Hmm. It's odd to me that people feel the need to qualify themselves by being charitable when it doesn't affect them in any way and has little affect on the community they're donating to.
That said, I am not selfish nor sadistic. I am simply pragmatic.
Pragmatic is good.
Chats real opinion...
Are you a better person because you donated a few dollars to some charity and then... Not much else? (other than you telling all your friends about the exact amount you donated so that the friends can go "awww, thats so nice of you" bonus points if you tell them in a sms)
Or... Actually do something... Volunteer work is nice. Then you can actually say that you did something for another human being and be slightly proud about it.
Sadly in this society where time is important and stress is very high... Donating money is easier. (kinda... with the economy and all)
But it doesn't make it any less cheap. (in terms of what you actually do)
Like here in sweden... Odds are that buying one of those welfare packages thingies for whatever country(yes... Chat is rather uninterested in it) are going to be the most popular xmas present.
On the plus side... No more wooly shirts from grandma!
Besides... Do you wanna know just how much of the money you are donating actually goes to those that need? There has been several scandals recently about high bonuses in some charity organisations.
And *censor*! What a long post... Ahem... The Pencil man is doing the right thing. A teddy for a kid is better than no teddy. He is making some effort for this.
Disclamer: This is Chats opinion and you have absolutelytotely your own that most likely is different than hers.
ps. Chat haerd there is a iPhone app that donates moniez. <---sarcasm for the sake of sarcasm
Chats real opinion...
Are you a better person because you donated a few dollars to some charity and then... Not much else? (other than you telling all your friends about the exact amount you donated so that the friends can go "awww, thats so nice of you" bonus points if you tell them in a sms)
Or... Actually do something... Volunteer work is nice. Then you can actually say that you did something for another human being and be slightly proud about it.
Sadly in this society where time is important and stress is very high... Donating money is easier. (kinda... with the economy and all)
But it doesn't make it any less cheap. (in terms of what you actually do)
Like here in sweden... Odds are that buying one of those welfare packages thingies for whatever country(yes... Chat is rather uninterested in it) are going to be the most popular xmas present.
On the plus side... No more wooly shirts from grandma!
Besides... Do you wanna know just how much of the money you are donating actually goes to those that need? There has been several scandals recently about high bonuses in some charity organisations.
And *censor*! What a long post... Ahem... The Pencil man is doing the right thing. A teddy for a kid is better than no teddy. He is making some effort for this.
Disclamer: This is Chats opinion and you have absolutelytotely your own that most likely is different than hers.
ps. Chat haerd there is a iPhone app that donates moniez. <---sarcasm for the sake of sarcasm
Well said.
Unfortunately, I still don't think needy children require teddy bears. In fact, I believe they'd be better off with the actual pens and pencils.
This whole thing bothers me though. Why not just donate teddy bears to needy children if you think that's what they could use? Why involve us in it? Do you actually refrain from donating more bears when you don't get more items? To me, these types of things seem like obvious ploys for attention.
Go be charitable if that's what makes you happy, but involving other people by asking them for redundant and arbitrary support is counterproductive.
Really, you think that being an "upstanding forumite" makes you trustworthy?
brb, writing up a story about my sister's operable brain cancer that I can't afford the treatment, requiring an urgent donation of several thousand dollars to a Paypal account. You can trust me, I'm an upstanding forumite!
I'm pretty sure some kind of third party accounting would be a good idea for anything where donations are taken by someone who is, in effect, anonymous :-P
Anyway, as I said many pages ago, I'm all for anyone who wants to donate to charity in some fashion, regardless of ulterior motives or method chosen. But lets keep a level head about reality. Reading someone's posts on the interwebs does not bring someone to the "blindly trust you with my money" stage.
He requested Matching pen and pencil sets and thats still all that hes requesting. Personally if I was doing the same thing and someone offered to donate actual cash instead I would be a fool not to accept and use it to assist in whatever endavor I was a part of. He hasn't asked for a dime from anybody and the Devs of CO itself have basically endorsed this and are also trying to get the whole community in on it. By doing such they put thier company name on this as well and that alone takes alot of trust into one of their subs.
As for Freeport, I still have my old teddybear from back when I was 4 years old. I'm 28 now and hope to someday give it to my son or daughter when that time comes.
Again however, The Mighty Pencil has never requested any sort of cash donation directly, Only the matching pen and Pencil sets. If someone feels like they would rather donate actual funds to assist in this endavor, more power to them. Especially when it wasn't even offered as a option in the first place.
Christmas time is supposed to be a time of giving and helping out your fellow human beings in some form or another. I've already been spending time working at a soup kitchen here where I live for the homeless trying to make a difference with the people that helped me change my own. I used to eat at that same place that I now volunteer my time at to help out others as I was helped out. That's what the holidays are about.
If you can't understand this, then I feel sorry for you. (this goes out to everybody)
Do you actually refrain from donating more bears when you don't get more items? To me, these types of things seem like obvious ploys for attention.
You don't see community motivation here? Let's say, Pencil has 20 bucks which he wants to donate. That's a generous amount by anyone's terms. Anything more than zero is more than zero, right? But, pencil sparks an idea. "Instead of donating my usual 20 bucks to a charity, I'll tell the community to band together and raise interest on my donations. If I get X amount of this, I'll donate X amount, above and beyond what I usually do."
There is zero wrong with piping up the community to push you to be more charitable.
Hopefully the moderators wipe out the negative comments in this thread once again, but I'll just say this. You people that find negative things to say about someone utilizing the community we have here to donate to needy children are absolutely ridiculous.
Why not just be happy to see that so many people are participating, who normally wouldn't give, in a casual and cool player-run event?
