Blizzard Grants a Wish

[bean19]

It's got to suck to be 10 years old and suffering from cancer, but one of my favorite charities, the Make-A-Wish Foundation helps out a lot of sick kids by taking their family all to Disneyland or getting a celebrity to come by and hang out for a day or, you know, whatever the kid wants. Whatever the wish, they try to make it happen and when the foundation came knocking at Blizzard's door, the MMORPG giant decided to deliver.

Blizzard granted 10-year-old Ezra Chatterton's wish not only to visit the game studio but to make a new quest-giving NPC in World of Warcraft that he got to voice-act himself, as well as letting him add in a dog named after his own pet (presumably as a character used in the quest he designed for his new character). Additionally, they bumped his level 63 character up to level 70, loaded him out with gold, awesome gear, and created a special unique flame-shooting crossbow just for him (and other players lucky enough to get the gear once it rolls onto servers in about 4 weeks with the other new content).

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t147/beansoe/blizboy.jpg"We definitely want a crossbow," Chatterton instructed Kaplan. He offered a detailed description of what he wanted: dangerous flames, curved frame and an ability to wreak havoc.

"I want it to shoot a fiery arrow at 300 damage over 10 seconds," he said.

With a few clicks of his mouse, Kaplan constructed a prototype.

"Wow. Weird. Progress is going quicker than I expected," Chatterton said.

"This crossbow will be the only one in the game and it's very difficult to get," Kaplan explained. "You're going to get a lot of questions (from other players)."Source (http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/article_1702706.php)

I love the Make-A-Wish Foundation and companies that help them out.

[Vagabondllama]

That's pretty awesome, I must say.

[thesilentdeath]

That's really cool that they did that. Making a crossbow just for him, and allowing him to voice an NPC.




But I would have at least asked about Starcraft 2 in some shape or form but thats just the Starcraft fanboy inside me.

[supremebeing13]

Longtime lurker, just wanted to say that this is beautiful. No PR, nothing but simple heart and real consideration. This is humanity. Cheers blizzard. Cheers.

[Johan]

I saw this and thought it was pretty neat. Make a Wish is an awesome group.

One of the comments I read made an interesting point, however. The kid is ten and the game's rated "T" for teen! Where's "youknowwho" to make a stink? ;)

/I'm sure his parents gave permission! Everyone take a breath!

[oldschooldimo]

wow thats really awesome.

[Tel Prydain]

Hear that, ya WoW nerds? This sick kid is ganna pwn ya now!

[surj0]

what a wonderful thing to do for the poor guy. it's awesome to see news like this.

[ÜberJumper]

Totally awesome, go Blizzard.

[Wasson_]

that's cool.

I, kinda had a shitty day and granted sometimes I feel like every day is a shitty day, but...at least I don't fucking have cancer.

[TheHulk]

Nice see a story like this. Looks like they went above and beyond on this one.

[Ravenlock]

I was a Make-A-Wish kid myself - congenital heart disease; doing much better 21 years later, but I was a pretty sick kid. I got to throw out the opening pitch at a Pirates baseball game. This was in the mid-80's when the Pirates didn't suck, so it was pretty awesome. ;)

Anyhow, yes, Make-A-Wish is a fantastic organization and this is a great story. Kudos to them and to Blizzard for making another special happy memory for a kid in need. :D

[Tabasco]

Very cool. They totally went all out for him.

[Lekon]

*Claps* Well that's just neat. Not only did they give a sick kid (And damn if his story didn't suck. House burning down too? Geeze) a hell of a day of fun, they pulled it together in days.

First Southpark gets in, now they help a kid through Make a Wish, Blizzard doesn't NEED PR, they are just great people.

Though now I have this scary suspicion in the back of my mind that somewhere, one of those 8.5 million WoW players is pondering if Cancer is worth a new weapon.

[TheDancinMan]

That's just incredible. The guys at Blizzard just seem to be really great people, personally and professionally. Cheers to them indeed.

[Deadend]

*Claps* Well that's just neat. Not only did they give a sick kid (And damn if his story didn't suck. House burning down too? Geeze) a hell of a day of fun, they pulled it together in days.

First Southpark gets in, now they help a kid through Make a Wish, Blizzard doesn't NEED PR, they are just great people.

Though now I have this scary suspicion in the back of my mind that somewhere, one of those 8.5 million WoW players is pondering if Cancer is worth a new weapon.
Expect to hear stories about WoW addiction leading to smoking addiction.

[Crono]

Not only is Blizzard an awesome game development studio (known for more than just MMORPG! ;) ) but they're a class act too.

[cp#]

Lucky kid.. got boosted to lvl 70, gets to try out the new content with Blizzards help and gets his own unique item! Very cool!

