On the surface, gamers giving to charity in protest of a game they hated is like the silver lining of a really shitty cloud. On the one hand, it's pointless to start a petition every time you don't enjoy a product's narrative. On the other, charity! Right?
But apparently many of the gamers donating to Child's Play in the name of hating on Mass Effect 3 assumed they were funding a new ending to the game. The number of people asking for their donation back was enough to draw Paypal's ire, which in turn prompted this post from Penny Arcade explaining why the charity had ceased taking donations from the ME 3 cause.
Either the people making donations didn't bother to read what they were donating to, or they were misled into thinking they really were paying for BioWare to make a new ending. In any case, there's a new rule in place for the future: "Child’s Play cannot be a tool to draw attention to a cause. Child’s Play must be the Cause."
Pissed off gamers gave Child's Play $70,000 since the movement started, though it's unknown how many asked for a refund when they found out the charity bought games for sick kids and not endings for unresolved narratives. Let us know what you think in the comments or on Twitter.