You turds are basically saying that his form of giving to the needy is unworthy. You all need a good smack in the face.
Just saying, heads up, best to be careful, because it could be too easy for things to be interpretted otherwise, seeing as sadly, charity scams are run every holiday season, sad fact but true.
So I'd take the better to be safe than sorry approach and make sure you have everything all nicely covered and official.
Last thing the concept of charity needs is even the suspicion of malice, let alone CO itself, so I'd suggest be safe and dont' leave any room for suspicion.
I see no reason for people not to believe I'm being honest.
I'm not a troll, and I haven't lied to any of you once.
StygianRenegade said it most proper. The people you have seen offer me real hard money have all been declined. I even said that earlier in the thread about how I was worried of legal issues from gathering real money.
Originally Posted by Mr.Funsocks
Really, you think that being an "upstanding forumite" makes you trustworthy?
brb, writing up a story about my sister's operable brain cancer that I can't afford the treatment, requiring an urgent donation of several thousand dollars to a Paypal account. You can trust me, I'm an upstanding forumite!
You're the epitome of upstanding, but I'd rather not get off-topic with all the things you're doing to bring our community into a tighter knit group.
I'm pretty sure some kind of third party accounting would be a good idea for anything where donations are taken by someone who is, in effect, anonymous :-P
There are enormous businesses around my town that are already aware of what I'm doing. The biggest one being an entire school district, with a few scattered in between, not to mention the Build A Bear in my local mall I went to and spoke with. You want third party, you have it now.
You'll also get pictures of me surrendering the bears to Salvation Army. Maybe you'll get the pictures of me giving a few bears directly, but that one depends on wether or not the people are comfortable with it.
You'll also get pictures of me surrendering the bears to Salvation Army. Maybe you'll get the pictures of me giving a few bears directly, but that one depends on wether or not the people are comfortable with it.
Chat is wishing for a picture of the army pointing a gun at your head and yelling at you to hand over the goods.
What?
Ahem... What you are doing is good. A bit meh in Chats world but still good.
Some say potaters and Chat lsay tomatoes.
Awesome event Mighty Pencil! I don't know which Build-a-Bear you are considering, but this one might be good: Champ - A Champion Fur Kids
You'd be giving a bear who is a 'Champion' even if he's not a superhero (or a giant rampaging cyborg) and you'd get a little extra charity bang for your buck.
To everyone on the thread who is posting about how much better they are because they donate at Christmas and nobody knows about it:
Congratulations! Now we know, you "drew attention to yourself", and we can all question your real motives for telling us and the veracity of your claims of sincerity and charity instead of Mighty Pencil's.
Merry Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or Solstice, or Voodoo Day.
PS: I know everyone likes to donate during the "season for giving", but the less fortunate have needs throughout the entire year. If you don't like the holidays, give during the summer when foodbanks and other assistance programs receive significantly less donations, especially from the general public.
The Champion Friend thing was something I would like but don't have the money for. I can't give anything extra this year because of financial problems. I can only give a standard 10$ bear.
If everything goes okay with the way I planned it, I may even consider matching the amount all of you earn. I even got a rather spooky email that explained the head CEO of Build A Bear would be more than happy to match the bears we earn. I'm going to try and contact her later.
PS: I know everyone likes to donate during the "season for giving", but the less fortunate have needs throughout the entire year. If you don't like the holidays, give during the summer when foodbanks and other assistance programs receive significantly less donations, especially from the general public.
This is good.
I'm trying to bring a community that I like being part of together for the holidays, in order to participate in giving real life things to real life children. That being said, none of you have any idea what I do to give back to my community during times that are not the holidays. So I'd appreciate it if you stopped thinking I was doing it to grab attention.
I'm an eight foot tall pencil hero, getting attention wasn't very hard before this event.
Ah, see, I haven't been paying attention, from the last few comments it was my understanding that people actually had started giving you money in some fashion. I was merely remarking on the notion that being famous on the forums was enough qualification for that level of trust.
I dun really care whether or not you actually donate anything from the 5n worth of in-game items people send in. I mean, I do, but I'll take your word on that
By making this post, I'm probably gonna be accused of waving an e-peen. Whatever. But I'm speaking as a guy who's done stuff for various charities. I'm speaking as a guy who's studying a masters degree that includes fundraising for non-profit organisations.
So here's the thing:
Fundraising for charity isn't always about making money. Sure, if you actually make money, that's great. That's fantastic.
But by talking about what you're doing...you raise awareness about the cause.
It doesn't matter if the money ain't much. If you can get folks involved, if you can get the community thinking about children in need...you've already won.
Fundraising for charity isn't always about making money. Sure, if you actually make money, that's great. That's fantastic.
Well what bothers me, is that people still think I'm getting real money out of this.
I'm not getting any sort of compensation for this event other than a spammed item bank of pencil sets. The developers even suggested to me that I sell some because i'm having issues with room. If I were to sell the pen and pencils, i'd be making profit for myself.
It looks like that's what i'm going to have to do, though. I'll give a list at the end of the event on how much those pencils made.
A friend gave me the idea of doing something yet again with all those globals, and I'm thinking a generic Costume Contest, amazing huh?
Mr. Pencil is asking for an electronic blip on a computer screen... a small bit of binary code representing a pen and pencil set... he is not from Namibia asking for cash for a plane ticket because he is stuck in country due to a large explosion at a rubber band factory that killed his entire family. He is not asking you to donate cash, or anything tangible that you can hold in your hand, unless you can hold computer code in your hand.
If you fall for his "scam", what have you really lost? A little time? Perhaps a little bit of faith in humanity? Big deal.
