It’s not exactly a new concept for game companies to raise money for charities, but it seems that now more than ever with the attention social games and MMOs, some game companies are pushing to get donation and charity drives on the front burner. They are realizing that the gaming community is larger than ever and using social networking to get as many people involved as possible is working.
There is a passionate and networked community out there of “grownup gamers.” In truth, we’re still gaming and never did give it up as our parents suggested. Obviously, not all of us are your “typical gamer.” We’re parents, teachers, engineers, and college students. We are young and old, male and female. One thing is for sure: we’re showing the world that gamers care about people, animals, and the environment with out donation dollars.
There are many ways games can be used to raise money for charities. One way is from offering in-game items with special abilities (cuteness being one of those abilities).
Some companies don’t actually make games or sell virtual items, but raise awareness about a charity through gaming conventions and comics about games.
Penny Arcade is doing just that with their charity, Child’s Play. They were able to raise almost 2 million dollars last year for stocking children’s hospitals with video games and toys. Nothing is worse than being sick and having nothing fun to do. You can learn more about this charity and donate by visiting their site here: http://www.childsplaycharity.org/
CCP, creators of the popular sci-fi themed MMO Eve, is offering a virtual item that adds 30 days of game time to your paid subscription. This item will be available until February 15th. Once you purchase this item, all of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross disaster relief efforts in Haiti. More on that here: http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=726
Social games developer Zynga raised a stunning 1.5 million in 5 days for the recent earthquake disaster in Haiti by selling virtual goods in 4 of their most successful games: FarmVille, FishVille, Mafia Wars, and Zynga Poker. This is a huge accomplishment and it shows that their tagline “Transforming the world through games” might be becoming more of a reality. Zynga also helps animals in need by donating to the San Francisco SPCA to the tune of over $90,000 by selling virtual tabby cats and bull dogs in Yoville. You can find out more here: http://zynga.org/
Merscom has plans in the works to offer special virtual items in their social games which will help raise money for non-profits and charity organizations. Keep an eye on http://www.mercom.com for upcoming information on what you can expect to see soon!
For brevity’s sake, here is a list of some other game companies and publishers who are generously sharing their space: Sony Online Entertainment, Free-to-play MMO publisher Outspark, London-based developer Tall Trees, Runes of Magic publisher Frogster, Xbox and Activision.
With the number of large game companies following this trend, it’s safe to say if you play online games there is a good chance that you’ll be seeing a charity tie in soon.
If I missed a great charity or cause, which is related in some way to gaming, I’d like to hear about it.
Also, would you buy one virtual item over another if you knew it was for a good cause? Have you donated to charities through games before? What was your experience like?
Thanks for reading and until next time.
Melissa Loy
Associate Producer
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