Guild Wars 2

A friend and I were discussing the recent events of the typhoon in the Philippines, some thoughts were tossed around such as ANet releasing specialty items or specialty titles in which proceeds would go to the victims of the Typhoon, basically a way for ANet to bring forth the Guild Wars community for a greater good, so, it would be nice if this became aware to the Devs and maybe some movement started but would be nice to see if anyone else had any ideas on this topic of trying to form some in game charity drive.

I think Mad Queen Malafide had an excellent response to a similar question recently, so I’m going to repost what she wrote there.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

I disagree with this idea as well. I don’t think Anet should get involved with charities. The Gem Store is meant to help develop the game further, or at least, that is what I assume. There’s also the hassle of trying to get the money to actually arrive at the people who need it, and that involves finding a charity that you think you can trust, and even then it can be quite a hassle.

Honestly, if you want to do something for these victims, organize a fund raising event in GW2 yourself, and get sponsors.

UPDATE:

It seems the government in the Philippines is now keeping all of the money that’s being donated, and not using it to help the victims at all. And there’s your reason right there folks.

No one wants to be the person who says “no” to charity, but it’s a lot of work, even if it’s for a good cause. (And no one wants to say “No, that’s too much work!” in the face of charity, but there’s a reason why we’re not all constantly fundraising for good causes. We’re only human.)

If they wanted to do this as a company, that’s great! But I think we should keep in mind what all that’s asking from them. On the upside, there’s nothing stopping individual players from raising money with livestreams, contests, or whatever else.

It’s better to donate to a local organization in your country that delivers the help directly. 3rd parties tend to siphon off the funds before they get there. It’s bad enough that credit card companies and currency exchanges take their cut.