After what happened in America with the banking industry and Wall Street taking people's life savings and flushing them down the toilet I am prepared to put my faith in a guy who says he is going to do something nice for kids who are less fortunate than we are. I have been at a point in my life where I lost everything, was homeless and could not afford to get my kids anything for Christmas. Had it not been for the kindness of others, the emptiness I felt during the holiday season would have consumed me... as it was, I got gifts for my kids that were donated to a local charity.
Shame on the nay-sayers. So don't participate if you think you are being taken for a ride. Won't that be a shock when you see that this guy actually does what he says he will?
I spent a few hours already looking for pen and pencil sets. Every time I open a package in CO I am hoping for another set so I can fill his mailbox. If I am being scammed I guess I could fall for something much more fool hearty than supporting the Mighty Pencil.
I salute you Sir and I do hope that your campaign is a success!
Mr. Pencil is asking for an electronic blip on a computer screen... a small bit of binary code representing a pen and pencil set... he is not from Namibia asking for cash for a plane ticket because he is stuck in country due to a large explosion at a rubber band factory that killed his entire family. He is not asking you to donate cash, or anything tangible that you can hold in your hand, unless you can hold computer code in your hand.
If you fall for his "scam", what have you really lost? A little time? Perhaps a little bit of faith in humanity? Big deal.
After what happened in America with the banking industry and Wall Street taking people's life savings and flushing them down the toilet I am prepared to put my faith in a guy who says he is going to do something nice for kids who are less fortunate than we are. I have been at a point in my life where I lost everything, was homeless and could not afford to get my kids anything for Christmas. Had it not been for the kindness of others, the emptiness I felt during the holiday season would have consumed me... as it was, I got gifts for my kids that were donated to a local charity.
Shame on the nay-sayers. So don't participate if you think you are being taken for a ride. Won't that be a shock when you see that this guy actually does what he says he will?
I spent a few hours already looking for pen and pencil sets. Every time I open a package in CO I am hoping for another set so I can fill his mailbox. If I am being scammed I guess I could fall for something much more fool hearty than supporting the Mighty Pencil.
I salute you Sir and I do hope that your campaign is a success!
This.
Also, if it's a scam, it's a really bad scam, as the Matching Pen and Pencil sets are, in game terms, essentially worthless. Mighty_Pencil also stands to lose a lot more than he does to gain if it is a scam - how dumb would it be to get the devs involved in a charity drive and then do something underhanded with it? Not only that, but overall community opinion. No, I don't think that this is a scam, and I've not doubted it for a second.
That being said, what do you have to lose? Personally, I was going to be sending the Matching Pen and Pencil sets to Mighty_Pencil either way, just to fill up his UNTIL mailbox and do something amusing with an otherwise worthless item. Much more interesting to send the items along to someone who has a creative character whose concept matches the item than to just vendor it along with all of the other crap in your bags. And, in this case, you're benefiting a charity as well... I don't think that we could ask for anything more.
Well Dementia thinks we should all support the mighty pencil in making a few tots days filled with fun.
After all what do we have to loose when we can make a difference in one tots day?
Mighty_Pencil has thought of a creative way to run a charity drive, and we're happy to support it by giving it some publicity.
He has indeed. And the publicity you're giving it is worthy of kudos. I just sent my pencils in to the mighty one. I wish Mr. Pencil success and holiday cheer!
(I also sent in my socks to Mr. Funsocks).
I am currently buried in about two feet of snow, so I don't think I'll be going out at all this weekend to do last minute holiday shopping. So Millennium City is stuck with ye ole Fist Punch. So I might be getting some more of those pencil sets to send in!
Folks, these discussions are getting a little out of hand. Mighty_Pencil has thought of a creative way to run a charity drive, and we're happy to support it by giving it some publicity. You are welcome to participate or not participate as you choose, but it's not appropriate to come into this thread and question his motives or process.
Yes, donating directly to a charity is a wonderful thing. But sometimes, doing something creative encourages more people to get involved and help out than they normally would. How many people were actually planning on donating to a charity during the holidays? Of those who weren't, how many do you think are contributing to this event by sending Mighty_Pencil a few pens and pencils? As long as the answer is "More than zero", this event has been a success, in my eyes.
You couldn't have said it better myself.
And I think Mighty_Pencil is doing awesome for this. I have some pen and pencils on a character that I will be happy to give to you in order to see this happen. This is a season of giving.
While I cannot afford much to charity myself, the most chartible thing I DID do this year? Gave an abandoned Pug a brand new home and a family to love and cherish her while volunteering to an organization to help more like her get a new home.
Not all of us give to charity but I am sure some of us are doing what we can this holiday season.
The Entirety of The Continuum is behind you on this one Pencil. The entire Guild knows and is spreading the word, even offering in the zones to purchase them from others for global to help out others in the game with the local currency as well as shipping all that we gather to you. Good luck in this and Happy Holidays.
personally I see no reason to question Pencils motives in this matter, from what I can tell hes been a upstanding forumite and started with just taking pencils and such. Someone offered to help him with cash instead to this endavor. Seeing how he started it in a free fashion with no risk what people offer to assist is apparently in thier own best intrest and to thier own ends.
Did you bother reading the actual words I wrote? Or did you just overwrite me with whatever it is you're saying up there?
Try reading my post and actually paying attention to the words this time.
That's not what I said....in the slightest.
What I had actually done was attempt to be helpful, offer a little guidance and a heads up.
Next time, I'll just jump to argue like you though.
I see no reason for people not to believe I'm being honest.
I'm not a troll, and I haven't lied to any of you once.