[Lekon]

Expect to hear stories about WoW addiction leading to smoking addiction.


New from Phillip Morris: Raid Level Cigarettes, Smoke them newbs all the way to 70.

[skarironfist]

Bloody good decent thing they did there.

[Lizard Dude]

Don't get me wrong, this was a great thing Blizz did. But I'm sure you all know the WoW community. Isn't giving a kid known to have cancer (by the playerbase) a 100% unique weapon just asking for it? That kid's /tells are going to be a nightmare.

[Chameleo]

yeah maybe shouldnt have posted his toon's name in the article.

here's his character and the unique weapon if you wanna see it:
http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#character-sheet.xml?r=Norgannon&n=Ephoenix

awesome thing blizz did for the guy; makes me hate the game a little less.

[Lekon]

Don't get me wrong, this was a great thing Blizz did. But I'm sure you all know the WoW community. Isn't giving a kid known to have cancer (by the playerbase) a 100% unique weapon just asking for it? That kid's /tells are going to be a nightmare.


Nah, in the article it also said that the weapon will be unique for now, but the hard quest for it will come out in the next big publish. (Maybe they mean the Temple one that just came out?)

[archon]

This is fantastic! I've heard of id and (I think) Bungie do the same in the past with Make a Wish, and I'm glad Blizzard does it too. Time to pre-order super ultimate deluxo SC2.

[Franjo]

class act move.

[bean19]

This is fantastic! I've heard of id and (I think) Bungie do the same in the past with Make a Wish, and I'm glad Blizzard does it too. Time to pre-order super ultimate deluxo SC2.

They definitely deserve the PR and I'm sure you'd enjoy the collector's edition of SC 2. Fun response.

If the story really makes you want to pony up some money though, I'm sure Blizzard would be just as happy if you made a donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation (http://www.wish.org/help/donate).

[bKangy]

Classy stuff, I do kinda like Blizzard for all their slight hint of evil.

[alienchild]

I hope he gets banned for cheating!

On a serious note though, we need more stories like this in the mainstream media. Unless this kid now builds himself a real-life crossbow and goes on a killing rampage...

[Smoof]

yeah maybe shouldnt have posted his toon's name in the article.

here's his character and the unique weapon if you wanna see it:
http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#character-sheet.xml?r=Norgannon&n=Ephoenix

awesome thing blizz did for the guy; makes me hate the game a little less.

Assholes didn't even give the poor kid an offhand weapon :mad:
WAY TO GIMP HIM, BLIZZARD!

[Lizard Dude]

I just realized, this news came right at the start of Children's Week (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/events/childrensweek/).

[vash]

the mornons in the wow forum already run rampart, some guy wrote yesterday that he was chatting with the kid and his father and they both werent feeling very good because of all the idiots bashing this story in the forums. wow community just sucks ^^ i hope warhammer will not be that succesful -> less idiots (i hope) ;)

[Sion]

What a beautiful thing to do.

[Murtaug]

Dog damnit.

I thought I could stay away from WoW, but this, on top of Tuesdays opening of the temple has me wanting to go back again. I hate you so much Blizzard, give me my life back damnit.

Good on them for this though, it is nice to see a large company going out of their way if only to make the kid smile for an afternoon. With his character name thrown out in the article like that, I really hate to think about all the assholes that will grief the kid just for the sake of doing it. Hell, I was only a marginally successful rogue on my old server and I was getting people after me constantly.

I am left with the odd curiosity as to just how much gold they gave him, after TBC, it would have to be a lot to feel impressive at all.

[Lutheran]

Kudo's to Blizzard.

I must be one of the only people on the planet that hasn't played this game , what is it about this game that makes it so much better then the other mmo's out there?

[Murtaug]

Kudo's to Blizzard.

I must be one of the only people on the planet that hasn't played this game , what is it about this game that makes it so much better then the other mmo's out there?

Blizzard.

Really, it is just a game that works well, has some interesting quest lines, and the strength of a well established series behind it. My MMO experience is limited to WoW and CoH, and just in my opinion, WoW is much better. Its one failing is the boring, pointless grind. That can be said of any MMO though, really. And unless you get into a big, well organized guild, and have plenty of time for attunement and raiding; forget end game, might as well just find yourself one of a thousand PvP guilds on your server, it is what I did and I had a lot of fun there too, it just grew old. How many thousands of Alliance can I kill before it just becomes boring? And pugging an endgame instance, not going to ever happen. Ever. Although I would not be surprised to hear it has, it just requires a lot of dedication and organization you will not find in a pug.

They started in the right direction with Burning Crusade, then the attunement trees came out. Fuck that. Give me PvP gear because I am never going to get tier, ever.

