Chapter 12: Raising Real Money in a Virtual World{0}
Holidays are and time of giving is among us. Giving to those who are in need is important. It shows that people care about others. One group of people are very caring, they donated money to charities and did so in an unconventional way. The group of people is the online users, specifically SecondLife users. Four years ago, visitors from SecondLife.com staged a marathon that raised $5,000 for the American Cancer Society. SecondLife users had their avatars walk around in loops to raise money, a virtual marathon for charity. This year, the same event raised an astonishing $270,000. In addition to the virtual marathon, users bought clothes, shoes, and hair for their avatars. It was incredible, real money was raised in a virtual world.
There were other forms of raising real money through the use of virtual worlds. In the winter of 2008, PayPal allowed users of Facebook to regift a fruitcake and send it to their friends. Each time the fruitcake was sent to another friend, PayPal donated one dollar to one of six charities. By the end of the duration of the event, PayPal donated a total of $122,000 to six charities in forty days. The success of the operation was due to the ease of participating. Target also donated money to charity through the use of Facebook. Target donated 3 million dollars to the charity that got the most votes from Facebook users. St. Jude Children Hospital was the beneficiary of the donation with over 77,000 votes. The American Red Cross was a close second, falling short of a couple hundred votes. They received donations from Target as well. Charities from Target’s operations received exposure as well as donations. Charities that did not have the highest votes saw their fan base grow significantly. Sony participated as well. Everquest is an online role playing game that is similar to World of Warcraft. Everquest users who donated five dollars to Child’s Play, a charity that sends games to children’s hospitals, received an ornament for their character. It raised $21,000.
It is nice to see that charities are benefitting from online and virtual world users. It shows that these users care about the real world as much as they do the virtual world. These donators do not receive anything in a physical form and this display even more about their generosity.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/giving/12VIRTUAL.html?_r=1&scp=7&sq=Virtual&st=cse