StygianRenegade said it most proper. The people you have seen offer me real hard money have all been declined. I even said that earlier in the thread about how I was worried of legal issues from gathering real money.
K well that's kind of the point here.
We don't know you. You're some person on a forum. Nobody has any reason to know anything about you, your motives, anything. You're just some guy I ran into back in beta, that doesn't mean I know anything about you or have any reason to think you're trustworthy, which was the whole point behind suggesting you take some precautions for your own sake if nothing else
I suggest you try reading my post this time. All I was trying to do was offering you a heads up and some guidance since I have to deal with charity work myself from time to time.
How you or anyone else took that as something to get bent out of shape over instead of maybe just taking the heads up and thanking me for taking the time to give you the heads up is beyond me.
So you're right, I'm sorry I attempted to help you, it was horrible of me and very classy of you to take it that way.
Did you bother reading the actual words I wrote? Or did you just overwrite me with whatever it is you're saying up there?
Try reading my post and actually paying attention to the words this time.
That's not what I said....in the slightest.
What I had actually done was attempt to be helpful, offer a little guidance and a heads up.
Next time, I'll just jump to argue like you though.
K well that's kind of the point here.
We don't know you. You're some person on a forum. Nobody has any reason to know anything about you, your motives, anything. You're just some guy I ran into back in beta, that doesn't mean I know anything about you or have any reason to think you're trustworthy, which was the whole point behind suggesting you take some precautions for your own sake if nothing else
I suggest you try reading my post this time. All I was trying to do was offering you a heads up and some guidance since I have to deal with charity work myself from time to time.
How you or anyone else took that as something to get bent out of shape over instead of maybe just taking the heads up and thanking me for taking the time to give you the heads up is beyond me.
So you're right, I'm sorry I attempted to help you, it was horrible of me and very classy of you to take it that way.
Yeah, VP, neither of those quotes were directed at you - I'm sure that your offer of help was taken as such. MP has just been catching a LOT of flak and having this whole thing called a scam outright, and both of those responses were directed at posts that said as much. You're not one of those people
I have seen people I know have run-ins with Pencil in CoX and also in CO. In chat channels in both games, I have seen Pencil be a PITA. On CoX, even on a channel I started and he joined and his first day in the channel he was a PITA.
I am saying this because I am no where near a Pencil fan. HOWEVER, people who had run-ins with Pencil in my SG are wanting to support this because it's just worthless game code that most of us throw away and don't even waste time going to a vendor to sell it. The price doesn't outweigh the real estate of our storage bags and time to run to a vendor.
I have volunteered to be the go-between the people and Pencil since I just always watched his actions but never had my run-in with him. So set up a tab in the SG bank to put them in and I will send them off to Pencil myself. And the person that Pencil collided with the most in the SG in both games was the same person who posted about this on the SG site applauding Pencil for this.
I think the people calling it a scam are thinking that Pencil is hoping to get some real world item (cash, gift, etc) for himself. So that would fall on those who gives him some real world item. If Cryptic wants to give, they should not go through Pencil. He linked the Build-A-Bear site and so they should just go through BAB as well or even give to another charity. They are promoting it by bringing awareness.
As someone said if it is some scam, it's a rather stupid one. It's not like Pencil is even asking for in-game items that are important to your toons. Even if you don't like the player, at least support this pretty creative idea.
And, to those who don't like MP, let's try to give so much he has to buy so many bears that he has to file for bankruptcy. Let's have some fun with this.
MP, since you have started this, it may be rough but posting the amounts a little more frequently would be a step in showing it's not a scam where you already planned to do a certain amount and this is just a way to bring attention to yourself instead of the cause. Probably a daily tally would go a long way.
btw, I am running out the door now but what is the latest to get to you for you to give something to some by the 25th? I was thinking since the event goes beyond that, maybe a cutoff date for 25th delivery would be in order as well. If there is, then I will send what we have by that date no matter how much it is. I wished I saw this at day one because I destroyed a bit before I was made aware of this.
I have seen people I know have run-ins with Pencil in CoX and also in CO. In chat channels in both games, I have seen Pencil be a PITA. On CoX, even on a channel I started and he joined and his first day in the channel he was a PITA.
I'm not sure that really is relevant to the event or even this thread.
I look at it like Charles Dickens. A lot of people didn't like Scrooge, and even thought he was a PITA. But come Christmas Day, he was quite jovial and filled with holiday cheer.
The charity drive should be about the charity drive. And personal stuff should be left to personal channels of communication.
Totally agree that personal stuff has nothing to do with the event ... but if you're suggesting that someone put together a short film about M_P being haunted by the spirit of his old partner, Mighty Matching Pen, and then the Crayon of the Past, the Paintbrush of the Present, and the Word Processor of the Future, I totally agree with that, too.
Totally agree that personal stuff has nothing to do with the event ... but if you're suggesting that someone put together a short film about M_P being haunted by the spirit of his old partner, Mighty Matching Pen, and then the Crayon of the Past, the Paintbrush of the Present, and the Word Processor of the Future, I totally agree with that, too.
MP, since you have started this, it may be rough but posting the amounts a little more frequently would be a step in showing it's not a scam where you already planned to do a certain amount and this is just a way to bring attention to yourself instead of the cause. Probably a daily tally would go a long way.
btw, I am running out the door now but what is the latest to get to you for you to give something to some by the 25th? I was thinking since the event goes beyond that, maybe a cutoff date for 25th delivery would be in order as well. If there is, then I will send what we have by that date no matter how much it is. I wished I saw this at day one because I destroyed a bit before I was made aware of this.
So far it was like two days inbetween the first and second posts, wasn't it? I hate to say this, but the people who need further proof I'm not being dishonest are the people who weren't going to donate in the first place. It's a strange sort of thing, some of the people I really liked have not been participating.
