want a partnership with Blizzard. To raise awareness, because "out of sight out of mind" is more than just a quote to be used. It's the way humans work, and function.
I'm sure make a wish was tickled that Blizzard had an interest in doing this. They were able to reach a market they might not of otherwise had an ability to. It's in how it's presented that is important for MAW, blizzard obviously did a good job at that. They made plenty to give toward the foundation.
My only concern is that it was temporary, why not always give a portion of those sales to MAW? If that's what they created those two pets for.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Lets cut the BS right here. This isn't about charity or Make a wish. This is about Blizzard. If any other MMO company (with perhaps the exception of SoE) had done this (CCP, Turbine, Funcom, etc) you wouldn't hear a peep from no one. This site brings out the worst WoW haters, everyone knows that. So it's very convienient to bag on Blizzard for anything they do, even if their intent is good.
The point still stands, they gave over a million dollars to charity, something they did not have to do. They would have made that one million whether it was announced it was going to charity or not. People did not buy the pets for the express reason of the charity. The charity was a bonus. Better yet, this was announced before that half was going to charity. If people had a problem with that, guess what, they wouldn't have bought the damn thing. I've never seen someone give a company grief because it donated over a million dollars to a charity.
Ask yourself this. Do you really believe that all those people who bought the panda would of given to MaW themselves if Blizzard wasn't involved? I don't think so.
Perhaps you should check post histories before you run off calling anyone with a criticism a WoW hater. I am sure there are a few people that would get a good laugh at someone calling me a wow hater.
While I do agree there are a lot of haters here (for all games) and you are also correct that there was no mention of this when soe did it, but perhaps that is because soe didn't post their results? I don't know.
My complaint is not about the charity, but about blizzard and their cash shop. When you rip into someone criticizing that blizzard is hiding behind a charity, you are in fact doing what companies hope will happen. You are defending certain actions, because they are being shielded by the goodwill of charity. I chose to look beyond the smokescreen and see the true intentions of the company. They want people to accept cash shops and I find it deplorable that they hide behind charity to do so.
Again, I have no problem with make a wish getting a bucket full of money and I wish they got 100% of the proceeds.
We'll just disagree with intent then. You have a problem with cash shops, there's is nothing wrong with that opinion. But you also believe that they launched the shop by using the charity as a smoke screen, which I disagree with. I think (as most others have said) that Blizzard is a business first, they analyze the market and their subscriber base, as well as analyze feedback from their subscribers and discovered that they could make some money with these items. Blizzard did not launch their cash shop behind the veil of Make a Wish because they didn't need too. They could of launched those two pets without mentioning Make a Wish and they make as much (or pretty close) money as they made anyway. They did not make a substantial amount of money off these pets due to the charity. If you believe that then you don't know the WoW subscriber base very well.
Imo, the highlighted portion will be a growing trend. Organizations invested a little to test the waters in SL; not sure how well that worked to be honest. That said, I've heard everything from opportunities with vanity items (as was the case here) to in-game consumables, such as potions. Relatively speaking, if the studio takes on the burden of coding, this is a low cost-per-dollar-raised event.
Imo, the highlighted portion will be a growing trend. Organizations invested a little to test the waters in SL; not sure how well that worked to be honest. That said, I've heard everything from opportunities with vanity items (as was the case here) to in-game consumables, such as potions. Relatively speaking, if the studio takes on the burden of coding, this is a low cost-per-dollar-raised event.
Given this was in large part a success you're probably right. I'm sure we'll see it again, companies with pre-existing cash shops probably won't be to far behind. Turbine is a company I could see going this route with DDO. It's win win for everyone if you think about it, well maybe not those who have a distaste for RMT.
IMO the player the company and the charity gain from this, in and of itself it's a good thing. I'd like to see a company put up something permanent though. Rather than just a short term event.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I do realize that and I agree with it. There is nothing wrong with make a wish partnering with blizzard to raise funds.
My entire problem is with blizzard.
I do realize that and I agree with it. There is nothing wrong with make a wish partnering with blizzard to raise funds.
My entire problem is with blizzard.
So, what you're saying is that you are going to disagree and poo-poo anything with Blizzard's name on it? You don't have a coherent argument, you just don't like anything that Blizzard does. You must be one of those people who thinks that success= evil intent but wishes that they were successful themselves. Either develop a coherent argument or get help. I recommend Net Trolls Anonymous
A witty saying proves nothing.
-Voltaire