FarmVille users on Facebook have taken advantage of a program launched by the games developer to donate almost half a million dollars to a pair of nonprofit agencies in Haiti.

Zynga launched Sweet Seeds for Haiti about three weeks ago reports VentureBeat, offering its 56.0 million users a chance to make a difference by having a portion of the price of virtual sweet potato seeds sold in the game go to the nonprofits FONKOZE and FATEM.

FATEM President Jacky Poteau said that over 500 children have been affected positively by the donations, allowing them a chance to escapes poverty and gain a better education.

FONKOZE is an alternative bank for the poor, while FATEM dedicates itself to improving the basic needs of the community, with a focus on education and alleviating hunger.

So the next time someone tells you to stop wasting time on Facebook, tell them you’re simply making the world a better place.

Using his Edge-Online blog, Alex Walker has penned an open letter to South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson about the lack of an R18+ rating classification in that country.

Walker notes that “the Classification Board has refused classification to twice as many games as the British Board of Film Classification has in the 23 years since it first rated a video game.” He calls out Atkinson on some of his recent statements and uses comments from David Cook, Director of the British Board of Film Classification to aid his case.

Walker finishes with a challenge:

I’m not sure how, given the weight of evidence, you can stand by the inconsistencies in the Australian approach to classifying film and video games. I call on you to stand aside, and allow for a debate on the classification system, a debate which you have so far stifled.

Walker adds that he did email a copy of the letter to Atkinson, but he does not expect a response.

With 84 bids down and seven days of auctioning left as I write this, a limited edition Xbox 360 which celebrates the release of The Beatles Rock Band is selling for $7,400 on Ebay.

The sale of the beautifully customized console will benefit Doctors Without Borders. From the auction listing:

Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison personally selected the charity as the beneficiary of these proceeds.

Kotaku reports that the charitable auction is the first in a series.

If the console auction is too rich for your blood, purchasing the DLC bonus track All You Need is Love on Xbox Live (about $2) will help out Doctors Without Borders as well. All proceeds go to the charity an purchasers will be entered into a context to win one of the limited edition consoles as well as a
Rickenbacker 325 replica guitar controller.
 

Social activism in virtual venues may indeed transfer to the real world.

New World Notes reports on such a transition by Second Lifer KallfuNahuel Matador, who in 2006 helped protect an SL African genocide awareness site from griefers.

Turn the clock ahead three years, however, and the flesh-and-blood man behind the Matador avatar is in the real Africa, doing backbreaking volunteer work (see pic). He told NWN's Wagner James Au:

The friends I made in the [SL] Virtual Camp Darfur are heavily involved in humanitarian activities in their first lives. Better World and Camp Darfur were extensions of their work and attempts to spread the word of the causes they stood for...

We discussed telling [their African hosts] we'd met in SL, but the idea of a virtual world where we interact but not in our own bodies? Difficult to convey...

 

[SL users should] really get to know the people you're working with in SL, research their [real-life] projects. Get to know them, talk to them, see if there's a 'fit' for you in their cause... Or, And if you aren't lucky enough to be able to travel far and wide, then find a way to help the cause locally.

Yesterday we happened upon AbleGamers, a website devoted to assisting and building community among gamers with disabilities.

Among other services, AbleGamers provides reviews of games and peripherals with an eye toward how effectively they can be utilized by physically challenged gamers. The site was founded by Mark Barlet, who explained his motivation to writer Scott Thompson:

My dearest friend in the world and I use[d] to use games as a way to bridge the distance between us as we grew up and started our own families. The game of the day was Everquest, and the hunt was on Friday nights. Well, one day she and her hubby did not log on. I waited. After about 15 minutes, I gave her a call.

She was crying "Mark, I can't feel my hand, it is not working" and she handed the phone to her husband. 4 months prior to that night, she was told she has Multiple Sclerosis... So I said to myself that there had to be a site about disabled people and gaming... there was none. So I started one. I am disabled myself, and while my disability does not really interfere with my gaming, I could relate.

Barlet points out that things like remappable key bindings, adjustable controller sensitivity and closed captioning for voiceovers can make an otherwise inaccessible game playable to disabled individuals. Why, he wonders, are such features not standard on games?

For a good example of what AbleGames is all about, check out the site's coverage of Microsoft's Project Natal and how it will impact disabled gamers.

