Entry tags:

pelgrane, rpg equalizer

The RPG Equalizer #1 - Have you no Christian Charity?

This is the first of an irregular feature in which your intrepid reporter fearlessly fires off a short email and hopes for a response, and unquestioningly reads wikipedia entries in order to solve the pressing RPG-related controversies du jour.

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The RPG Equalizer #1 - Have you no Christian Charity?

The charity Christian Children's Fund apparently refused a $17,308 donation from this year's Gen Con Live Game Auction.
This is what Jeannette LeGault Director of Event Programming - Gen Con LLC said about it. Note the "apparently:"

"Gen Con contacted CCF about our intentions and asked for a logo and some promotional materials that we could use on our website. We were informed by a person at CCF that they would not be able to provide us with these materials, apparently due to our association with D&D. "

In a later interview in the Escapist magazine with Cheri Dahl, vice president of international communications and fund raising at CCF offered this explanation:

"When GenCon contacted CCF about its auction, we were pleased to accept donations. However, we couldn't lend our name for publication because our policies have specific criteria for endorsements," Dahl said. "We were unaware that this had caused any problem or concern for GenCon until we began receiving emails.
"This decision was in no way intended to be a reflection on Mr. Gygax, gaming enthusiasts or the game Dungeons and Dragons," she continued. "We have the utmost respect for the gaming community and were touched by the generosity expressed through your auction. We were disappointed that we were not the recipients of the donation but we were pleased that another worthy organization benefited."

Pshaw say gamers!

The essence of this story is "Gamer-hating bigoted Christian charity refuses blameless gamers' charitable donations." It's the ideal story for a bit of justified moral outrage. So, first what does wikipedia have to say about the charity? Is it a Jack-Chick-loving, proselytizing Christian charity? Or at least one which has an instinctive distaste for D&D, and swiftly back-pedalled after some bad PR?

So I read wikipedia:
Christian Children's Fund was Gary Gygax's favourite charity. Wiki says  "In May 2004, CCF became the subject of some contention when Christian charity watchdog group Wall Watchers sent a "donor alert"  informing them that the name of the charity  was designed to intentionally mislead its donors into thinking it was a faith-based missionary group. Howard Leonard, a chief executive of Wall Watchers, was quoted by a magazine as saying, "It isn't Christian in the way we look at it. If you're going to be bringing help to these children, you should be bringing the Gospel. A spokesperson for the group said that the organization does not proselytize any person to a faith, rather its name is derived from its founder, a Presbyterian minister who believed in "Christian principles," such as "love thy neighbor as thyself.""

Here's the Ministry Watch warning letter about CCF. So, it appears not to be proselytizing old-time religion charity - not the kind of charity which will refuse a donation from gamers. They are being Christian in the more general sense rather than doing misionary work.

Reading what Jeannette LeGault actually said, CCF didn't refuse the donation; they refused to supply logos and other promotional material - that is they refused to endorse the GenCon auction, as she latter stated. So, is this because of the D&D connection? "We'll take your dirty money, but don't let anyone about it know?" I became interested in Dahl's "specific criteria for endorsements." What possible reason could they have other than D&D?

I fired off a short email, and this is what Dahl said:

"One of the criteria we take into consideration is whether the organization is financially sound. At the time we were contacted Gen Con was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Before we could reach consensus, Gen Con moved forward in selecting another charity. Again, we did not realize how much concern this caused within the gaming community until we began hearing from so many of you. It was never intended as a slight."

Now it begins to make sense - there is a risk endorsing donations from an apparently financially unstable organisation. They were concerned, perhaps that people would donate, and the money wouldn't make it to the charity. The fact that GenCon was being sued by Lucas Films over allegedly unpaid charitable donations in a previous charity auction probably didn't help.

I think Dahl is telling the truth. If you think I might be right, by all means post a link on enworld, or wherever else righteously indignant gamers may be found.

I'm waiting to hear back from Jeannette LeGault, for more information on her conversation with "a person at CCF."  But, two emails is already above the call of duty for the RPG Equalizer. I leave it to others to explore this further.

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If you know other RPG controversies which you think I can solve by firing off a quick email and reading a wikipedia entry, please comment.