Meet Yahtzee at PAX, Get Stuff
- Thread starter Susan Arendt
- Start date
1. A plane trip to-and-from PAX is not this expensive.
2. I know Yahtzee isn't a millionaire, but I also know he's made enough that he now owns a chain of bars around Australia. He really can't afford a plane ticket?
3. I have to donate at least $100 to be part of the meet-up? Are you fucking kidding me? Good luck making the "biggest fan meetup of all time!" with that rule.
4. It's good to know you could put giving Yahtzee free plane tickets all over your website, but couldn't do that for Extra Credits, who actually NEEDED the money.
2. I know Yahtzee isn't a millionaire, but I also know he's made enough that he now owns a chain of bars around Australia. He really can't afford a plane ticket?
3. I have to donate at least $100 to be part of the meet-up? Are you fucking kidding me? Good luck making the "biggest fan meetup of all time!" with that rule.
4. It's good to know you could put giving Yahtzee free plane tickets all over your website, but couldn't do that for Extra Credits, who actually NEEDED the money.
This looks supremely dodgy - like the runaway success of the Extra Credits extremely worthy donation drive for a good cause has brought out someone else's greed. $20,000 to travel to PAX? Really? How can travel expenses be treated even remotely equivalent to surgery to save someone's mobility? It's like someone doesn't realise we're not some group of people overflowing with money and simply looking for any arbitrary means to dispose of it that we can find. The community gave to Extra Credits because it was the right thing to do. There was no reason that Allison should have had to suffer when the community here could help her. Extra Credits has given us so much - why shouldn't we give back, when a member of their team was in ill-health and experiencing genuine need? The donations certainly weren't out of a thoughtless lack of ideas on what else to do with our money, but because making a little sacrifice was small beans compared to the alternative of Allison not being able to afford to undergo the surgery.
Sending someone to a convention - someone who, I imagine, could afford to send himself, or who the Escapist could afford to send - does not hold up well by comparison at all. Making a request for donations via RocketHub so soon after the success of the initiative for Allison seems in extremely poor taste. Can't Yahtzee afford his own air fare? Or, if he's basically being sent on a promotion drive by the Escapist, can't they afford it for him?
Ultimately, though, no one is being forced to donate. People will give if they want to, and won't if they don't. I won't condemn anyone for giving or not giving. Everyone is free to treat their own money as they will. But I'd be lying if I said that this didn't leave a poor taste in my mouth.
Sending someone to a convention - someone who, I imagine, could afford to send himself, or who the Escapist could afford to send - does not hold up well by comparison at all. Making a request for donations via RocketHub so soon after the success of the initiative for Allison seems in extremely poor taste. Can't Yahtzee afford his own air fare? Or, if he's basically being sent on a promotion drive by the Escapist, can't they afford it for him?
Ultimately, though, no one is being forced to donate. People will give if they want to, and won't if they don't. I won't condemn anyone for giving or not giving. Everyone is free to treat their own money as they will. But I'd be lying if I said that this didn't leave a poor taste in my mouth.
That message was posted by me. As we posted here in this thread at the same time (though I worded myself not quite identically here), I apologise for repeating myself a bit in my own post above. That said, I'm glad that I'm not the only one who feels something is amiss here.de5gravity said:
Some of you seem to be missing the point entirely. And we are not billing this as a charity because it's clearly not. This is an opportunity for some Zero Punctuation fans to really interact with their favorite video game critic, and have them get something in return. We're not asking for donations in the strictest sense of the word because you're getting something in return if you choose to participate. If you choose not to participate, that's fine too.
Really? Of all the things you could start up a charity for... you choose this?
I have actually been struck speechless. And if you know me, that's kind of difficult to do.
I have actually been struck speechless. And if you know me, that's kind of difficult to do.
Just a slip of the tongue (so to speak...what is it when you're typing? Slip of the finger?). I'm obviously well aware where he's from.Hotshots said:He is. He lived in the midlands then he immigrated to Australia.de5gravity said:
It annoys me that people always get this wrong.Strange how small details can bother you so much haha.
Think of it this way. If this is the sort of think Yahtzee would hate and you have some sort of grudge, then...heh heh heh heh...
Me, I just find this funny as hell, and tend to throw money at causes of my own choice because I like to see where they go. This looks like it could be entertaining, if nothing else.
Me, I just find this funny as hell, and tend to throw money at causes of my own choice because I like to see where they go. This looks like it could be entertaining, if nothing else.
Were you planning to do this before Extra Credits' success in gaining donations for Allison's surgery via RocketHub, then? Or are the two entirely unrelated?Myan said:
Hey escapist, where did all that money go you got from those annoying pop-up adds for Gaika or whatever the hell it was? Where are the profits you supposedly got from your little captcha advertisement thing? Yeah, I think its best I hold onto my money.
Oh and the rewards? Way to isolate your supporters. Unless your planning on going to PAX you need to spend 50 dollars before you get any benefit. 50$ for a poster? That is essentially what your saying, because being in Canada I don't get any benefit if I make a smaller donation. The poster better be jewel encrusted. Really disappointed in you escapist.
Oh and the rewards? Way to isolate your supporters. Unless your planning on going to PAX you need to spend 50 dollars before you get any benefit. 50$ for a poster? That is essentially what your saying, because being in Canada I don't get any benefit if I make a smaller donation. The poster better be jewel encrusted. Really disappointed in you escapist.
Susan Arendt said:
If we're getting the wrong impression, it's likely because of your language. The word donation is typically used in reference to either a benefit, or a charity. Lots of charities give something in return for donations. A gift does not preclude something from being a charity.Myan said:
This has been said many times in this thread, but I think it's said the best here.atomictoast said:
Yeah, I have to wonder: What's the money going toward?Estelindis said:
I enjoy Yahtzee's work. I like to think I'd enjoy meeting him, chatting with him, hanging out with him. Maybe -- dare I hope? -- he would find me tolerable company.
But there's just something off-putting about putting a turnstile in front of that opportunity. It would be one thing if he were giving a "concert appearance" of sorts, but this feels like something... else.
I also wonder if Yahtzee fully apprehends what he's let himself in for. His activities and schedule at PAX will be entirely driven by the people who paid in to the pot, and anyone who feels like they didn't get what they paid for is going to complain. Very loudly. (${GOD} help him if he gets sick again like he did in New York.)
I guess I'd feel somewhat more assured if I knew exactly where the money was going. Even if the Escapist were to say, "We're taking the money so we never have to run another fscking SlimJim ad," y'know, I'd give that serious consideration.
$20,000? Seriously? Is he chartering a private jet for this trip, along with a limo, hotel suite, and escort? Sorry, there's helping someone in need (like with Allison, which I was happy to do), and then there's wasting money on what appears to be a spoiled brat's unwillingness to fly coach. Sorry, Yahtzee, I love ZP, but I won't waste my money on this. Besides, the prizes are a bit crummy as well...
Some clarification is in order, if what I think is happening is actually happening.Estelindis said:
I may...have actually spurred the Escapist editors into considering using voluntary donation things in a manner that could benefit Escapists. Not specifically this, but you know how it is with an idea. You get one down, pass it around,