Posts with tag make-a-wish

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WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

World of Warcraft is without a doubt a massive cultural phenomenon unlike any other online game to date. It has given us countless hours of entertainment, introduced friends and couples to one another, and touched the lives of millions. For some, the game has made a bad situation better, or even -- in at least one case -- possibly saved their lives. For others, it has cost them everything.

Fair warning: This column describes some intense and tragic events.

Hans and the moose

In 2007, twelve-year-old Hans Jørgen Olsen of Norway and his sister (ten) decided to take a shortcut through a garden on their way to school. The choice would prove fateful. A moose had wandered into the area and promptly took a dislike to the children.

"It ran straight towards us when it saw us," Hans told Norwegian news station Nettavisen. "I screamed at it to scare the moose, but I soon realized that it was not going to stop. Then I turned and ran and ran until I couldn't run faster."

The charging moose caught up to Hans and slammed into him. His backpack cushioned the blow, but the impact knocked Hans to the ground.

Unsatisfied, the moose remained. "We held eye contact for a while," Hans said, "and then it suddenly struck me."

Sometimes it's not the biggest events that demonstrate how a love of World of Warcraft can inspire real-world achievements. Sometimes it's the tallest. When McChoppy of Cenarion Circle (US) heard about a Make-A-Wish event that would send him down the side of a 32-story Austin, Texas, high-rise to raise money for children with life-threatening medical conditions, the first thing that leapt to his mind was WoW's Going Down? achievement. It was fate both online and off -- he knew this was one achievement combo he just had to nab.

By drumming up a fat pledge total for Make-A-Wish's Austin Over the Edge, McChoppy earned a spot along with more than 170 other supporters to rappel off the edge of the city high-rise. The project raised more than $175,000 for Make-A-Wish, enough to cover 260 wishes for kids in central and south Texas this year.

So was his real-life slide slightly scarier than the somewhat silly splatter McChoppy scores in the more seemly spaces of Stormwind? With no spirit healer in sight as he perched on the edge 32 stories up -- resoundingly so!

Beebles created In My Moonkin Life to help raise the community's awareness of the Moonkin Hatchling. For every hatchling sold through the Blizzard store between Nov. 29 until Dec. 31, 2010, Blizzard will donate 50 percent of the purchase price to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The video features Beebles taking a tour of Azeroth with his loyal companion. It's a great little video that's trying to help a great charity, so my hat's off to Beebles for the effort.

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Yes, that's right. During the ATVI earnings report conference call today, Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment, announced that the Moonkin Hatchling will be available for purchase later this month, as he had already stated at BlizzCon. In addition, 50 percent of the proceeds from the sale will go to charity. The last time Blizzard did something similar, it raised $1.1 million for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Can the hatchling possibly dethrone the Pandaren Monk as the most adorable charity money generator?

Gregg's speculation on whether or not we'd see more charity pets seems confirmed. Were you already planning on picking one up, and if not, does this news make it any more likely?

Blizzard made a donation of over $1.1 million to the Make-A-Wish Foundation yesterday in a special presentation held in Irvine, California. This was 50% of the total sales of the Pandaren Monk Pet in November and December of last year. Blizzard invited 15 Wish children and their families to the ceremony and also to hang out with the WoW developers and learn how the game is made.

Blizzard has a long standing relationship with Make-A-Wish. The story of Ezra is heartwarming, though tragic. Mike Morhaime also thanked the players:

This donation also reflects the spirit and generosity of our players -- their enthusiasm for World of Warcraft and for supporting a good cause made this possible.

Purchasing the Pandaren Monk pet no longer donates money to the cause, but is still available at the Blizzard Store.

In an unexpected and strange twist in Blizzard's latest microtransaction saga, the Pandaren Monk vanity pet has apparently sold out on the Blizzard pet store. A mere week after the in-game pets were announced for sale on Blizzard's new pet store, the Pandaren Monk can no longer be purchased on US realms (as of this writing, it is still available on the Blizzard EU and Blizzard KR stores).

That the Pandaren Monk would sell out comes as a surprise because, well, it's a virtual item. It's like Agent Smith. It never runs out. Unless, of course, Blizzard designed it that way, in which case there must have been a massive failure of communication somewhere down the line because it doesn't say anything about the Pandaren Monk being a limited item anywhere. It's also notable that Blizzard had committed to donating 50% of all proceeds from Pandaren Monk sales to the Make-a-Wish Foundation all the way through December 31. If the Pandaren Monk were to disappear, it should at least be expected to last until the end of 2009, right?

We think this is an inventory error, where some number had to be inserted into the Blizzard Store's inventory management system, like some number "over 9000". Likely this will be easily corrected, and when it is, we'll update this post accordingly.

UPDATE 11:30am ET: Blizzard is looking into the matter, which should assuage most people's fears that the item is indeed sold out.

UPDATE 2:00pm ET: The Pandaren Monk is now back in stock and available for purchase! It was just a glitch in the Matrix, people. Nothing to see here.

Thanks to Papa Shok for the tip.

You may remember the story of Ezra Chatterton. He and his father played together in Azeroth, using the World of Warcraft to spend quality time with one another. Ezra had a brain tumor. Thanks to help from the Make-A-Wish foundation and Blizzard, Ezra was able to live out some of his dream of being a game developer. You can see his influence in the Merciless Gladiator's Crossbow of the Phoenix, which is finely crafted to ePhoenix's specification. Ezra was the rider for the first phoenix mount in game. But, only a few months ago, we heard the frightening news that Ezra had suffered a stroke.

Reader Sedna directed us to Ezra's web site for the saddening news. Ezra passed away on Monday, October 20th, at 10PM pacific time. We at WoW Insider would like to offer our sympathies to Ezra's family. Both they and Ezra are in our thoughts. His story was an inspiring one, and we will not forget ePhoenix.

(Edit: We are turning off comments for the evening. We thank everyone for their positive thoughts, and are happy to see so many warm feelings from the community for someone who deserves them.)

Some time ago, Blizzard helped Make A Wish fulfill the wish of Ezra Chatteron, young boy with brain cancer, to be a game designer for a day. He was able to design Ahab Wheathoof and his quest, as well as get his character name on an arena crossbow. It's a nice gesture, and good proof that Blizzard does have a heart.

Unfortunately, things have not been going so well for Ezra lately, as OC Register reports that he recently suffered a stroke. Micah, Ezra's father, reports that he was doing well up until the stroke, and was enjoying playing around with possible new talent builds for his character in Wrath of the Lich King. He can communicate again, but is plague by pain, vision problems, lethargy, and weakness on his right side. While his outlook is currently grave, both he and his father are hoping that a new round of treatments will work.

We here at WoW Insider would like to wish Ezra and his father all the best and a swift recovery, and like Gadgetress, we hope to one day interview him as a developer on a future Blizzard game. If you'd like to send him your own well wishes, you can do so at ephoenix at earthlink dot net.

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?

I've spent some time working with charities over the years, and I've been in many companies that donated time and effort towards a charitable cause. That said, this is the first time I've seen anything like this done. (And pardon me if I gush a bit, but this is one of the reasons I'm a devoted Blizzard fangirl.)

Recently Blizzard had the honor to have a 10-year old join their Development team - if only for one day. You see the boy, Ezra Chatterton, has a brain tumor. The diagnosis is not too good. But despite the news, and facing a lot of treatment, Ezra's wanted one thing and one thing only since he woke up in the hospital -- to be allowed to play World of Warcraft.