It takes a rather long time to sift through all the mail in my inbox, and even then, I have to write names down > Pencils in inventory > Bank Storage > Go back to UNITY mail > rinse repeat. When I told a few people that every second I leave the UNITY mailbox more mail comes, I was telling the truth. You can always catch me by a UNITY mail terminal if I'm not trying to farm the Steampunk pieces.
A cut-off date has to be a possibility by now, I was planning on running through a day after the event. That could cost me thousands of dollars at this rate. While thousands of dollars wouldn't be too hard a hit if I had a stable job, I'm inbetween work right now, so it is.
I'll inform a few people and the developers of this change immediately.
The end date for the Build A Bear Drive has been changed to the 25th of this December.
Your generous donations went far beyond my expectations.
I am so pleased to hear this. It makes me so happy to know that some kids will have something as a gift this holiday because a bunch of people who do not know each other did something wonderful together.
Your efforts here have been an inspiration to me. However many bears you eventually give away, I am going to donate $10 for each bear to The Salvation Army. They were the ones who helped me at one time and so they have a special place in my heart now.
I'm not sure that really is relevant to the event or even this thread.
I look at it like Charles Dickens. A lot of people didn't like Scrooge, and even thought he was a PITA. But come Christmas Day, he was quite jovial and filled with holiday cheer.
The charity drive should be about the charity drive. And personal stuff should be left to personal channels of communication.
I was saying that so not to be accused of supporting this because I am MP's friend or anything. And to also show that no matter how anyone would feel about MP, the cause is something to be applauded. Which a lot in this thread were making it about how they feel about MP himself. And I was showing even someone who witnessed his actions before and did not agree with them can still support this cause and look past personal feelings for the "messenger". Sorry if that failed to reach you. And mentioned CoX seeing MP because I saw some attack him in here that I got the impression just met him when CO started.
If you read it all, you would see that even with the past, I am in full support of what MP is doing and applaud him for it. I said earlier, it was pretty creative idea on his part how he came up with this. And the fact that a friend of mine who has never gotten along with MP is the one who posted it on our SG board what MP was doing and supported this was again to show the cause outweighs any thing that happened before through some internet game chat channels.
And I am not coming down on your for what you said because basically we were on the same page there.
I'd like to thank you for doing something like this. Thinking of others is one of the parts about this time of year that folks tend to forget about, especially when times are tough for most all of us.
The new Santa's Helper vendor requires 10,50, or 250 of each of the "vendor trash" items including Matching Pen and Pencils.
I know a random green, blue, or purple item for random collectibles you get while farming sounds cool.
But a teddy bear to a child that really needs one this time of year is far more cool. It may not seem like much but a stuffed animal can bring hope and comfort to a needy child like no other present can. Please remember this and save your Pen and Pencils for this wonderful charity.
And lets thank the Mighty_Pencil, (mightiest of the writing tools) for putting his own time, effort, and money into making this a great charity event. It doesn't matter if you trust people or don't. Lets set aside our differences and put faith in something other than ourselves. It's what this is all about, no matter your faith or lack there of, children need hope and comfort. We can give that to a few more and that's what this is really all about.
Even if you don't support this event. Please allow those of us who do to do so in peace.
Cryptic messed up putting this in late because now it opens MP up to the naysayers who will say that he knew this was coming by his comment saying what Daeke gave him.
Cryptic should not have done this after the charity drive was in full swing because it may stop people from trying to do this as well as give the naysayers ammunition.
Bad move, Cryptic, adding the vendors now. If they weren't there from the start then you should have left them out this year.
I'm conflicted by the vendors as well, because now I can actually use what was formerly trash. I have to make an actual sacrifice to help the needy
My decision: keep sending all P&P Sets to the drive until the 25th. After that, the drive will be over anyway - so then I can use my drops to buy stuff for myself.
Cryptic messed up putting this in late because now it opens MP up to the naysayers who will say that he knew this was coming by his comment saying what Daeke gave him.
Cryptic should not have done this after the charity drive was in full swing because it may stop people from trying to do this as well as give the naysayers ammunition.
Bad move, Cryptic, adding the vendors now. If they weren't there from the start then you should have left them out this year.
it already started the accusations of him scamming in chat. GG cryptic this doesn't look good. Cryptic needs to decide if they are for or against the cause. All they have to do is leave out the pen and pencil sets or reward those who give 1000 to charity.
it already started the accusations of him scamming in chat. GG cryptic this doesn't look good. Cryptic needs to decide if they are for or against the cause. All they have to do is leave out the pen and pencil sets or reward those who give 1000 to charity.
I was already trying to get Antiproton to conjure up a reward for everyone who has helped with the event.
This is the first i'm hearing of a trade-in NPC for those garbage items.
Wow, it really feels like they shafted the event.:(
Eh if anything the developers had this coming for a while. They probably knew this vendor trash was going to be unpopular so had to figure some way to do something with it, but couldn't have expected a charity event to go on. So don't take it personally.
Eh if anything the developers had this coming for a while. They probably knew this vendor trash was going to be unpopular so had to figure some way to do something with it, but couldn't have expected a charity event to go on. So don't take it personally.
Right well, before this patch went live they were already aware I was having a charity drive.
So it still feels like they shafted it.
When they did that it makes me look like a scammer who, according to people in zone chat, "Knew this was going to happen." Which I did not, I never saw any patch notes about an NPC for garbage items.
It hurts my rep when they do that, the least they could have done was wait until the 25th, when I stop taking the pencils.
