It was almost one year ago that a small idea of mine brought the Ultima Online community together in ways I could never have imagined, and we worked together to donate over $10,000 to Charity organizations that helped those affected by natural disasters. I met some great people along the way, and do not regret the loss of sleep or negligence at work and home.
The last two months of this year has been full of stress at work and home, and I honestly have not had the time to do much with Ultima Online or GamersCharity in the past month.
I do have a few auctions left I can throw out, which I aim to do this week. If anyone noticed, all the auctions in the past few months were 100% donation (except for only a couple), and I will sell some personal items next year on my normal eBay account to try and offset those expenses.
I know some people wished to continue GamersCharity - however for legal reasons I am keeping the domain. If anyone wishes to follow in my footsteps, I will of course throw all my advice I can to you.
It's been a pleasure, and my sincere apologies for bringing it to a closure.
A huge Thank You to everyone who has donated items for Auctions, to those that purchased the auctions online, to those that organized in-game functions to raise donations, and others that used the online airwaves, forums, and websites to promote GamersCharity. All of this would not have been possible without you !
That means Auctions are back online!
]]>It really is a funny story what's going on, so if you want to read about a page in my personal life, read on. I expect Auctions to be back as soon as my new card arrives in the mail.
]]> Last week I took off on a little "business trip". Our company buys a LOT of materials from supplier down in the Texas valley, and earned itself three invitations to their annual fishing tournament. Seeing how they are our favorite vendor, and it was 'free' fishing, how could I say no?! Not only that, it would be an insult to their honor to deny them customer appreciation. Or something.So 45 minutes before we took off for the trip, I had a call from my wife - our credit card was denied. We share the same credit card (two names, one account) and I only care ONE card to control my spending habits. I call them up, and they say there was a mysterious charge for $8.00 a week ago and they think its fradulent. We talk for about 5 minutes, I can not recall spending $8.00 a week ago so she states the card is probably comprimised and locks it out, and will mail me a new one. They can not even tell me the vendors name or any information on it, which I guess is why it sent up a flag.
Just like that.
I said this can't happen, I leave for a 4 hour road trip in 45 minutes and NEED that card. No luck. I got $25 in my pocket for this trip. Not good!
I call my wife and explain we are both dead in the water. She then said that she TOLD me she got a newspaper subscription last week....and that it just so happen to be $8.00.
Upset I did not call her on another line first, I call back my credit card company. I'm out of luck - they already cleared the account and created the new one. I am furious, as you could imagine, and asked the manager, "So you are telling me I'm basically screwed for this road trip?"
"No sir, we are mailing you a new card that you will have in 7 to 10 days"
"I leave in 45 minutes. I have no more than $25.00 in my pockets. So, as you can see, you telling me I get a new card in 7 to 10 days is basically saying "I am screwed""
"Sir, I can not say that you are screwed"
"It's not too hard, just say it. Say I'm screwed"
"I can not say you are screwed, but you are..."
"SEE! It wasn't so hard." and I hung up.
I raided the company cash box, wrote a few IOU's, and we were on the road a bit later.
I told my dad the story while we drove down there, and funny enough - the same thing happened to him last week! My mom however snuck a $1,000 charge onto his card. My wife only screwed up this trip for $8. My wife rocks.
So here I am a week later. I have one UO Account closed. I have a few notices from Mission Fish to make a payment. I have one VISA Checkcard with a limit of $500, and the donations are over that so I can not use that in place of my normal card.
I'm in limbo.
Sorry folks :(
]]>I am leaving town today and back on Sunday.
Brekkee is now in charge! Please contact her if you have any donations to give.
I have also placed several auctions on eBay this morning before I leave, that end the day after I return. Be sure to check them out!
I have uploaded the new spreadsheet, and it shows the total donation to Charity this year is $9,691.59.
Thanks all, and see you when I get back!
