Urgent Evoke

A crash course in changing the world.

I've been trying to think about a way to have online social role-playing games (RPGs) to raise money for charity. One of my friends tried to lobby Blizzard Entertainment to have an in-world fundraiser of World of Warcraft currency for some need that fit into the feel of the world, the results of which would cause Blizzard to donate real money to a related real-world cause. The lobby attempt never got really far, but it got me thinking. Escapism games draw a lot of players. What if there was some way that a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) could allow players to donate in-game currency that results in real-world fund-raising? Players make characters and go on adventures, and donate to a choice of various causes.

This first idea has a series of problems with it. The big one is money. MMOs cost a lot of money to make, even more to make well, and yet more to maintain. The only reason they exist is you make more money than the enormous cost. This is fine for a large game company spending money to make money, but strictly irresponsible for a non-profit. And should the money come from the players? The game will be competing with all the other MMOs, and a higher than average price could scare away players. Free Rice http://www.freerice.com/ supports its donations through advertisements, but advertisements in games are usually considered intrusive and jarring. Cause World http://www.causeworld.com/ uses corporate sponsors. This seems to me personally the best method, but the initial pitch has got to be difficult. I'm not sure how often people bet on small independent games succeeding.

Another big problem is balancing the need to describe the need, the organization in an honest and upfront fashion and balancing the need to maintain a believable and immersive world. My husband actually pointed out that a sci-fi setting fit it best, but still, either players are yanked back to the real world constantly within the game, or the can get misconceptions about how the in-world description corresponds to the real-world result.

The biggest issue is the game itself. If it cannot engage players and continue to engage them, it won't raise money regardless of the method. MMOs thrive on being able to play with other people. You need a critical mass of people or you don't succeed. And even if it's not competing for dollars with WoW, it definitely competes with time. It has to be the next big game, on top of being able to do anything else. That means character customization, balanced abilities, lots of player interaction. World building. Oof.

So, I thought to myself for the first time today, what about Facebook social games? They're yet more popular and mainstream than WoW, they have to be designed to be graphically non-intensive, so more people can play, and it's really easy to invite others to play. But the money problems are still an issue, although you might be able to get away with having players purchase virtual goods in micro-transactions. The start-up would be a lot smaller. But it still needs servers and art and agreements and a thousand different things I don't know about yet. I'm not an economist or an artist or even a programmer. I'm a lab tech. Is my idea even feasible?

Views: 31

Comment by John D. Boyden on March 20, 2010 at 2:53pm
A marvellously thoughtful post, Joanna. +1 Entreprenuership. All ideas are possible. We have right here a socially responsible game with over 9000 players signed up, real world prizes and real world goals of awareness, innovation and calls to actiion. The easiest way is broadening out this game (and a thousand other simiilar ones could be created focussing on any series of problems in a similar way. They could be marketed into an ongoing web/console game. Corporation backing, entry fees into test modules, advertisers could be roped in for donations, product sales could have a small donation added, What do others think? I'm requesting a discussion here. What more could be done?
Comment by Lim Zhen Jiang on March 20, 2010 at 3:38pm
Hi Joanna. I think that creating a game is definitely possible, but you need to know that game makers are most concerned about profits. To create a game like an MMORPG would take a lot of efforts from the creators. If its not deemed to be commercially successful, I doubt people will take the initiative to do it. I am a MMORPG gamer myself and I have seen and played my share of MMORPGs. It's very sad that a great game gets discontinued and shut down because of funding
Comment by Nate B on March 20, 2010 at 6:09pm
Hey, Joanna question, what if the issue was place in the WoW game, just as it is in the real world but in the game characters could see their efforts actually cause a benefit ?! (I envision a dark gloomy area becoming a garden of eden) I believe that people are reluctant to donate to charities because instead of buying something tangible for themselves, they often kiss their cash goodbye to see little result from their good deed.
Install a problem within the game, that reflects an issue in the real world create links and additional information IF people want to look further, but don't try to educate people that don't want to be educated, it's counter productive... lol. Fixing a hypothetical problem in an imaginary world could directly relate to fixing a problem in the real world.
Comment by Joanna Chaplin on March 21, 2010 at 3:26am
Nate: That's a great idea, a simplified version of the real world. Perhaps it could start small, and then add on new places. That's much better than all my other ideas so far. Lim Zhen Jiang (not sure how to shorten your name): I have also played my share of MMORPGs, and I know that making money is why they work at all, which is why I considered changing my idea to a Facebook game. The big problem is that I am the wrong field to even start working on it. I'm busy this weekend, but perhaps I will start a discussion group and link it back here, and I can start breaking the problem down into smaller chunks.
Comment by Edrian on March 21, 2010 at 6:25am
There's no impossbility for a willing and passionate heart!