For what its worth MP, I don't doubt you at all. You started this charity drive long before there was any inkling of a benefit to collecting the pen and pencil sets. Your heart was, and is, in the right place and your reputation is solid here. You have my, and my friends/family who play CO, admiration for your efforts.
You still need all the other "trash" items to buy the holiday crackers, so what good would having thousands of just Pen&Pencil Sets do to Mighty_Pencil anyway, since he'd have to farm the same amount of all the other stuff to use them?
Comments
Chats real opinion...
Are you a better person because you donated a few dollars to some charity and then... Not much else? (other than you telling all your friends about the exact amount you donated so that the friends can go "awww, thats so nice of you" bonus points if you tell them in a sms)
Or... Actually do something... Volunteer work is nice. Then you can actually say that you did something for another human being and be slightly proud about it.
Sadly in this society where time is important and stress is very high... Donating money is easier. (kinda... with the economy and all)
But it doesn't make it any less cheap. (in terms of what you actually do)
Like here in sweden... Odds are that buying one of those welfare packages thingies for whatever country(yes... Chat is rather uninterested in it) are going to be the most popular xmas present.
On the plus side... No more wooly shirts from grandma!
Besides... Do you wanna know just how much of the money you are donating actually goes to those that need? There has been several scandals recently about high bonuses in some charity organisations.
And *censor*! What a long post... Ahem... The Pencil man is doing the right thing. A teddy for a kid is better than no teddy. He is making some effort for this.
Disclamer: This is Chats opinion and you have absolutelytotely your own that most likely is different than hers.
ps. Chat haerd there is a iPhone app that donates moniez. <---sarcasm for the sake of sarcasm
Well said.
Unfortunately, I still don't think needy children require teddy bears. In fact, I believe they'd be better off with the actual pens and pencils.
This whole thing bothers me though. Why not just donate teddy bears to needy children if you think that's what they could use? Why involve us in it? Do you actually refrain from donating more bears when you don't get more items? To me, these types of things seem like obvious ploys for attention.
Go be charitable if that's what makes you happy, but involving other people by asking them for redundant and arbitrary support is counterproductive.
As for Freeport, I still have my old teddybear from back when I was 4 years old. I'm 28 now and hope to someday give it to my son or daughter when that time comes.
Again however, The Mighty Pencil has never requested any sort of cash donation directly, Only the matching pen and Pencil sets. If someone feels like they would rather donate actual funds to assist in this endavor, more power to them. Especially when it wasn't even offered as a option in the first place.
Christmas time is supposed to be a time of giving and helping out your fellow human beings in some form or another. I've already been spending time working at a soup kitchen here where I live for the homeless trying to make a difference with the people that helped me change my own. I used to eat at that same place that I now volunteer my time at to help out others as I was helped out. That's what the holidays are about.
If you can't understand this, then I feel sorry for you. (this goes out to everybody)
You don't see community motivation here? Let's say, Pencil has 20 bucks which he wants to donate. That's a generous amount by anyone's terms. Anything more than zero is more than zero, right? But, pencil sparks an idea. "Instead of donating my usual 20 bucks to a charity, I'll tell the community to band together and raise interest on my donations. If I get X amount of this, I'll donate X amount, above and beyond what I usually do."
There is zero wrong with piping up the community to push you to be more charitable.
Hopefully the moderators wipe out the negative comments in this thread once again, but I'll just say this. You people that find negative things to say about someone utilizing the community we have here to donate to needy children are absolutely ridiculous.
Why not just be happy to see that so many people are participating, who normally wouldn't give, in a casual and cool player-run event?
You turds are basically saying that his form of giving to the needy is unworthy. You all need a good smack in the face.
I'm not a troll, and I haven't lied to any of you once.
StygianRenegade said it most proper. The people you have seen offer me real hard money have all been declined. I even said that earlier in the thread about how I was worried of legal issues from gathering real money.
There are enormous businesses around my town that are already aware of what I'm doing. The biggest one being an entire school district, with a few scattered in between, not to mention the Build A Bear in my local mall I went to and spoke with. You want third party, you have it now.
You'll also get pictures of me surrendering the bears to Salvation Army. Maybe you'll get the pictures of me giving a few bears directly, but that one depends on wether or not the people are comfortable with it.
What?
Ahem... What you are doing is good. A bit meh in Chats world but still good.
Some say potaters and Chat lsay tomatoes.
You'd be giving a bear who is a 'Champion' even if he's not a superhero (or a giant rampaging cyborg) and you'd get a little extra charity bang for your buck.
To everyone on the thread who is posting about how much better they are because they donate at Christmas and nobody knows about it:
Congratulations! Now we know, you "drew attention to yourself", and we can all question your real motives for telling us and the veracity of your claims of sincerity and charity instead of Mighty Pencil's.
Merry Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, or Solstice, or Voodoo Day.
PS: I know everyone likes to donate during the "season for giving", but the less fortunate have needs throughout the entire year. If you don't like the holidays, give during the summer when foodbanks and other assistance programs receive significantly less donations, especially from the general public.
If everything goes okay with the way I planned it, I may even consider matching the amount all of you earn. I even got a rather spooky email that explained the head CEO of Build A Bear would be more than happy to match the bears we earn. I'm going to try and contact her later.
This is good.
I'm trying to bring a community that I like being part of together for the holidays, in order to participate in giving real life things to real life children. That being said, none of you have any idea what I do to give back to my community during times that are not the holidays. So I'd appreciate it if you stopped thinking I was doing it to grab attention.
I'm an eight foot tall pencil hero, getting attention wasn't very hard before this event.
