The One Fund Memorial Ribbon is now available!

[~Fabrykator]

I find it very troubling that people are upset that Turbine or whoever is showing support for this tragedy. Why are so many people so full of hate? The belief that Turbine is using the bombing as a way to make a buck or in any way not show tribute to the fallen and injured is ridiculous.
I am very sure that those who respond to every post they disagree with, multiple times, will do the same with mine but I just dont see whats wrong with this.
I love DDO and the fact they show that they care about others, to me, is a good thing.

[phillymiket]

I find it very troubling that people are upset that Turbine or whoever is showing support for this tragedy. Why are so many people so full of hate? The belief that Turbine is using the bombing as a way to make a buck or in any way not show tribute to the fallen and injured is ridiculous.
I am very sure that those who respond to every post they disagree with, multiple times, will do the same with mine but I just dont see whats wrong with this.
I love DDO and the fact they show that they care about others, to me, is a good thing.

Yeah I guess I will respond though I am abusing my posting privileges today. Sorry i usually don't do that.

But I feel strongly.

Listen, i hear you.

Part of me is angry at myself too because I know turbine intended something good. Fully. I really believe that.

I'm proud of Turbine for making a donation and creating the memorial and ribbon. Maybe I should have said that before.

But you say "The belief that Turbine is using the bombing as a way to make a buck or in any way not show tribute to the fallen and injured is ridiculous." but here is the problem:

Each ribbon costs about a buck give or take, if you bought your points rather then ground them out.

So i bought a ribbon.

They got a buck.

It's not ridiculous.

It's quite literally, and by their own kinda-round-about-wishy-washy admission, true.

You buy a ribbon - they get a buck.

I know they meant well and i support the memorial and effort but thay have to change that one thing.

It changes the whole flavor of a noble effort.

"TURBINE SELLS BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING RIBBONS AND KEEPS PROFITS."

^^^ That's the headline. ^^^

:-O

Now honestly tell me, smart move or dumb move?

[~Lorien_]

You have a problem with the NFL players wearing pink to support breast cancer?

Does that interfere with your immersion?

Yeah, a little bit. It always appears to be more of a marketing ploy for the NFL than for the charity. It's just them trying to undo their jock image and bring women into the viewing audience. Oh sure, it does some good, but its definitely the NFL marketing itself by association with the charity (which is in general how corporate giving works)

Don't you think the Player's Association realizes the overwhelming majority of NFL fans don't have breast cancer?

In direct answer to your question, it is a fairly safe bet that the majority of NFL fans ARE directly impacted by breast cancer. It's hard to be above 20 and not know someone (male or female, yes men get it too) close to you who has it/had it.

[~redspecter23-A]

I find it very troubling that people are upset that Turbine or whoever is showing support for this tragedy. Why are so many people so full of hate? The belief that Turbine is using the bombing as a way to make a buck or in any way not show tribute to the fallen and injured is ridiculous.
I am very sure that those who respond to every post they disagree with, multiple times, will do the same with mine but I just dont see whats wrong with this.
I love DDO and the fact they show that they care about others, to me, is a good thing.

One can want to do something good with all the good intentions in the world and pour their hearts and souls into such a thing and it can still turn out to be bad in some way in the end, whether real or invented by those that are watching.

Dictionary entry found for the word "Turbine"


I honestly believe that this should be a good thing. It's such a great thing to do to honor the victims of the tragedy and to raise awareness for the One Fund charity so that people that want to help can donate and do a part to assist those in need. Unfortunately, as is lately the case with Turbine, they failed to completely think through the implementation of a great idea and it's turned into what we have here. Great intentions, poor implementation. So many small things that could have been done slightly differently to make this an easy positive. Some people see it for what it was intended to be, which is great. Some people will only see the flaws, which is unfortunate, but that will be the case when noble efforts are hastily thrown together before checking the little details.

[phillymiket]

Yeah, a little bit. It always appears to be more of a marketing ploy for the NFL than for the charity. It's just them trying to undo their jock image and bring women into the viewing audience. Oh sure, it does some good, but its definitely the NFL marketing itself by association with the charity (which is in general how corporate giving works)

In direct answer to your question, it is a fairly safe bet that the majority of NFL fans ARE directly impacted by breast cancer. It's hard to be above 20 and not know someone (male or female, yes men get it too) close to you who has it/had it.

(posting again - i can't help myself)

Sure.

That's a real thing called Societal Marketing.

It really is good for society, most of the time.

The deal is, you do something good and let everyone know it.

Everyone wins.

The cause gets support, you sell more widgets and the customer feels good about themselves.

That's the kicker - Turbine's greatest benefit from this is the PR!

The money is nothing! They should have assured that they got nothing at all! For their own benefit!

For the record - I could be wrong - I thought the pink gear was started by the PLAYERS ASSOCIATION not the league and only picked up later by the NFL itself.

I maybe totally wrong there.

