acts-of-kindness
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Turbine's customer support department spreads holiday cheer
Working customer support for an MMO means that even the best times of your job are still spent dealing with upset players. Sure, the player might recognize that whatever went wrong was just an accident or a bug, but you've still got player issues to manage. It's the sort of work that can make you bitter or cynical, but not so with the customer support team at Turbine Entertainment, which decided to reach out to fans in a slightly happier fashion with holiday cards. Seriously. Real ones. Players on the Lord of the Rings Online forums have reported receiving physical holiday cards from the game's customer service department with hand-written messages and gift cards for 500 Turbine points inside. The community team has stated that this is exactly what it seems to be: a random gesture of kindness and appreciation for the game's playerbase. That message also reminded players to keep their mailing addresses up to date, as this is unlikely to be the only such event. [Thanks to Fredelas for the tip!]
SOE highlights acts of EverQuest II player kindness
Surly MMO commenters got you down? Check out the latest round of EverQuest II player events and restore a little bit of your faith in gamer humanity. First up is Pay it Forward, which starts Sunday, July 14th, at 8:00 p.m. EDT. What is Pay it Forward? "It's a day when adventurers and crafters come together to donate crafted goods, items rotting away in their bank, plat, rares, masters -- you name it -- to young adventurers." The event happens on the Antonia Bayle server. Next up is the annual Give Back Days event on the Everfrost shard. It runs from 11:00 a.m. 7:00 p.m. EDT on July 14th and 15th. Festivities include love duels, food fights, and random prizes for people who show up dressed to the nines. More info on both events is available on SOE's EQII website.
Child's Play breaks annual record with over $2 million raised
Child's Play has become the ubiquitous ur-charity for the gaming community. Founded by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade fame, it's grown into a multinational event for gamers the world over to help out needy children. It's also made a tradition out of breaking records for overall donations every year, and this year is no exception, with the total amount raised coming out to over $2 million for the year and nearly $9 million over its lifetime. The record-breaking effort has always been helped by enterprising fundraisers from the community, and the MMO community is no exception; notable fundraising efforts this year include the Lord of the Rings Online-inspired fundraiser from A Casual Stroll to Mordor and Sony Online Entertainment's donations for the purchase of in-game pets, together with other non-MMO events such as the infamous Desert Bus for Hope marathon and the Humble Indie Bundle. The entire gaming community, online or off, can take pride in another record-breaking year for Child's Play.
