“due to some negative player complaints, Child’s Play has regrettably asked to be withdrawn from our efforts to raise money for their cause. We were informed that Child’s Play received negative emails from Atlantica Online players around the nature of the donation and the box, causing them to request removal from our fundraising efforts. “
There’s an unwritten list of things that fall under the category of “burns you can’t recover from.” The list includes, but is not limited to, getting divorced via text message, getting fired via text message, starving while snowed in at a grocery store, and finally having a charity tell you “thanks, but no thanks” to your donations.
Atlantica Online ran a charity drive this month where they offered up a grab bag in the game’s item mall, with part of the revenue going to Child’s Play. The grab bag costs $40 USD and contains a random very rare item. The charity drive took a turn for the worst when players came upon the details that the portion being directed to charity was a paltry 5%. For every grab bag purchased, only two dollars was actually being donated to charity. In fact, the complaints that were sent to Child’s Play were so numerous, that Child’s Play requested that their name be taken off of the promotional material, and that they would reject any donations by Atlantica Online.
In the official news announcement, they take no time diving into the blame game:
“It is incredibly unfortunate that we are unable to give the donation amount that you, our players, raised to this charity due to the negativity of certain players around the nature of the donation and an optional, opt-in purchase.”
I don’t think there’s anything I can say here that won’t reiterate, in some way, what Ndoors has already said. Release morally dubious charity project that you stand to make a huge profit off of, and then blame the players when they point it out to the charity you are using as a crutch. This isn’t a charitable act, it is a money grab using the name of a well respected charity, conveniently one that massed record donations this past year.
MMO Fallout 