Yesterday in the Big Apple, socially-aware teens held the first-ever NYC Youth Media & Technology Festival. The event spotlighted the work of teenagers who create video games and other digital media projects in order to advance social causes.

Organizers expected about 100 attendees for the Festival. The gathering was intended to produce a citywide dialogue about the role of new media and technology in teens' lives and how it can be utilized to promotes issues kids care about.

A group of young designers affiliated with the New York Public Library were scheduled to showcase their designs and conceptualizations for serious video games about subjects like celebrity drug use, media consolidation and genocide.

Meanwhile, teens from the Global Kids Virtual Video Project premiered an animated short film about child sex trafficking in the United States.  Members of MOUSE discussed their efforts to advance technology in New York City public schools by developing open source labs, advocating for the One Laptop Per Child campaign and other efforts.

The invitation-only event was held at the Parsons The New School for Design.

-Doug Buffone, Entertainment Consumers Association intern

If you've got games that you're not using anymore, don't leave them to collect dust on a shelf. Donate them instead.

Pixel Equity, a new not-for-profit matches donated games and systems up with economically disadvantaged kids. From the organization's website:

Video gaming is a fun and enriching activity, but it remains out of reach for many. Games cost upwards of $50 and consoles cost hundreds, so it’s no surprise that large groups of young people who are interested in playing never get the chance.

No games to send? Pixel Equity will also accept cash donations, no matter how small. That part is kind of sweet because you can actually see how your donation will help reach the amount needed to buy a specific game requested by a child (see pic at left).

There's also a bit of game-oriented fun built into the donation system:

Since this is an organization about video games, we thought that we would make a game out of giving. Every contribution you make will help you gain levels. Each level corresponds to an image of a game archetype, including warriors, clerics, mages, and more, that you will be able to post on your facebook profile by using our facebook app (app coming soon!). Show your friends that you’re making a difference!

Via: Kotaku

In April the United States was stunned by the news of a shooting rampage at the offices of the American Civic Association in Binghampton, New York. During the horrific incident 41-year-old Vietnamese immigrant Jiverly Wong killed 13 people and wounded several more before turning his weapon on himself.

Central New York station News 10 reports that children at a local middle school held a Rock Band tournament last Friday to benefit two children who lost both parents in the ACA shooting. The children of victims Marc and Marie Bernard will attend the Maine-Endwell Middle School in the fall. Tom Burkhardt, who organized the fundraiser told News 10:

We learned about these two children that lost both their parents and knew that they were gonna be coming to our school next year. And basically, the teachers and the staff wanted to do something, we were wondering what we could do, and we thought of this.

Local businesses donated prizes for the tournament.

The Entertainment Software Association will incorporate a variety of charitable efforts into next month's E3 Expo in Los Angeles.

According to an ESA press release, in addition to all of its usual gaming goodness, E3 2009 will feature:

• Pro vs. G.I. Joe gaming competitions in support of U.S. military personnel
• A t-shirt design contest with some proceeds going to support an L.A.-based homeless mission
• a Red Cross blood drive

For more info, check out the official E3 site. Those wishing to donate blood should sign up online, entering E3 as the sponsor code.

Current TV's Ben Hoffman has some fun with gamers who lined up to donate blood and steal a pre-release peek at Resident Evil 5.

The Capcom-sponsored event took place in Los Angeles last week.

Via: Joystiq

A message (see pic at left) posted on popular game download site Newgrounds has led to the arrest of a 16-year-old British youth.

According to a CBC report, 21-year-old J.P. Neufeld, a college student in Montreal, noticed the teen's message which indicated that he planned to burn down his school:

"I saw this thread started by this guy. It didn't seem serious at first. It said that today at 11:30 a.m. GMT I will commit violence and other forms of arson against my school [in Norfolk]. He had posted a picture of a gas can"...

 

Police were able to track down information about the suspect and school—leading them to an arrest. A 16-year-old male in possession of a knife, matches and canister of flammable liquid was taken into custody outside the school.

Via: Gizmodo

A start-up charitable foundation is seeking your used games.

Donate Games is focusing its efforts on orphan diseases - debilitating, often fatal, but frequently overlooked because they affect only a small slice (less than .05%) of the global population.

How can used games help? A press release explains that Donate Games will re-sell the games it takes in:

Are you tired of trading in your used games at retail stores for pennies on the dollar? Are you looking for a new site to purchase used games at low prices? Do you want to help change the lives of people around the world?...

