Charity Turns Down Dirty D&D Money
Gary Gygax was not only the inventor of Dungeons and Dragons, he was a humanitarian as well. Over the years, Mr. Gygax donated money to one of his favorite charities, The Christian Children's Fund. If you haven't heard of it, Christian Children's Fund was one of the first organizations to solicit money from donations for the purpose of supporting a poor child in another country. After his death earlier this year, many gamers donated to the fund in honor of Mr. Gygax's memory
At this year's Gen-Con, a sum of $17,000 was raised for the purpose of donating to the Christian Children's Fund but shockingly, the money was turned down by the charity. Why? Apparently they would not accept it since a portion of the money came from the sales of Dungeons and Dragons accoutrement. It seems a bit odd that they would accept money from the father of Dungeons and Dragons himself, but not the money raised at Gen-Con but unfortunately that's how it went.
Mr Gygax's work with D&D has had a profound effect on the game industry and its rules and mechanics inform many of the games we play today from Fallout 3 to World of Warcraft. So if you're thinking of donating to a charity this season, consider Child's Play or any one of the other deserving charities out there. Just avoid Christian Children's Fund as evidently our dirty gamer money isn't good enough for them.
Fruit Brute
Posted to Video Games on 4 November 2008
· Comments (8)
Other stuff like this: charity, donation, dungeons and dragons, fund, gary gygax
My brain. She is boggled.
Oh well. That's $17k of money that can go to another organization that will take our filthy, demonic-tainted money for a good cause.
So numerous kids starve and go without help because the charity heads want to pick and choose where the money comes from?
And the GAMERS are the evil ones? Psh!
So help me, god. Between prop 8 and now this, it makes me wonder how the world keeps spinning. How can humanity be so freakishly backwards and still continue to survive, when a charity for CHILDREN declines thousands of dollars.
It's surely a sad time we live in.
Organized religion is the true axis of evil!!!
Oh, those nutty zealots!
I wish I could say I was surprised.
I'm right there with Prismatik and Katsuya, this is terrible. Because of some backwards notion that something tantamount to a board game is evil and corruptive, $17,000 goes by the wayside. $17k that could go to feed, clothe, and educate children living in subhuman standards. It's enough to drive you crazy, and it SHOULD surprise me... but it doesn't.
People seem to be fundamentally assholes, and this instance makes me feel no different. Children are dying because someone doesn't care for something another person does in his free time. It should be surprising. We should live in a world where something like that is absolutely unheard of.
But we don't.
I was already avoiding Christian charities, since their aid is usually conditional. They'll offer food, provided those starving children and their families agree to be stripped of their beliefs and cultures and be indoctrinated into Christianity (where they get to learn fun things like that being gay is evil and condoms are porous). Real humanitarian efforts don't come in the form of an agenda-driven bribe. And anyway it's just a band-aid on a huge, festering wound, those nations need vast social and technological reform.
Yet again, a great example of why non-christians have better morals than the religious lot.