]]>UORadio.com is proud to announce that it will begin doing a weekly lottery for a chance for people to win up to 100 million gold on the shard of their choice with the exception of Siege and Mugen (in which the prize amounts are reduced by two-thirds if chosen) in which will serve as a fund-raiser for both Gamers Charity (who are using the gold sales to support those affected by Hurricane Katrina and soon to be Hurricane Rita) and UORadio.com
Be sure to read all the details at UORadio.com
]]>Questing for charity
Over at "Ultima Online," a massive multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG, Joe Harden says he has committed $200 to the Red Cross with another $200 awaiting conversion from gold to U.S. dollars.Gold? Dollars?
MMORPGs like "Ultima Online" are infamous for the time users spend online in their never-ending quest to improve, or level up, their character. Success in questing or other challenges
yields gold, "Ultima Online's" virtual monetary system, or other goods.Over the past decade such items have gained a real world value, particularly among players not content to gain status the old fashioned way, with a gray market for virtual money and goods appearing on eBay and a handful of virtual world-specific auction sites.
Harden first tapped into that market after the Asian tsunami. Selling his own gold and gold donated by other "Ultima Online" players on eBay, he raised $8,000 in five months.
"Although players become absorbed in the virtual world," Harden e-mailed MSNBC.com, "this proves how concerned they are about the real world around them."
Harden's Web site, GamersCharity.com, is now collecting for Katrina relief and word of the project is being spread by game players soliciting gold within "Ultima Online."
"People I have never met or talked to contact me at all times of the day to ask where they may donate virtual goods," said Harden.
It's a great read about all the Virtual Charity work going on, other than Gamers Charity. Be sure to read it!
I know I missed a few ICQs, sorry about that, and I'm trying to keep up ! Some good news, my new spreadsheet shows $574.00 donated to Red Cross this month!
]]>There are two ingame fundraisers going on I hope everyone can make some time for:
Sosaria Live, is holding a 36 hour live telethon!
We will be holding a 36 hour telethon, on air - live DJs starting at 7pm EST on Friday, September 23rd and lasting until 7am on Sunday the 25th.During this time, not only will be we playing a variety of great music, we'll be taking donations for Crazy Joe's website Gamers Charity. Vendors will be set up at Luna locations across all shards and donations can be made directly to the DJ on air. We will have gold levels for different items such as shout outs, song requests and dedications.
Be sure to visit Sosaria Live for all the information!
Players of the Lake Superior Shard can also help by attending the charity auctions hosted by the Shadowlands.
The Shadowlands is organizing a telethon to raise "gold for cash" to donate to the Red Cross for Katrina Relief. Every night this week and next week we plan to be at the Skara Brae Community Center from 8pm to 10pm central raising gold and accepting donations.
For more information, visit this Stratics Thread!
Thanks to everyone who donate in-game and through the eBay Auctions. In addition, I urge everyone to donate their time, money, and resources directly to the Hurricane Katrina victims in any way they can. The news doesn't seem to be getting much better with the Gulf Coast areas hit the hurricane, and they still need help as fast as they can get it. The Red Cross has plenty of information and resources.
]]>There are two ingame fundraisers going on I hope everyone can make some time for:
Sosaria Live, is holding a 36 hour live telethon!
We will be holding a 36 hour telethon, on air - live DJs starting at 7pm EST on Friday, September 23rd and lasting until 7am on Sunday the 25th.During this time, not only will be we playing a variety of great music, we'll be taking donations for Crazy Joe's website Gamers Charity. Vendors will be set up at Luna locations across all shards and donations can be made directly to the DJ on air. We will have gold levels for different items such as shout outs, song requests and dedications.
Be sure to visit Sosaria Live for all the information!
Players of the Lake Superior Shard can also help by attending the charity auctions hosted by the Shadowlands.
The Shadowlands is organizing a telethon to raise "gold for cash" to donate to the Red Cross for Katrina Relief. Every night this week and next week we plan to be at the Skara Brae Community Center from 8pm to 10pm central raising gold and accepting donations.For more information, visit this Stratics Thread!
Thanks to everyone who donate in-game and through the eBay Auctions. In addition, I urge everyone to donate their time, money, and resources directly to the Hurricane Katrina victims in any way they can. The news doesn't seem to be getting much better with the Gulf Coast areas hit the hurricane, and they still need help as fast as they can get it. The Red Cross has plenty of information and resources.