I dun really care whether or not you actually donate anything from the 5n worth of in-game items people send in. I mean, I do, but I'll take your word on that
So here's the thing:
Fundraising for charity isn't always about making money. Sure, if you actually make money, that's great. That's fantastic.
But by talking about what you're doing...you raise awareness about the cause.
It doesn't matter if the money ain't much. If you can get folks involved, if you can get the community thinking about children in need...you've already won.
Pencil, I salute you.
It's coming along nicely, if you want a rough estimate, I'd say it's now a few hundred over 2,000.
I'm not getting any sort of compensation for this event other than a spammed item bank of pencil sets. The developers even suggested to me that I sell some because i'm having issues with room. If I were to sell the pen and pencils, i'd be making profit for myself.
It looks like that's what i'm going to have to do, though. I'll give a list at the end of the event on how much those pencils made.
A friend gave me the idea of doing something yet again with all those globals, and I'm thinking a generic Costume Contest, amazing huh?
Mr. Pencil is asking for an electronic blip on a computer screen... a small bit of binary code representing a pen and pencil set... he is not from Namibia asking for cash for a plane ticket because he is stuck in country due to a large explosion at a rubber band factory that killed his entire family. He is not asking you to donate cash, or anything tangible that you can hold in your hand, unless you can hold computer code in your hand.
If you fall for his "scam", what have you really lost? A little time? Perhaps a little bit of faith in humanity? Big deal.
After what happened in America with the banking industry and Wall Street taking people's life savings and flushing them down the toilet I am prepared to put my faith in a guy who says he is going to do something nice for kids who are less fortunate than we are. I have been at a point in my life where I lost everything, was homeless and could not afford to get my kids anything for Christmas. Had it not been for the kindness of others, the emptiness I felt during the holiday season would have consumed me... as it was, I got gifts for my kids that were donated to a local charity.
Shame on the nay-sayers. So don't participate if you think you are being taken for a ride. Won't that be a shock when you see that this guy actually does what he says he will?
I spent a few hours already looking for pen and pencil sets. Every time I open a package in CO I am hoping for another set so I can fill his mailbox. If I am being scammed I guess I could fall for something much more fool hearty than supporting the Mighty Pencil.
I salute you Sir and I do hope that your campaign is a success!
This.
Also, if it's a scam, it's a really bad scam, as the Matching Pen and Pencil sets are, in game terms, essentially worthless. Mighty_Pencil also stands to lose a lot more than he does to gain if it is a scam - how dumb would it be to get the devs involved in a charity drive and then do something underhanded with it? Not only that, but overall community opinion. No, I don't think that this is a scam, and I've not doubted it for a second.
That being said, what do you have to lose? Personally, I was going to be sending the Matching Pen and Pencil sets to Mighty_Pencil either way, just to fill up his UNTIL mailbox and do something amusing with an otherwise worthless item. Much more interesting to send the items along to someone who has a creative character whose concept matches the item than to just vendor it along with all of the other crap in your bags. And, in this case, you're benefiting a charity as well... I don't think that we could ask for anything more.
After all what do we have to loose when we can make a difference in one tots day?
He has indeed. And the publicity you're giving it is worthy of kudos. I just sent my pencils in to the mighty one. I wish Mr. Pencil success and holiday cheer!
(I also sent in my socks to Mr. Funsocks).
I am currently buried in about two feet of snow, so I don't think I'll be going out at all this weekend to do last minute holiday shopping. So Millennium City is stuck with ye ole Fist Punch. So I might be getting some more of those pencil sets to send in!
Huzzah!
You couldn't have said it better myself.
And I think Mighty_Pencil is doing awesome for this. I have some pen and pencils on a character that I will be happy to give to you in order to see this happen. This is a season of giving.
While I cannot afford much to charity myself, the most chartible thing I DID do this year? Gave an abandoned Pug a brand new home and a family to love and cherish her while volunteering to an organization to help more like her get a new home.
Not all of us give to charity but I am sure some of us are doing what we can this holiday season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoGGunyfmlg
Show me proof i'm not.
I'll be sure to send what I gather.
We're still early in the event, and yet we have so much to show for it! The current count is as follows;
5,160 Matching Pen and Pencil Sets
That's FIVE bears for you folks keeping track on your plastic number cubes at home. Five is great, but it could be better...
Get out there and grab some more pencil sets, and don't forget to drive safely around the holidays. Lots of accidents this time of year.
Did you bother reading the actual words I wrote? Or did you just overwrite me with whatever it is you're saying up there?
Try reading my post and actually paying attention to the words this time.
That's not what I said....in the slightest.
What I had actually done was attempt to be helpful, offer a little guidance and a heads up.
Next time, I'll just jump to argue like you though.
K well that's kind of the point here.
We don't know you. You're some person on a forum. Nobody has any reason to know anything about you, your motives, anything. You're just some guy I ran into back in beta, that doesn't mean I know anything about you or have any reason to think you're trustworthy, which was the whole point behind suggesting you take some precautions for your own sake if nothing else
I suggest you try reading my post this time. All I was trying to do was offering you a heads up and some guidance since I have to deal with charity work myself from time to time.
How you or anyone else took that as something to get bent out of shape over instead of maybe just taking the heads up and thanking me for taking the time to give you the heads up is beyond me.
So you're right, I'm sorry I attempted to help you, it was horrible of me and very classy of you to take it that way.
Yeah, VP, neither of those quotes were directed at you - I'm sure that your offer of help was taken as such. MP has just been catching a LOT of flak and having this whole thing called a scam outright, and both of those responses were directed at posts that said as much. You're not one of those people
And if people don't stop calling this whole thing a scam, who knows how many accidents might happen, amirite?
