Sanrio Digital today announced the successful conclusion of the first Hello Kitty
Online charity event, "Food for Friends," held in the final week of the Hello Kitty Online Founders' Beta. Players created and submitted 344,965 in-game food items. Based on the number and value of items submitted, Hello Kitty Online will donate USD 12,000 to
UNICEF (www.unicef.org) and the Asian Youth Orchestra (www.asianyouthorchestra.com).
Hello Kitty Online's "Food for friends," held November 1-6, 2008, was an experimental event format that aimed to convert a portion of
the effort and time expended by players in-game into charity donations. Guilds competed among each other to be the highest donor of virtual food items. Players produced raw materials on their farms and crafted them into specific food items, each of which
carried a value based on how difficult it was to create that item. Guilds submitted the prepared food items during the event period. Winning guilds will receive a page on www.hellokittyonline.com, special guild uniforms for open beta, and a small feature on their guild including an interview with the guild representative(s) on the Hello Kitty Online blog.
Based on the total virtual items submitted by all guilds, Sanrio
Digital will donate USD 12,000 to be split between UNICEF (www.unicef.org) and the Asian Youth Orchestra (www.asianyouthorchestra.com). Players of Hello Kitty Online
crafted and submitted 344,965 virtual food items, including lemon pies, strawberry cakes, roasted vegetables, oat biscuits, and more.
"The enthusiasm of Hello Kitty Online beta players was beyond our expectations," said Abigail Reyes, Community Manager for Hello Kitty Online. "Our players contributed to charity by crafting and donating hundreds of thousands of virtual items. MMORPGs have the ability to absorb considerable time and effort; with this event we sought to channel some of that effort to benefit a good cause. We will expand on this concept for future charity events."
Hello Kitty turned 34 years old on November 1, 2008, and celebrated the occasion inside her own MMORPG, Hello Kitty Online. The "Food for Friends" event kicked off immediately following the birthday party, as did the "Build New York" event, which allows players to construct New York City landmarks and have their character names inscribed on virtual commemorative plaques when the new zone is complete. To learn more about Hello Kitty Online events see http://blog.sanriotown.com/hkoevent:hellokitty.com.