 

Donate Games is a new charity dedicated to funding research for orphan diseases and supporting those affected by them through the donation and resale of used video games. In addition to raising funds for research on these rare disorders, Donate Games will promote awareness and provide advisory services to the general public.

Donate Games was created by Jim Carol, described as a veteran of the IT industry, and his wife Cynthia. In 2006 their son was diagnosed with Philadelphia Chromosome, a rare form of leukemia. Although their son's disease is now in remission, the Carols were moved by the suffering they saw:

We were lucky. “Treatments and community support really made a difference for [our son]. But, we met others at the treatment centers that had little hope, suffering from even rarer life-threatening conditions, without research funding, effective treatments or support networks. By launching Donate Games and connecting with the vibrant gaming community so near and dear to my own professional background, now we can help them, too.”

The organization is currently accepting game donations but has not yet begun to re-sell. Penny Arcade's Child's Play and publisher Electronic Arts are listed as partner organizations.

As we saw in 2008 with Breakthrough's immigration rights-themed I.C.E.D!, non-profits are increasingly turning to game tech to reach a wider - and younger - audience.

Along that line Ars Technica reports that Games for Change has released a toolkit designed to help non-profits tap learn how to tap into issue-oriented games of their own.

The Games for Change Toolkit is primarily a Flash-based presentation containing video, reference material, and links to demonstration games that cover various aspects of game design, from the initial concept to production and distribution. While an actual [software development kit] may not be involved, the toolkit introduces nonprofit organizations to both the broad potential and finer details of bringing an issue-conscious game into reality...

The Toolkit covers seven primary topics and introduces each with a video snippet of their relative presenter's speech: Urge, Concept, Design, Production, Distribution, Evaluation, and Case Study...

Joystiq reports that Penny Arcade's Child's Play Charity raised an amazing $1.4 million for sick children during its recent fund drive:

The annual Child's Play charity fund is known for accumulating outlandish quantities of money from the gaming community -- this year was no exception. Button-mashing altruists not only met the charity's lofty $750,000 goal, they nearly doubled it, bringing in a total of $1,434,377...

...generous gamers surpassed last year's impressive $1.3 million haul (and in the middle of a recession, no less)...

This week's Child's Play Charity Auction Dinner raised more than $200,000 for worthy causes, reports Gabe of Penny Arcade.

Among the items auctioned off was the rather impressive statue at left depicting an Orc from World of Warcraft on his mount.

Simply awesome - both the event and the statue...

It's always great to see game tech being to put to use for purposes larger than mere entertainment.

Variety's Cut Scene blog reports that Warner Bros. Interactive will launch a free online game in Kenya designed to teach players about the risks of AIDS as well as how to prevent the spread of the disease.

The five-player game is called Pamoja Mtaani, which translates to Together in the Hood. It will target youth centers in Nairobi and features tunes from local hip-hop musicians. Pamoja Mtaani was developed by North Carolina-based Virtual Heroes, creators of America's Army.

Here's how Warner Bros. describes the game: 

[Pamoja Mtaani] follows five strangers who are brought together through unforeseen circumstances, losing what is most precious to each of them. Working their way through various East African neighborhoods, players must recover the stolen items and help an injured woman on their quest. Along the way, they will experience barriers and facilitators to behavior change through a variety of missions and mini-games.

Pamoja Mtaani is an outgrowth of The Partnership For an HIV-free Generation.

As we move into the season of giving, it's heartwarming to learn that a top exec with EA Vancouver is giving back to his community in a major way.

As reported by the Globe and Mail, senior VP Rory Armes (left) is among Canadian execs who have gotten involved with Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, a nonprofit which connects businesses with social service organizations.

From the newspaper report:

For Mr. Armes, a commitment to help Vancouver's at-risk youth seemed like a natural fit... His mid-October tour took him to the Potluck Cafe, the Urban Native Youth Association, PLEA Community Services Society of B.C., and Directions Youth Services.

"It drove a point home," says Mr. Armes. "Most of us have teenaged children and we could identify with the problems faced by the kids we met. In our case we could see an immediate fit between what they need and what we can provide."

That fit included making the Potluck Cafe a sort of unofficial caterer to Electronic Arts, and donating used computer equipment and software to Directions Youth Services.

