Interesting. Its not often you see a charity refusing a donation. Recently the makers of Atlantica Online, NDoors Interactive, offered a holiday fundraiser item to its players, a “grab bag” entitled Acong’s Stocking Stuffer containing a mystery item whose proceeds were to go to Child’s Play.
Soon after, Child’s Play got a number of emails from Atlantica Online players expressing concern and disappointment over the item, prompting Child’s Play to withdraw from Atlantica Online’s fundraiser. In an email to Joystiq, Child’s Play foundation coordinator Kristin Lindsay said:
“We were approached by Ndoors in November, inquiring about how to get involved with the program, so I sent along some basic info on sponsorship tiers etc. but we did not receive any details about the in-game item. A few weeks later, we started to hear complaints from players, so we contacted Ndoors and requested we not be involved with their fundraiser.”
While her email does not specify the complaints, its reasonable to assume that users were displeased with the percentage given to Child’s Play. Those who participated were not fully informed that only $2 of their $40 purchase would ultimately end up in the charity’s hands, a paltry 5%.
While I can’t stress enough the merit of reading the fine print, I can sympathize with the players. Chances are, the items in the grab bag were a low cost item to make, and in turn, the users were charged almost the price of a full, brand new game. Many people probably thought the high cost was worth it if most of the money was going to the charity. Instead, it got pocketed. Kind of a spit in the face towards their good hearted intentions. Shame on you Ndoors, shame!
For their part, Ndoors Interactive has responded:
“We will continue our fund-raising efforts, and will actively look for other charitable causes.”
Oh, we’re sure you will.