That's gonna be a taugh one! Implanting the world adversities into the game would definitely be a hard one because everyday, new major problems arise. There are common and same problems, but in each country, they are addressed differently. The MMORPS would really find it hard to update the game mission.

Anyway, that's really a great idea. Maybe you should contact major MMORPGS game makers and collaborate with them. I'll help you promote a campaign about this.
Comment by Nick Heyming on March 21, 2010 at 6:59am
I'm sure whatever you come up with will be better than farmville.
Comment by André Boeing on March 21, 2010 at 9:17am
I´ve been working with World of Warcraft (WoW) gamers for almost 2 years now using the existing infrastructure of a game to offer edutaining "Game in Game" experiences within them. The "How (else) can we play a game ?" thing (cheap btw

For example: We did a "Peacebuilding" series in Warcraft. The quest(ion) was: if we want to bring peace into one of the hot conflict zones within WoW - how would we do it ? Players were invited to roleplay this epic quest, research strategies (UN Peacemaker Portal, etc.) and share about it.

Another one: our weekly Virthuater Group (Virtual Theater) . We play Legislative Theater with our virtual puppets (chars) - a technique of the Theater of the Opressed by Augusto Boal, who developed it as a city counselor of Rio de Janeiro.

On our Guild site @ http://www.orden-der-seelenhueter.de (German) we reward players with experience points and achievements for participating in game play quests like the ones mentioned above.

So playing for fundraising is a great idea Joanna ! @the same time we can do the bottom up thing: "inspiring Social impact Game Play and rewarding the players just as they know it from WoW"
Comment by Jake C on March 21, 2010 at 10:12am
I need to mention that there was a game developer, CCP Games, that DID do this in there sandbox-space based MMO, Eve Online. Over 300,000 subscribers came together, myself included, to purchase PLEX's with in-game currency that was 100% converted to cash for the Haiti Disaster Relief fund totaling over $40,000. PLEX's are "Pilot License Extensions" that normally allow a player to purchase more game time without having to open there wallet by using a huge amount of in-game currency.

One player donated 341 PLEX's which has an in-game value of more then 88 billion ISK and that equates to a cash donation of almost $6,000 alone.

And CCP Games went about it the right way, they did not add any ads or out-of-place postings with in the game. The only thing changed was at the log in screen they posted a bulletin once about the effort and that you had an option to select a "Normal PLEX" or the "Donation PLEX." The only reward was knowing that your hard earned ISK was being honored with a cash donation by CCP Games.

I am an avid Blizzard fan and have to admit my disappointment in there lack of action.

As to answer your question in my opinion, I think you have a great idea, however I don't think the Facebook style games are the way to go. The companies that run them are looking for a quick buck and while are very simple to put together and maintain, I don't personally put any value behind them. Your friend had the right idea to lobby a larger, stable and consumer oriented company for a fundraiser, as they have not only the resources to financially back the money raised but can also implement the means to do it quickly and maximize the effect. The other thing I think about is like the ideas taken from "Innovation in Africa." The idea is to help and affect the lives of millions, so why not tap a resource, or in this case company, that by themselves can reach millions that want to help millions of others but might not know how or be able to financially help themselves.

As a former WoW player, fellow gamer and Social Innovator in-the-making, I would be more then willing to donate my time and efforts to help foster and grow your idea, should you choose to continue and make this happen. I really think it's something that will not only help those in need but also have positive moral implications for those that donate.

+1 Creativity and +1 Vision my friend!
Comment by Jen Shaffer on March 21, 2010 at 1:57pm
You have some good ideas. I am not a gamer - EVOKE is actually a pretty foreign idea to me. I wish you luck. It looks like there are some folks responding here that have some experience that would be good to draw on.
Comment by John D. Boyden on March 21, 2010 at 9:36pm
My applause and thank yous to all those who responded to my request that you help out Joanna! The total posts met, but did not xceed my expectations. Hopefully a few more game experts will add their thoughts :)

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