Lord Chair
Smash Master
Link to original post: [drupal=4092]Fundraising through Smash[/drupal]
Every time something terrible happens or some good player fails to sort hit finances out, people suggest a fundraising event or incentive of some sorts.
PoundV, Armada, good Smashers in General, Japan, Ally stuck in Europe, the list goes on. While I can appreciate and understand the noble people participating, I can't get myself to sympathize with them.
First of all, the bottom line of this blog post is that fundraising is something you don't do every 2 weeks. Not only because it's often simply a silly thing to do, but also because the more it happens, the more people start to take it for granted.
Take the Ally situation, the man gets stuck in Europe because he misses his flight. Tough luck, we can all sympathize. After all, missing a bus is bad enough, some of us may have missed a flight before and we all know how sad it is to see your precious money being flushed away by your own stupidity.
Our Canadian took the initiative to ask for funds to get him back home, apparently he had no family or friends to help him out. In and by itself, I'm not strictly opposed to this. He makes use of his fame in the Smash community and tries to make the best of it, he doesn't force anyone to help him.
What bothered me, however, was the fact that it got to be a recommended blog on AIB, and that people who didn't have anything to do with it started making it bigger than it was supposed to be. I recall someone posting on the Europe boards to help the man out, as if it was our fault he missed his flight.
Take the Pound V situation. Fundraising to get money for the winners, to compensate for their 'losses'.
The reason they didn't get to have their money was a combination of unfortunate events. You can't blame Plank 100% for what happened. In fact, it's undeniable that some of the winners also didn't behave accordingly during the tournament. Be it because they stacked 20 man in a room, be it because Smash tournaments are rarely taxed or legal. There is no legal compensation because the whole thing wasn't strictly legal in the first place. It's a risk players take, and it's the risk winners take.
What really led me to write this was a suggestion to make a fundraising tournament to help out the Japanese. Frankly, I don't understand what we'd raise money for or whom to give the money to, neither do I understand why we wouldn't just give them money instead of raising it at a tournament first.
Stop relying on a gaming community to raise money for the most random things. Yes it improves cohesion, no that does not mean we are to be bothered by the smallest things. We want to go to tournaments and not commit to paying money for people to get back home. If you want money, ask people personally. Don't get your blog featured on AIB and don't spam the European boards, and if you do so anyway: don't claim anyone has any obligation to pay any amount of money to anyone. Fundraising is cool to do sometimes, compassion towards fellow human beings is a good thing, let's just keep it something special rather than something that screams 'here we go again...'.
Every time something terrible happens or some good player fails to sort hit finances out, people suggest a fundraising event or incentive of some sorts.
PoundV, Armada, good Smashers in General, Japan, Ally stuck in Europe, the list goes on. While I can appreciate and understand the noble people participating, I can't get myself to sympathize with them.
First of all, the bottom line of this blog post is that fundraising is something you don't do every 2 weeks. Not only because it's often simply a silly thing to do, but also because the more it happens, the more people start to take it for granted.
Take the Ally situation, the man gets stuck in Europe because he misses his flight. Tough luck, we can all sympathize. After all, missing a bus is bad enough, some of us may have missed a flight before and we all know how sad it is to see your precious money being flushed away by your own stupidity.
Our Canadian took the initiative to ask for funds to get him back home, apparently he had no family or friends to help him out. In and by itself, I'm not strictly opposed to this. He makes use of his fame in the Smash community and tries to make the best of it, he doesn't force anyone to help him.
What bothered me, however, was the fact that it got to be a recommended blog on AIB, and that people who didn't have anything to do with it started making it bigger than it was supposed to be. I recall someone posting on the Europe boards to help the man out, as if it was our fault he missed his flight.
Take the Pound V situation. Fundraising to get money for the winners, to compensate for their 'losses'.
The reason they didn't get to have their money was a combination of unfortunate events. You can't blame Plank 100% for what happened. In fact, it's undeniable that some of the winners also didn't behave accordingly during the tournament. Be it because they stacked 20 man in a room, be it because Smash tournaments are rarely taxed or legal. There is no legal compensation because the whole thing wasn't strictly legal in the first place. It's a risk players take, and it's the risk winners take.
What really led me to write this was a suggestion to make a fundraising tournament to help out the Japanese. Frankly, I don't understand what we'd raise money for or whom to give the money to, neither do I understand why we wouldn't just give them money instead of raising it at a tournament first.
Stop relying on a gaming community to raise money for the most random things. Yes it improves cohesion, no that does not mean we are to be bothered by the smallest things. We want to go to tournaments and not commit to paying money for people to get back home. If you want money, ask people personally. Don't get your blog featured on AIB and don't spam the European boards, and if you do so anyway: don't claim anyone has any obligation to pay any amount of money to anyone. Fundraising is cool to do sometimes, compassion towards fellow human beings is a good thing, let's just keep it something special rather than something that screams 'here we go again...'.