It is just an addicting game. Becuse regardless if you are level seventy, you can always farm rep, or gold, or run dungeons and do both. There is a lot of fun to be had in the game, but a lot of frustration and waste of time as well, which I guess is understandable considering they want you to keep paying money for it.

The last time I quit, I was in a decent sized PvP guild (around a 150 or so members). We could easily spend an entire Saturday doing noting but a town take over (god the griffon masters can be bitches). It was a lot of fun, but after logging a couple of real world months worth of hours into the game, I had to call it quits. But it just keeps calling me back, damn yous Blizzard.

I am not sure this answers your question at all, it is some rambling about my experience with the game though, take it for what you will.

[Estarriol]

I must be one of the only people on the planet that hasn't played this game , what is it about this game that makes it so much better then the other mmo's out there?

The same thing that makes coke "better" - the way it's engineered to be addictive. In reality there are many MMOs that are just as good or better out there, but receive less presss because they're not as addictive.

I've spent years avoiding EQ and now WoW, because I'm a fairly addictive personality and I don't want my life to get sucked out like I've seen happen to so many of my friends. I play City of Heroes because a) It's a really fun game and b) it has been engineered to reward casual play. The crafting that's been added definitely adds to the addiction level, but they did the right thing by making drops generic rather than campable.

But City of Heroes - the only Superhero MMO and thus you might expect a huge playerbase - is a small-to-medium MMO. If the Marvel MMO has WoW-style crafting and camping, it could well become a behemoth.

[Squidbot]

This poor kid is in for some hellish tells :(

[Heretic Machine]

Awesome story :p Heh, personally, I would of made the kid into an uber dragon and sat him outside his opposing faction's capital... but whatev, this works too!

[Borthcollective]

When a 10 year old kid with cancer pwns me it's time to quit WoW.

[Phanto]

VERY Neat indeed kudos for Blizzard and I wish the best of luck to the boy :).

[balamoor]

I just realized, this news came right at the start of Children's Week (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/events/childrensweek/).

Yes and if you have children in RL you want to keep them far far away from the forums as it looks like a NAMBLA message board lately. :rolleyes: which Blizzard tolerates if not actively encourages.

Blizzard has to be the most schizophrenic companies on the face of the planet they do an awesome thing like the make a wish thing, yet they tolerate and some instances even encourage content that most parents (Okay parents they give a shit) would not let thier kids near....as in the case of their forums and General chat.

It was one of the Reasons Tseric quit, he got sick of Pardo and Metzen siding with smacktards that asked if the VA tech students that died got good loot, or the refusal to ban that one player for the forums that was asking for young boys under eleven to join his "special guild" :eek: Makes you wonder about those two.

[Majster Wichajster]

Kudos to Blizzard for making one childs' live just a bit better.

[PathMaster]

Great move, I can not wait to see his NPC in game as well as the weapon on action.

[TheFlyingOrc]

The only thing I don't like about Make-A-Wish is that few companies do it out of the goodness of their heart - it's just amazing PR to say you are helping DYING CHILDREN.

[Deunnero]

Kudos to Blizzard for doing something special for this little guy.

[vash]

The only thing I don't like about Make-A-Wish is that few companies do it out of the goodness of their heart - it's just amazing PR to say you are helping DYING CHILDREN.

thats almost certainly true, but its a win win. i myselft dont like blizzard any more because of it, actually i hate blizzard ^^ (my main was a priest and i cancelled my account ;) ), but if it makes the kid happy i think it outweighs the cheap PR boots or their motives

[Mortis]

This is just great, bravo Blizzard.

[TheFlyingOrc]

thats almost certainly true, but its a win win. i myselft dont like blizzard any more because of it, actually i hate blizzard ^^ (my main was a priest and i cancelled my account ;) ), but if it makes the kid happy i think it outweighs the cheap PR boots or their motives
Note I said "only thing". I love that it's happening, but don't love the motivation, I guess?

[vash]

i wasnt critizicing (sp?) you, i felt similar when i read the news somewhere else, my first thought was: cheap pr move ^^

[bean19]

You guys are cynics.

It is inexpensive PR, but at the same time, don't you think they jumped at the chance to hook him up? Wouldn't your workplace jump at that chance too even if you did something not all that interesting?

I taught canoeing, rowing, and sailing at Boy Scout camps ever since I was 14, and I used to take out kids on wheelchairs (in my boat) because, like horseback-riding, it is something that they can do themselves and go really fast and be really good at. It was rewarding helping all of my students, but helping a kid in a wheelchair beat the pants off the other kids at the end of the week was always a lot of fun and was the most rewarding part of that job. Also, I got a lot of cards from happy Mom's that I can always go read if I want to cry happy tears like a little girl (into a lacey pink pillow, I assure you).

