Mother 3 for Haiti

[tyrran]

As we all know, people have dug deep within themselves to try and find ways to bring attention and support to Haiti. Between iTunes albums, texting donations and massive tabletop game sales, people have certainly generated a lot of support and interest. A new, more limited and certainly interesting approach has been brought forward, and is running for 24 hours only.
Sergei Vasilyeu, the administrator of www.superhappypixelfuntime.net is doing a straight through, beginning to end play of the translated edition of Mother 3, and is streaming it live over uStream. He hopes to get some donations to the Red Cross through this particular stunt(?) and has almost accrued 100 dollars US already. Not only is he playing the game STRAIGHT, he is narrating the entire thing. The. Entire. Thing. If nothing else, this is definitely an amusing and first attempt.
Definitely check out the festivities over at www.superhappypixelfuntime.net, sit in on the chat for a moment, and be sure to watch a bit of this game. Not only is it a great testament to fantastic 2d games in a 3d world, it's a tribute to the amazing translation work done by dedicated fans. Also, anyone who donates five dollars or more is automatically entered into the drawing of a super secret prize that will be announced at the end of the playthrough.
A good cause, an unusual way to generate donations, and Mother 3. check it out!

 

[zeromac]

Sounds interesting

 

[tyrran]

Sounds interesting

So far, it is. Especially if you're a fool like me and haven't actually played the game yet. Oh the distractions of the world...

 

[jesterscourt]

According to the site, he left for a "15 minute break" 9 hours ago (to sleep?) Hrm.

 

[Crass]

Im just gonna copypasta what I wrote on the DS-Scene.net forums regarding this same topic, with a few sentences added:
While I think this is a neat idea (albeit not a very original one, they been doing this kind of fundraisers for Childs Play for years) I am a bit worried as to where all the donation money is going. Anyone can make a chip in account, and put Red Cross on the top, but that doesn't actually prove this is going to help anyone at all, other than the OP. Watch it for the entertainment value, and if you feel the need, donate your money to a KNOWN and TRUSTED charity, and not to a possible scammer.


One other thing that makes me think this is a scammer is this same post is being spammed on other forums, and if it were a true charity (like for Childs Play) they would have real media attention(hello kotaku, gonintendo, anyone?!?), and not a amateurish spam campaign. Just my 2 cents.

The people who prey off the suffering of others (in this case, using Haiti as a leverage to steal donations) are the worst type of people on this world.

 

[soulfire]

i think it's great what he is doing

trying to help with his own way.

 

[tyrran]

Hey Crass. I posted on both this forum and the ds-scene, and the reason I copy and pasted is that I came into the event about 20 minutes late. I stumbled onto it by accident, and wanted to spread word fast. If you notice, I actually wrote here before I wrote over on DS-scene. I also sent over information to joystiq and kotaku, but it never got picked up. More than likely, it was received after Sergei's computer crashed, so when they went to the website, there was nothing there. The reason the campaign seems so "amateurish" is that the event was only really broadcast to the Earthbound communities (earthboundcentral, starmen.net) and, though the followers are dedicated, the numbers aren't high. So those of us viewing the event took it into our own hands since the charity was already active and we had so few people tuned in (about 30).
As for the potential for the scam, I understand, agree and sympathize that there have been a large number of evil people preying on the Haitian crisis. A lot of these people simply put up Paypal adverts or similar dumping grounds and try to drain charity out of those who care. Speaking as someone who's done a bit of donating in various trusted mediums (iTunes and musicforrelief.org) I haven't encountered the bogus collections. I won't rule out the possibility that it is a scam, as I don't know this guy personally, nor am a Red Cross member to confirm the ChipIn. However, times of trouble should not develop into times of cynicism. If you really feel that the money won't be going to the correct charities, alright, fair enough. Please, though, consider that there really are some good people out there, and I sincerely hope this is one of them.
I'll be x-posting back to ds-scene.

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

Meh. Even the drivethruRPG offer sound more credible than this. Okay, maybe the guy's really going to give the money to Haiti, but who knows? Better just donate directly to Haiti instead of through some fishy medium.

 

[skunkchop]

Hey. Sorry for reviving an oldish topic, but I'm a good real-life friend of the guy who did the Mother 3 for Haiti thing. I can definitely say it was not a scam.
It's horrible that people would actually do that to get money, but my friend is NOT one of those people. Haiti relief got that much farther because of him. Rest easy.

Incidentally, I think it might be wise to donate directly to some credible source instead of to an unfamiliar face. What he did is raise Haiti relief attention through Mother fans.
Be cautious of who you give your money to.