Food For Friends was a little experiment we concocted as a new format for events held in MMORPGs.  We wanted to channel the in-game efforts of players into something real that would impact others in a positive way.  For those of you who missed it, the basic idea was to craft and a number of food items and hand them in to a GM. Sanrio Digital then made a donation to charity, the amount of which was determined by the total number of crafted food items submitted by players. As you can see this means that the event generated real world charity that was directly proportional to the efforts of the player base.


The event was a resounding success, with Sanrio Digital donating USD 12,000 to Unicef and the Asian Youth Orchestra! Keep in mind this is based on the Founders’ Beta, which was essentially a closed beta. We want charity to be an important part of HKO, so there will be other similar events in later releases of the game.

Media such as CNET, Allakhazam and Ten Ton Hamster wrote about the event, and the feedback we have been receiving has been very encouraging. Hopefully this exercise can stimulate a trend of a better sense of community responsibility. MMORPGs require a lot of time to play in the long run, and we think most players would be happy if some of the effort they invest in a game could also benefit the less fortunate.