[~eonone]

To me it is very simple. I'm sure that Turbine has the best intentions. Almost anyone can accept that. However, at the end of the day, I want to know that they didn't make a single penny off of the tragedy. That they actually donated to the cause, that every penny spent on ribbons went to those who needed it.

But I can't know that they didn't profit from this "promotion". And I know it shouldn't bother me. That mistakes happen and that of course Turbine wants to do the right thing.

But it does bother me. It does bother me that Turbine could make even a single penny off of this. It really shouldn't bother me. But it does. It bothers me a lot.

[BigFootHunt]

This kind of thing has no place in game the way it is done.
It does consider feelings of people living close by or knowing someone there.
It does not consider feelings of people elsewhere. And some of them might percieve it as slap in the face.
I am sure those wanting to help to the victims can do so. News everywhere are full of it. Everyone knows.
Consider for a moment someone who lost people close to them in ship tragedy with magnitude of lives lost 200x greater then Boston. And now this is put into the persons favorite game. How does that make such person feel.

And the way i personally percieve this being put in game is "because PR said it would be good for us let's put it there"
I am pretty sure that people are helping. But those helping to brag about it... i pity them.
So if they put some memorial place into the actual game then from my point of view... That would make me just feel sick. It would be like "Are you grieving over Boston tragedy? Come grieve to our game."

[~Sergeant_Giggles]

Each ribbon costs about a buck give or take, if you bought your points rather then ground them out.

So i bought a ribbon.

They got a buck.

It's not ridiculous.

It's quite literally, and by their own kinda-round-about-wishy-washy admission, true.

You buy a ribbon - they get a buck.

I know they meant well and i support the memorial and effort but thay have to change that one thing.

It changes the whole flavor of a noble effort.

"TURBINE SELLS BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING RIBBONS AND KEEPS PROFITS."

^^^ That's the headline. ^^^

:-O

Now honestly tell me, smart move or dumb move?

Quite a dumb move if it weren't for the whole "we're also giving donations at the corporate level" thing which you either forgot to mention or weren't aware of.

Of course, if they weren't Turbine they could have found a way to directly donate all ribbon revenue, but, in their defense, they are Turbine.

[~popejubal]

Not to go off-topic, but I have never said such a thing, and if it was said by someone else, it would be an inaccurate statement.

To address a couple of folks' concerns: We are making a donation to The One Fund. If you choose not to use a coupon for the item, that purchase does not directly affect the donation we're making, which is why we were careful not to state it as such in our description of the effort. Initially, that was the plan, but various legal and technical hurdles prevented us from going that route. Instead, we're simply making a donation at the corporate level to the fund. Details will be forthcoming when it's all worked out.

This is very disappointing.

I appreciate that Turbine is going to make a donation at the corporate level. I think that's a nice thing to do. I even understand why you implemented the shoulder ribbon. Keeping money that people spent to get that ribbon instead of donating 100% of it to The One Fund is really horrible. It gives the appearance of profiteering even if that profiteering is accidental because you can't figure out how to calculate how many actual TP are spent on that item. If money is not going to The One Fund directly from every single Turbine Point spent on those ribbons, then it is important for you to DIRECTLY state that on the item's description. Right now, players could easily have the impression that money they spend on the ribbon (to "raise awareness") will actually go to The One Fund. I am glad that you at least changed the store item's description to mention the coupon code.

Turbine comes up with some truly great ideas. You guys really disappoint us with your execution far too often, though.

[~popejubal]

By the way, when I typed that post and hit "Submit Reply", the DDO Forums logged me out. I'm disappointed, but not surprised by this PR fiasco because this sort of thing is endemic in the entire company's efforts.

[~Ovrad-Kab]

I find it very troubling that people are upset that Turbine or whoever is showing support for this tragedy. Why are so many people so full of hate? The belief that Turbine is using the bombing as a way to make a buck or in any way not show tribute to the fallen and injured is ridiculous.
I am very sure that those who respond to every post they disagree with, multiple times, will do the same with mine but I just dont see whats wrong with this.
I love DDO and the fact they show that they care about others, to me, is a good thing.

The problem does not lie in the "support" aspect, but rather in the "donation" aspect. I do not think anyone doubts that Turbine supports this cause, it's very clear they are trying to help.

However, the ribbon sale is misleading. It has all the aspects of a fund-raiser, you can get it for free to raise awareness, or buy it for 100 TP. A lot of players assume since you can pay for it that the money will be donate to the cause. But Turbine has yet to confirm that, hence why people are getting upset. That 1$ could've been given to the cause directly instead if the information was made clear by Turbine right from the start. Now we don't know where it's going, maybe Turbine will include the sale profits in their donation, or maybe not, nothing has been confirmed yet.

[~Elaynne]

If it is really Turbine's intent to give the ribbons for free and not raise money with them why is the DDO Store being used to distribute them? They already knew they absolutely could not make them free in the store due to the way it is designed. Why not a NPC that hands them out to anyone who asks for one? Or a vendor that sells them for plat, or just added to existing vendors? Or they could have just passed them out like the birthday boxes and such.