I am saying this because I am no where near a Pencil fan. HOWEVER, people who had run-ins with Pencil in my SG are wanting to support this because it's just worthless game code that most of us throw away and don't even waste time going to a vendor to sell it. The price doesn't outweigh the real estate of our storage bags and time to run to a vendor.
I have volunteered to be the go-between the people and Pencil since I just always watched his actions but never had my run-in with him. So set up a tab in the SG bank to put them in and I will send them off to Pencil myself. And the person that Pencil collided with the most in the SG in both games was the same person who posted about this on the SG site applauding Pencil for this.
I think the people calling it a scam are thinking that Pencil is hoping to get some real world item (cash, gift, etc) for himself. So that would fall on those who gives him some real world item. If Cryptic wants to give, they should not go through Pencil. He linked the Build-A-Bear site and so they should just go through BAB as well or even give to another charity. They are promoting it by bringing awareness.
As someone said if it is some scam, it's a rather stupid one. It's not like Pencil is even asking for in-game items that are important to your toons. Even if you don't like the player, at least support this pretty creative idea.
And, to those who don't like MP, let's try to give so much he has to buy so many bears that he has to file for bankruptcy.
MP, since you have started this, it may be rough but posting the amounts a little more frequently would be a step in showing it's not a scam where you already planned to do a certain amount and this is just a way to bring attention to yourself instead of the cause. Probably a daily tally would go a long way.
btw, I am running out the door now but what is the latest to get to you for you to give something to some by the 25th? I was thinking since the event goes beyond that, maybe a cutoff date for 25th delivery would be in order as well. If there is, then I will send what we have by that date no matter how much it is. I wished I saw this at day one because I destroyed a bit before I was made aware of this.
I'm not sure that really is relevant to the event or even this thread.
I look at it like Charles Dickens. A lot of people didn't like Scrooge, and even thought he was a PITA. But come Christmas Day, he was quite jovial and filled with holiday cheer.
The charity drive should be about the charity drive. And personal stuff should be left to personal channels of communication.
This idea is patently awesome.
/signed
It takes a rather long time to sift through all the mail in my inbox, and even then, I have to write names down > Pencils in inventory > Bank Storage > Go back to UNITY mail > rinse repeat. When I told a few people that every second I leave the UNITY mailbox more mail comes, I was telling the truth. You can always catch me by a UNITY mail terminal if I'm not trying to farm the Steampunk pieces.
A cut-off date has to be a possibility by now, I was planning on running through a day after the event. That could cost me thousands of dollars at this rate. While thousands of dollars wouldn't be too hard a hit if I had a stable job, I'm inbetween work right now, so it is.
I'll inform a few people and the developers of this change immediately.
Your generous donations went far beyond my expectations.
Your efforts are appreciated MP. Thank you for getting this rolling.
I am so pleased to hear this. It makes me so happy to know that some kids will have something as a gift this holiday because a bunch of people who do not know each other did something wonderful together.
Your efforts here have been an inspiration to me. However many bears you eventually give away, I am going to donate $10 for each bear to The Salvation Army. They were the ones who helped me at one time and so they have a special place in my heart now.
I was saying that so not to be accused of supporting this because I am MP's friend or anything. And to also show that no matter how anyone would feel about MP, the cause is something to be applauded. Which a lot in this thread were making it about how they feel about MP himself. And I was showing even someone who witnessed his actions before and did not agree with them can still support this cause and look past personal feelings for the "messenger". Sorry if that failed to reach you. And mentioned CoX seeing MP because I saw some attack him in here that I got the impression just met him when CO started.
If you read it all, you would see that even with the past, I am in full support of what MP is doing and applaud him for it. I said earlier, it was pretty creative idea on his part how he came up with this. And the fact that a friend of mine who has never gotten along with MP is the one who posted it on our SG board what MP was doing and supported this was again to show the cause outweighs any thing that happened before through some internet game chat channels.
And I am not coming down on your for what you said because basically we were on the same page there.
I know a random green, blue, or purple item for random collectibles you get while farming sounds cool.
But a teddy bear to a child that really needs one this time of year is far more cool. It may not seem like much but a stuffed animal can bring hope and comfort to a needy child like no other present can. Please remember this and save your Pen and Pencils for this wonderful charity.
And lets thank the Mighty_Pencil, (mightiest of the writing tools) for putting his own time, effort, and money into making this a great charity event. It doesn't matter if you trust people or don't. Lets set aside our differences and put faith in something other than ourselves. It's what this is all about, no matter your faith or lack there of, children need hope and comfort. We can give that to a few more and that's what this is really all about.
Even if you don't support this event. Please allow those of us who do to do so in peace.
I wish a happy holidays to all.
Cryptic should not have done this after the charity drive was in full swing because it may stop people from trying to do this as well as give the naysayers ammunition.
Bad move, Cryptic, adding the vendors now. If they weren't there from the start then you should have left them out this year.
My decision: keep sending all P&P Sets to the drive until the 25th. After that, the drive will be over anyway - so then I can use my drops to buy stuff for myself.
it already started the accusations of him scamming in chat. GG cryptic this doesn't look good. Cryptic needs to decide if they are for or against the cause. All they have to do is leave out the pen and pencil sets or reward those who give 1000 to charity.
This is the first i'm hearing of a trade-in NPC for those garbage items.
Wow, it really feels like they shafted the event.:(
So it still feels like they shafted it.
When they did that it makes me look like a scammer who, according to people in zone chat, "Knew this was going to happen." Which I did not, I never saw any patch notes about an NPC for garbage items.
It hurts my rep when they do that, the least they could have done was wait until the 25th, when I stop taking the pencils.
Thank You.
Still just sent the 38 pencils I had collected.