"They told us they needed things that would help boost the self-esteem of the kids they dealt with," Mr. Armes says...

"We are also offering paid time off through the week to any of our people who might want to spend the hours from, say, two to four teaching these kids how to operate the software," he adds.

GP: Kudos to Rory Armes and EA!

Via: Our sister-site GameCulture

Comedy troupe LoadingReadyRun has launched its second annual Desert Bus for Hope charity drive.

The gimmick here is that LRR members control the annoyingly monotonous Desert Bus simulator continuously as long as their mostly gamer audience continues to make donations.

A live stream shows the "drivers" at work (see pic). The game is reportedly part of the never-released Penn & Teller's Smoke & Mirrors, originally intended for the Sega CD system.

As a bonus, none other than actor Wil Wheaton (he's an ECA member!) will be checking in with the Desert Bus crew later today.

What They Play has a detailed explanation of the diabolical way in which the Desert Bus fundraiser works:

Viewers are asked to donate money via the Desert Bus website, and as the dollar total rises, so does the length of time the team must continue driving the bus... In order to limit the event to a few days, each additional hour costs more in donations than the previous hour did, until they become prohibitively expensive.

 

Despite this limitation, though, last year’s event ran 108 hours long. Viewers are encouraged to participate by e-mail, or by live internet chat, where they can ask questions of the crew, make requests, and become an active participant.

FULL DISCLOSURE DEPT: The ECA is the parent company of GamePolitics.

Penny Arcade has kicked off the 2008 campaign for its amazing Child's Play charity, and Chris Morris at Forbes serves up some history detailing how the PA guys popularized the concept of gamers giving back:

It's funny what a little righteous anger can do. Five years ago, Mike Krahulik, co-founder of the popular Penny Arcade Web site, read yet another editorial decrying video games as tools of violence that desensitized America's youth.

To combat the bad press, he and partner Jerry Holkins decided to launch a charity drive that encouraged readers to send them games or cash, and they would pass the donations to Seattle's Children's Hospital...

They ended up receiving $225,000 in video game and toy donations, along with another $26,000 in cash... To date, Child's Play has raised over $3.5 million in cash and toy donations. The charity has gone from improvised effort to nonprofit organization. And recipient hospitals have grown from one to 40.

GP: What an outstanding thing to do. While there are a number of other gamer-centric charitable efforts, it's fair to say that Child's Play sets the standard.

That's why it's so unbelievable that in 2005 Jack Thompson tried to have the Penny Arcade guys arrested.

As we look forward to Veteran's Day tomorrow, we're reminded that serving with the military in Iraq or Afghanistan must be very difficult, indeed. Our troops face constant danger and are far removed from their families and the things they enjoyed at home.

But a Philadelphia-area woman, Stefanie Doctor Shea, works hard to bring at least one of the comforts of home to the front lines: video games.

As GamePolitics first reported on Veteran's Day, 2007, Stefanie takes a very personal interest in how our military personnel are faring overseas. That's because her husband, Sgt. Michael Shea, spent the last year with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq before returning home recently (Stefanie and Michael are pictured at left).

But while Stefanie's hubby may be back, the nonprofit organization she founded, Fun For Our Troops, is still engaged in its mission. A just-issued press release offers Stefanie's thoughts:

In our first year we were able to provide gaming relief to over 200 deployed troops and several Morale, Wellness, and Recreation (MWR) stations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We hope to continue the momentum this Veteran’s Day and in 2009.

SPC Joseph Burris adds:

As a soldier, I just wanted to say thanks for Fun for Our Troops. Words cannot describe the feelings I get when I see people like you selflessly donate time, money, and energy just to make our lives a little better. Something as simple as a videogame can mean a lot to a soldier who has nothing more to look forward to than another dusty day on convoy.

The Sheas are gamers themselves. While waiting for Michael to be deployed last fall, the couple spent a good deal of time playing the Wii. Stefanie attended PAX for the first time in August of this year.

Fun for our Troops is seeking tax-deductible donations of new or gently used game systems, video games, PC games or MP3 players as well as gift cards for distributors of games and gaming systems. The organization can also make use of monetary donations which are used primarily toward shipping costs and purchasing used gaming systems.  

Donations can be sent to:

Fun for our Troops, Inc.
506 Corporate Drive West
Langhorne, PA 19047

...or via PayPal.