Charity pet.. yes? or no?Follow

They had me at "hello." I'm in. Hell, it's only 10 bucks to a good cause (charity:water is also a very good cause Blizzard... hint, hint). I'm sure most of us have "text-donated" more than that already this year.

To balance it in my brain I'm bringing in lunch to work tomorrow. Fair trade I think.

Still iffy about buying non-charitable pets but that's just me.

Bleh, I wish all the pets were like half that price. I'd definitely be more willing to buy it at $5 than $10. I know this one in particular is for a good cause but all the other pets are still $10 too.

It does look pretty cool though! Especially since I am raising my ******* of NC Pets with Children's Week. I hate that they added 2 new pets! I just finished my 3 year achievement, but now I have to wait another year to get the next pet!

Blizzard listens to me... What can I say. Lol...

They could have at least re-colored the pet so it wouldn't be exactly the same as the TCG Hippogryph Hatchling.

Actually, that's a very good point Secular. I hadn't thought of that, and I completely agree with you.

Why is it 10 Euro? That is not the same as 10 US$ (10 US$ is about 6,75 Euro).

While Japan can certainly take care of itself, helping eachother in times of crisis is something that fosters good relations between nations. And to be fair, the US certainly could have taken care of itself during the Katrina disaster, but that didn't stop Japan from coming to our aid then.

And they certainly weren't the only ones.

I suspect that it's because this is an acute problem recent enough(and with enough media attention) to elicit a response. Some of those are chronic problems while others had the initial problem crop up far enough back that it's been mostly forgotten about. It's kinda sad, but it's the way it is.

Edit: Also:

To be honest, the statement made is a bit misleading(I'm not saying that the problem isn't there, just that it's not quite as bad as it was stated).

It's not that 1 in 4 children goes to bed hungry. It's that 1 in 4 children lives in a situation where they could potentially go to bed hungry(and probably do once in a while). It's a problem, and certainly one that needs to be dealt with, but it's not like 25% of kids go to bed hungry on a regular basis.

Edited, May 3rd 2011 1:27am by Poldaran

Me too. I have not, and will not, buy game items.

In this case, however, since all proceeds are going to charity, I am going to buy the pet.




There are always good causes to make donations to or volunteer to help. Just because Blizzard doesn't choose to do something for every disaster or malady in the world doesn't mean they should be dinged for making an effort on one particular disaster. My wife donates time to Habitat for Humanity...does that mean she should feel bad for not donating time to Feed the Children? That's what you're saying about Blizzard.

Not at all. Blizzard is much different than your wife or yourself. Making a pet to sell for donations cost them little to nothing and they will get a tax break for the donations. So why not make 10 pets all going to different causes? Or in my point, why not make a pet that starts at home first? If Blizzard really wanted to help their image, then it would be easy to make 10 different charity pets. Correct? Then we can choose where we want it to go.

Part of me thinks that cos there is a player base in Japan, that has more to do with it than say making a Hati pet.

As for single donation peoples in the US donating to their favorite charity, you should feel great about that and not feel required to donate anywhere else; or feel bad for not doing so.

And yet theres more just to clarify. It's easy to figure out that those numbers have gone up in the last 2 years. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to get it:

•Nearly 14 million children are estimated to be served by Feeding America, over 3 million of which are ages 5 and under. i
•According to the USDA, over 17 million children lived in food insecure (low food security and very low food security) households in 2009. ii
•20% or more of the child population in 16 states and D.C. are living in food insecure households. The states of Arkansas (24.4 percent) and Texas (24.3 percent) have the highest rates of children in households without consistent access to food. (Cook, John, Child Food Insecurity in the United States: 2006-2008. iii
•The top five states with the highest rate of food insecure children under 18 are Arkansas, Texas, Arizona, Missouri, Mississippi, as well as the District of Columbia
•Proper nutrition is vital to the growth and development of children, particularly for low-income children. 62 percent of all client households with children under the age of 18 participated in a school lunch program, but only 14 percent participated in a summer feeding program that provides free food when school is out. i
•54 percent of client households with children under the age of 3 participated in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). i
•32 percent of pantries, 42 percent of kitchens, and 18 percent of shelters in the Feeding America network reported "many more children in the summer" being served by their programs. i
•Emergency food assistance plays a vital role in the lives of low-income families. In 2002, more than half of the nonelderly families that accessed a food pantry at least once during the year had children under the age of 18. iv
•15.5 million or approximately 20.7 percent of children in the U.S. live in poverty. •Research indicates that even mild undernutrition experienced by young children during critical periods of growth impacts the behavior of children, their school performance, and their overall cognitive development. vi
•In fiscal year 2009, 48 percent of all SNAP participants were children. vii
•During the 2009 federal fiscal year, 19.5 million low-income children received free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program. Unfortunately, just 2.2 million of these same income-eligible children participated in the Summer Food Service Program that same year.

$10 doesn't break the bank for most working adults. It's not a donation that excludes your donating to other causes that you feel you want to help. The discussion that "They're doing it for Japan when there are homeless in their streets, WTF." is fallacious at best. Hello straw man! Getting that pet didn't prevent me from donating clothes or sending charity:water some cash this week. It's not "either or".

Also note that when the Red Cross "overflows" with donations for a specific emergency, the funds move to their General Fund that helps their other efforts (particularly in Africa and the West Indies). This is a major reason why I try to support them specifically. Fiscal intelligence.

This is utter nonsense. Blizzard runs a business, not a charity organization. The fact that they are doing something to contribute to Japan should be applauded, not criticized. It isn't their job, or duty to address the issue of childhood hunger in America. It seems to be your pet cause, and more power to you, but I think you really are making a flawed analysis/judgment of what Blizzard is doing here.

Edited, May 3rd 2011 1:20pm by azwing

Is this conversation starting to remind anyone else of Ethics 1A? (aka freshmen with rose-colored idealism)

=P

Everyone has their cause or thing or whatever. It's an easy trap to fall into to think everyone else should share your passion for it.

The question you have to ask isn't why some for-profit organization isn't doing something for your cause. The question you first have to ask is "what can I do?".

edit: for the record I was wholeheartedly a freshman with rose-colored idealism tinting everything I read back in the day. =)

Edited, May 3rd 2011 12:30pm by TherionSaysWhat