With the current setup with 100 TP price and the coupon for free ones, it certainly looks like a fund raiser for this one fund. Its certain that there will be mistakes or people who don't check into it thoroughly and therefore pay TP thinking its going to the charity. Even if they mean it to be free, Turbine is still pocketing the proceeds for these mistakes.

[phillymiket]

The previous thread closing, though mysterious to me, got me thinking about how the DDO staff is reading these threads.

I would like to apologize to Turbine for any insult they may feel as a result of my posts.

For all I know the people who thought of this ribbon may be personal friends with people missing legs from that horrible event.

So if great offense has been taken then I am truly sorry for it.

I hope you can see my point of view, because I still feel the way I do, but understand if you don't, and I thank you for the effort even if I still offer the same advice with regard to IMO the ill-advised manner in which you set up this wonderful idea.

This is one of those rare disagreements where almost everyone's heart is in the right place.

[~wellpers]

We clearly make the code available through numerous channels, although I'd be happy to also add it to the launcher. The item is not on sale for 1 TP due to historical precedence in which putting something on sale for that amount has caused technical issues with the DDO Store. We want people to use the free coupons, which is why we have worked extensively to get the coupon code out to the public. Feel free to assist us by spreading the word of it to your friends and guildies as well.

It's very hard to take these type of posts seriously. If you really just wanted to give people ribbons to show their support you could have just delivered them directly to inventory like you did with the birthday boxes. Instead someone came up with the idea to put them in the store knowing full some people will accidently pay for it and some people will pay for it thinking the money is going to the victims even though no such promise is made.

I think giving money to charity was a corporate decision and a good one. I think putting this item in the store was a completely differerent corporate decision made by different people and a very bad decision. It's great that you gave to charity as likely 100% of all other fortune 500 companies will also do. It's a bit unfortunate that you tainted this action with the decision to put this item in the store.

And for those at Turbine that just went along with the decision, stand up for what is right next time.

[Stanley_Nicholas]

Distribution of ribbons shouldn't have been done through the store at all if the intention was for everyone who wants one to get it for free. They should have made it so you just click on the memorial in the marketplace and you get a ribbon in your inventory. Bam, simple and straightforward, without the problems of putting it in the store with the poorly-advertised an entirely unnecessary option between spending TP on it for no reason or else getting it for free.

[~eonone]

What I want to know is; if the 100 tp purchase price doesn't actually go to the One Fund charity, then what makes it a "One Fund Memorial Ribbon"?

Is there any actual affiliation to the One Fund charity? Or is it just a ribbon using the Marathon colors?

Because if the proceeds don't actually go to One Fund, then this is not actually a "One Fund Memorial Ribbon" is it? It's just a "Turbine Memorial Ribbon" using the association of "One Fund" to "raise awareness", but not actually contributing directly to "One Fund".

Is One Fund even aware that Turbine has associated a virtual item with One Fund's cause, for which Turbine has not made any obligation to actually donate any proceeds generated?

The idea that if I spent 100 TP for the ribbon and that instead of going to the cause it just sits in Turbine's coffers, just quite frankly disgusts me.

What I want from Turbine is an explanation of what is done with any purchases of the ribbons. If the proceeds do not go to One Fund then I suggest everyone who has made a purchase of the ribbon to demand reimbursement.

[Lumi_of_Irian]

What incentive is there for us to deliberately choose to donate 100 TP to the fund through the store, by purchasing a ribbon, if none of that TP has any effect whatsoever on Turbine's donated amount?

[MuleAxe]

Stop the BS. Recognize the effort for what it is; recognition of those who were affected by the bombings. This is exceedingly noble of Turbine to do something like this. I'll be proudly wearing my ribbon; not expecting anything for doing it, not looking for an incentive, and certainly not criticizing the company for taking the game down for a short amount of time to do it.

[Cordovan]

What incentive is there for us to deliberately choose to donate 100 TP to the fund through the store, by purchasing a ribbon, if none of that TP has any effect whatsoever on Turbine's donated amount?

You should not be purchasing the ribbons with Turbine Points to donate to the fund. To donate to the fund, click here.

We are, however, giving the ribbons away for free. Use the coupon code BOSTON at checkout. You can have up to 10/account for free.

We are also making a corporate donation to The One Fund, but this is not linked to the ribbon. We'll have info on that later. Thanks!

[icekinslayer]

Stop the BS. Recognize the effort for what it is; recognition of those who were affected by the bombings. This is exceedingly noble of Turbine to do something like this. I'll be proudly wearing my ribbon; not expecting anything for doing it, not looking for an incentive, and certainly not criticizing the company for taking the game down for a short amount of time to do it.

QFT.

You haters( read that as people who assume Turbine is doing this to profit ), need to read the main post notifying us about the One Fund, then hang your heads in shame for being blatantly ignorant. Disgusting. Did your reading skills fail to find the coupon code BOSTON somewhere in that post? Did you see something shiny (in game ribbon) in the store for 100TP and immediately buy it so you could come back to the forums and complain that Turbine stole your money?