]]>
If you wish to donate you can contact me:
After I got a grip on the health issues, we had some serious issues at my office and I have not been able to be online during the day as I was before, plus going home with work so I was still unavailable.
To be blunt - it's been one crazy year in my personal life. However, it pales to nothing to the lives of others that have lost everything to the Hurricane Katrina.
So I am pushing aside what is left of my sanity, and with Brekkee's help I have confidance that everything will go smoothly!
Just to be clear on a few things....
I am still set up with eBay, MissionFish, and Paypal so I expect no problems this time around.
The guild GACH is still active, with only myself and Brekkee as members.
I have cleaned up the outdated parts of the webpage, and started a fresh new database to keep track of the new auctions.
Some of the gold going on the new auctions is left over from the Tsunami Donations. I know this is going to make some people uncomfortable, however as I said - I had some issues that prevented me from staying online, and I rather have kept the auctions offline instead of ruining them. The gold is going to Red Cross - as it was going to go to in the first place (I was planning on dropping Americares in April)
If you have any questions, by all means contact me.
Joe
There is some good news -- total Charitable Donations has reached $8,000 ! I have gold left only on the following servers : Baja, Catskills, Drachenfels, Europa, Lake Superior, Oceania, and Pacific. I am afraid things may go too slow on Pacific, and I'll end up doing a Shard Transfer.
]]>First I have updated and reviewed all the donation houses in Ultima Online here.
Second I am in the middle of updating the spreadsheet for upload tomorrow, however total donations to charity are now a bit over $7,100.
Third, I'm trying to catch up on current auctions and deliveries at the moment, but I'm afraid the next batch will be the last auction for one or two servers - stay tuned for more on that. I am sorry to say that I have had to file twice with eBay for non-paying auction winners.
Forth, I have studied eBay's policy a bit more, and spruced up the auctions themselves and now offer a "about me" section at eBay that links directly to this site! For those that don't remember, linking to the website in the auctions themselves resulted in eBay shutting me down the first time.
Last but not least, I combed through the site to make some minor updates & corrections, notably the change in fees I collect from auctions in response to eBay's new policy on 100% donation auctions.
]]>Second, it was rated A by CharityWatch, which has several ways to rate, including efficient application of donations.
Third, Americares is still accepting money to aide the Tsunami Victims, which is pretty important since that's what tripped me with Red Cross this month.
So to sum it all up, anything I have on hand right now will be sold with donations going to Americares, while anything here on out I receive ingame will default back to Red Cross. As always, anyone who donates in game directly can specify the charity of their choice, just as long as it is available through Mission Fish!
eBay changed their fees on Feb. 24, as seen here. Since eBay will donate collected selling fees for 100% donation auctions, I will SOME auctions at 100% donation while others at 75-80%, and the 25-20% kept will be used to cover the eBay and Paypal fees. I have always kept a small percantage of the money to cover fees, but now I hope to donate some of that money being reimbursed to the same charity through eBay.
]]>The American Red Cross is a national network of nearly 900 field units, 1-million volunteers and 36,000 employees dedicated to saving lives and helping people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. PLEASE NOTE: All items sold after January 31, 2005 will no longer be designated for Tsunami relief.]]> This change was made public sometime between Feb. 9 and Feb. 11.
I was NOT personally notified of this. The reason it took me almost two weeks to notice is simple - I relist/submit new auctions, breeze through the default for Red Cross selection, and slow down and concentrate most when entering the item and values.
The MissionFish box was the last thing I thought I had to keep an eye on. On the upside - Red Cross is a great Charity. On the downside - they no longer are directing the money to the Tsunami Victims. All CURRENT auctions online are locked in with Red Cross - I can NOT change that.
So what do I do now? Well - I stated from the start that this was to benefit the Tsunami Victims -- Red Cross no longer supports that. I would like to finish selling all the current inventory and deliver it as previously slated, and all NEW good received here on out I'll have to think on.
So begins the search for the 'new' charity. MissionFish has already removed their hotlinks for the Tsunami Charity toplist - however I did remember this one - Unicef. Anyone with any other good ideas - send them QUICK. For more 'lovely news' check my Forum.