wow-charity
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Breakfast Topic: Our community is great, and how it saved my cat
The World of Warcraft community is a special group of people. We've got numbers, diversity, and a ridiculous amount of charity from good people whose tenuous connection to each other is because of a virtual world. Personally, I wouldn't want it any other way. The WoW community does good things. Many of you recently heard about my cat Rocky, who was not doing so well because of a deep infection in both of his ears. Because of the generosity of our community, Rocky's bills were taken care of and we could get him the immediate help he needed. My little buddy is alive because of this community. It's such a trivial thing to worry about in the grand scheme of things, but it personally affected me in such a profound way. Sure, we have our low moments. We have our high moments, too, and it's all worth it. From Blizzard's own charity drives to Child's Play and the community reaching out to help sick children, I'd say we've got a pretty good track record. What has the WoW community done that has affected you personally?
The Classifieds: Puzzling over the world of Azeroth
The Classifieds brings you weekly news from around the WoW community, including our famous Random Acts of Uberness. While we at WoW.com are hard at work puzzling out the latest round of changes from the Cataclysm beta, we've got something for you to puzzle over as well: a "Where in the World of Warcraft?" crossword puzzle from The Puzzle Hub. This one's themed around places throughout Azeroth, Outland and Northrend. If that mind-bender strikes your fancy, there's a "Who in the World of Warcraft?" version, too. Thanks for the tip, Benji -- these look they'll most assuredly help keep our minds off the agony of watching beta test class changes scritching and scratching back and forth. Let's crack open The Classifieds ...
Signed World of Warcraft: Cataclysm poster up for auction on eBay
Up on eBay until December 7th at 5:00 p.m. PST is this World of Warcraft: Cataclysm poster signed by Blizzard designers and other members of the WoW team. This auction is entirely for charity, with 100% of the proceeds going towards the Southern California Golden Retriever Rescue. We've been able to verify this auction's authenticity through an anonymous source. We are certain all of the signatures are from the World of Warcraft team at Blizzard. However, this is not an official Blizzard auction -- but just something that everyone participated in as a nice thing to do. This is the kind of collectible anyone reading this site would probably want. I know the WoW.com team began bidding furiously when we learned of its legitimacy. I imagine many of you will as well. When we learned of the poster the top bid was at $42, however now it's up to $100. Something tells me it won't stay there for long. Update: We want to note the person running the auction has updated their post to say that this is a print of the original item.
Support a wish with the Epic Head
Whether it's through donations of money or items, taking to the streets with your running shoes, shaving off your hair, or purchasing items at a markup or from fair trade companies, almost everyone contributes to charities in one way or another. Here at WoW Insider, we like to highlight the efforts of gamers everywhere who choose to support their charities in creative new ways, allowing them to reach out to the gaming community to engender participation. From the charitable auctions and the infamous raffle held by the folks at the Bronze Kettle prior to Christmas 2007 in support of Child's Play, to gaming-themed merchandise like calendars, there are a myriad of routes that gamers are taking to contribute in a way that is also significant to our subculture. Now, Krystofar, often spotted over at Gun Loving Dwarf Chick, has something epic up his sleeve to raise funds for the Make a Wish Foundation. How could we not support this?
Child's Play raffle donations soar to over $12,600
If you haven't heard of the fabulous raffle being hosted by the folks at the Bronze Kettle, then you must have been living in a box. A box where you hadn't heard that the donations count has reached $12,654.00! That is definitely cause for celebration; and celebrate we shall!To be fair, one person donated $10,000, but as Shelbi points out, even if this hurts your chances to win one of their many prizes, the tickets are still for charity. In fact, 100% of the money raised will be heading straight to Child's Play.If you haven't purchased your tickets yet, or you have a few extra bucks lying around, head over before it's too late! Currently, the raffle is scheduled to take place at 11:00pm CST today, Friday the 14th of December, at Booty Bay on the US server Dark Iron. Not only will you get the chance to participate in the server event, possibly hosted on vent, but the entire shebang will be liveblogged over at the Kettle. Although you don't need to attend the event to win, it's looking like it's going to be a blast. Just look for Shelbi and Jon on Aereyan and Kaelwryn. Raffle entries will be closing as of 8:00pm CST, and although you can still donate after that point, you will not earn a ticket toward a prize. Make the jump for a complete listing of prizes, and remember; each $1 donated earns you one ticket, and one chance at one of twenty fabulous prizes.