[RevGored]

I love that Blizz stepped forward and offered this. Let's not forget that Sony has also done this in the past with the EQ kid, and Insomniac recently added a kid into the PS3 Ratchet game as a playable character for that tv show where they rebuild your house for you.

I'm just glad to see that kids are still being taken care of in little ways that matter to them. I'm sure they appreciate the doctors that are trying to save thier lives, but being in situations like they are sure doesn't do alot to remind you that you're still a kid. Make a Wish and the other guys that do things like this are doing more of a service than we know.

[CptTripps]

Kick ass. You cynics be damned. I know if I was working for a company that had access to cool stuff and they asked if we would do something special for a sick kid I can honestly say that "PR MOMENT" would not be the first thing in my mind. Guess I have more faith in mankind. Go Blizzard (even though i hate WoW) !!!!

[vash]

im not a cynic, im a realist ;) i dont belive in the altruism of humankind on a wholistic scale, and i certainly dont belive that there is such a thing as a goodhearted cooperation as long as their goal is to make money somehow ^^

[Deathwave]

Nice one, Blizzard!

[F3nyx]

Wow.

I like to think that if I got terminal cancer, even at ten years of age, I'd find a goal for the last few months of my life that's more fulfilling than phat lootz.

I guess World of Warcraft steals life not just from the living, but from the dying too.

[jwbxx]

Wow.

I like to think that if I got terminal cancer, even at ten years of age, I'd find a goal for the last few months of my life that's more fulfilling than phat lootz.

I guess World of Warcraft steals life not just from the living, but from the dying too.

It makes him happy that's all that matters. If it takes his mind out off of the pain and makes him feel good for a while who are we to judge and say that was a lame wish.

[bean19]

I guess World of Warcraft steals life not just from the living, but from the dying too.

The kid is in a wheelchair and forced to wear an eye-patch during parts of the day due to horrible headaches brought on by his cancer.

WoW lets him play a fun game with his dad and interact with other people in the world too. It's actually a really good thing for him considering his situation.

[wiccandrum]

Now "that" was just total Class-WTG, Blizz!


wiccandrum

[pinkmonkey]

hah! its great they could do that for him, at 10 yrs old & being a cancer victim
i guess if he gets joy out of playing this game then thats the least they could do.

If blizzard offered me, however, a deal like that i still wouldn't be swayed to go back to playing Wow :P
Yes, i played the expansion for about a month, got bored getting to lvl 68, went off & played something else. New content didn't really cut it, now holding out for something 'new'!

The whole mmorpg genre sees kind of tired to me now, anyone else feeling like that?
Think its time for a major overhaul or what?

[Spooky]

Well done Blizzard and a hearty thank you to the wonderful Make-A-Wish foundation. True philanthropists.

[bean19]

The whole mmorpg genre sees kind of tired to me now, anyone else feeling like that?
Think its time for a major overhaul or what?

A bit off topic, but yeah I've felt the same thing.

In the short term, if you haven't played it, then City of Heroes/City of Villains while definitely too grindy, is a definite change of pace.

In the longer term, look up Gods & Heroes (a MMO built in the era of Roman mythology with every player getting a group of minions in addition to your heroic scion of a God hero - with god powers) or Age of Conan (twitch/skill-based and in the Conan world) and the much longer term WAR (Warhammer Online - imagine a game with missions built around RvR and battlegrounds instead of instances with an over-reaching endgame goal of taking out the other side's hometowns - with the Warhammer license - so think violent sense of humor and everything over-the-top).

[Beelzebud]

Pretty damn awesome. Almost brings a tear to this cynical bastard's eyes.

[Smoof]

The only thing I don't like about Make-A-Wish is that few companies do it out of the goodness of their heart - it's just amazing PR to say you are helping DYING CHILDREN.

A cynical bastard after my own heart :)

[pinkmonkey]

Oh good, glad i'm not the only one then.

I think i was also speaking for a vast undercurrent of people who have played WoW to its conceivable limits & have found it now lacking (i.e. everyone who has since ended their subscriptions, especially after Burning Crusade).

The one that i'm anticipating the most is Warhammer online (Age of Conan looks quite interesting also), but it will be a while yet until we find out whether they're truly different from the current offerings & competitors.

But it's going to be the 'truly' next-gen mmo that will be the real winner. Something that really overhauls the gameplay & reinvents the genre, enough to make it feel like something 'new' instead of something updated.

If somebody can actually do that, & do it well enough, then they wouldn't even have to compete with WoW for subscribtions, you'd already have many jumping the boat.

[Lizard Dude]

Well, apparently the player communications to the kid and his dad haven't been too bad (http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1704651.php) .