FigurePrints donates custom figure to The Bronze Kettles' Child's Play charity raffle
Yesterday, Jon and Shelbi at The Bronze Kettle announced that they had added several more prizes to the list for the charity raffle they are sponsoring for Child's Play. In addition to the already mentioned list of prizes, The Bronze Kettle revealed that Blizzard and FigurePrints have donated a custom FigurePrints action figure of your in-game World of Warcraft character to add to the raffle as the Grand Prize. These figures have, to date, only been available either with the purchase of a Dell XPS M1730 laptop valued at around $4500, or by winning a place in the random drawing that FigurePrints will be holding on December 21st. This could be your chance to win one of these extremely exclusive figures, a full week before they go on sale to those lucky enough to win a place in the first official drawing. You can read more about FigurePrints and their custom World of Warcraft action figures of your in-game character in this WoW Insider interview with Ed Fries, the founder of FigurePrints.
Charity raffle for Child's Play
It's the season of giving, and the good folks at the Bronze Kettle have been auctioning their services for Child's Play, a gamers' charity that funds pediatric research and donates toys and games to hospitals. I am pleased to announce that the grand total of their efforts is a whopping $651 donated!Unfortunately, they are no longer holding auctions. Instead, they have decided to broaden their efforts so more people can participate and win, without having to have a couple hundred dollars to contribute. You will not only have the chance to win some amazing prizes, but you will also be invited to an in-game event hosted by Jon and Shelbi. As always, 100% of the donations will go directly to the charity. If you admired the prizes being auctioned, then make the jump for the full scoop!
Transmogrification for charity, auction 3
The series of charitable auctions being hosted by the folks over at the Bronze Kettle and Starprints are progressing nicely, with the second auction already successfully completed. To date, they've donated $450 to Child's Play, and are still up for hire!If you're looking for the perfect gift for the gamer in your family, look no further. Should you put a bid in on their latest auction, you could acquire your own personal WoW artist who will work with you to create a custom avatar for use in forums, message boards, IM software, and more. You will also help design a custom charm to hang on your DS, your cell phone, etc, as well as an original illustration, all after the WoW character of your choosing. You even get a free cell phone strap and your charm is shipped to you at no cost. In addition, although the top of the auction page claims that only customers from the United States are eligible, the actual text assures us that anyone, anywhere in the world can bid, and shipping will still be free.
Calendars for charity
If you're looking to cross a few names off of your gift-giving list this season, then consider an MMO-themed calendar published by MMO Portal. It's the perfect gift for any gamer, young and old; and hey, we can scribble our raid schedules on it!MMO Calendar is a non-profit annual fund-raiser, with 100% of the proceeds going to support the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The calendar was put together in collaboration with game developers, and includes original artwork from some great MMOs, including World of Warcraft. If a spiffy calendar and support for a wonderful charity weren't enough, each purchaser will be entered to win one of ten prizes for each MMO, totaling 130 possible prizes. In addition to potentially snagging one month of free WoW, you could also win free playtime for some other MMOs, a copy of Guild Wars: Platinum, or one of three beta keys. Unfortunately, the calendars will only be on sale through November 25th 27th, which doesn't leave much time. Domestic and international orders are welcome. We will all need new calendars for the new year anyway; why not support the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital this holiday season!
Child's Play auction update: $300 raised
While wandering over to check out one of my favorite blogs, the Bronze Kettle, I noticed that they had posted this uber cute (and free) wallpaper. Of course, the real reason that I headed over was to check out the status of their first charity auction for Child's Play. I was extremely pleased to hear that it had raised $300! For those of you feeling out of the loop, or who would like a refresher (for charity), there are lots of places to go and find out what this Penny-Arcade charity is all about. The Child's Play About page is an absolute fountain of information. It walks you through their mission and how they came to be, as well as the ways in which they work to benefit sick children, from funding pediatric research, to donating toys and games to enrich their lives. It also provides very detailed contact info, as well as guidelines for donating, volunteering, and running your own auctions for their charity. It tells you everything you'll need to know about getting involved; for example, you cannot donate your used games and gaming machines, but you could set up an auction and donate from the sale. The original post from Penny-Arcade, talking about why they started Child's Play, and what they hope to accomplish, is also very informative. For some perspective, they report that we (the gaming community) have already raised $200k, when we closed last year at only November at $260k! Also hit up the Child's Play events page, which lists (IRL) events that the organization holds.
