Why We Buy Charity Bundles/Games

[raichu845]

This thread is all about the reason behind us buying charity bundles or games where the money used to purchase it goes to charity.

Now I am not going to act like a Good Samaritan and blatantly lie to you people and say I buy these to support the charity or the developers because I genuinely do not. Now blunt as it may sound I do not say this as a way to shrug the reasons behind the bundle off however I just see a new bundle as a good deal. Now when I think about the charity and what these people do I do think that it is a nice thing to do however that feeling goes away pretty quickly after the game is installed.

The point I am trying to get across is, do we really buy charity bundles to support charities, or do we see them as another sale for us to add to our never-ending list of games that we never play? Let's face it, some bundles may have the game you want where you pay on average 5-6$, however, in others you pay the equivalent of a candy bar and come out with 4 pretty damn good games. This is not like going to your local charity shop and buy a thorn-up book that has been handed down through 3 generations and has met a better faith than being thrown in the trash can or a shirt that has more sweat marks than it should have, no this is paying what you would pay for those items but for amazing and fairly recent games.

I shall take in example the Humble Bundle, now it is an amazing website. Has a 2 bundles (weekly and biweekly) and I haven't been a stranger to this website for the past 2 years. First bundle I gave 10$ as I was amazed by the fact that it's a good deal and it is for charity. However later bundles came and I started being cheap. Either go for a dollar or pay 1c above the average to get the extra games. I stopped bothering allocating how the money is split between developers and charity and ended up being nothing more than a sale I check along with the Steam sale.

I guess at the end of the day I look at these charity bundles as more of a service than what they were their original intention is.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I don't know about the rest of you but all my Humble Bundles have always been a split between the Bundle tip and the Devs.

 

[DanielBrown]

When I buy a Humble Bundle, I give $.50 to Humble (for bandwidth) and the rest to the developers. Most "charities" ive done research about, spend maybe a tenth of the money they recieve on what the charity actually does, and the rest goes towards other things... I dont like that, and because of that, even if Child's Play doesn't do that, I don't give anything to the charity.

Aye, unfortunetly. I read up a bit about some breast cancer research campain they have in Sweden. If my memory serves me right over 80% of the collected money went to pay checks for the big shots and PR... Also read that a shitload of charities are disguised scammers and even terrorists/freedom fighters funding their cause. Don't think that's too common in the West though.
Might be talking out of my ass, however, as this is just hazy memories from many years ago. If someone knows more, feel free to correct me or inform me. Would be intresting to know.

As for me I've always given everything to the developers, though I should start giving some to HB as well. Only buy the bundles when I want the games. Got 142 games on Steam now and I've probably only touched a third of them.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

i usually split my donation equally between the developer and the charity, the whole point of the thing is for charity after all.
As for the % that goes to charity, its not even a UK charity, so I dont give it much thought

 

[babinro]

I buy them to get the most games for the lowest possible price.

I always give 100% of the funds to Charity but that's just an added bonus rather than an incentive to buy. I know myself well enough that these charities wouldn't be getting a dime from me if it weren't for the games I get in return.

It's worth mentioning that I'm personally jaded when it comes to charities under normal circumstances. I've heard/read some bad things about how the money is applied and spent that I wouldn't feel comfortable supporting them with my money even if I was rich. As is, I only earn $12,000 a year so my disposable income is extremely precious.

If I made a lot more, my 'chariry' would be more direct. Namely helping out people I know who are financially strained. Particularly those who want a higher level education but can't afford it.

 

[AngloDoom]

Agree with most people so far - I do it for the games.

I give a small amount of money to the charity - more if the cause interests me - but I mostly give the money to the developers and a tip for Humble for providing the service.

 

[raichu845]

When I buy a Humble Bundle, I give $.50 to Humble (for bandwidth) and the rest to the developers. Most "charities" I've done research about, spend maybe a tenth of the money they receive on what the charity actually does, and the rest goes towards other things... I dont like that, and because of that, even if Child's Play doesn't do that, I don't give anything to the charity.

I 100% agree with you, I had a year-long project where I had to work at a local charity shop once a week. Most of the people there always stuff their pockets with at least 10 Euro every time they have a shift there. Now while this doesn't sound as much, when the take is 25 Euro. So I do not blame you to find an alternative to it. Now I'm not saying that they do, I am not pointing but that is my experience. I'm pretty sure the bundles don't do so but at the end of the day we can't be certain

 

[Zhukov]

I just buy them to get some games for a cheap price.

I pay however much I think the games I am interested in are worth.

I don't distribute the money in any particular pattern. Some of it does go to the charities though.

I have nothing against the idea of charities in general. I've donated to some every now and again, although only when asked. I'm not generous or wealthy enough to actively seek them out.

 

[Rose and Thorn]

I actually can't buy bundles like that. I don't like owning games I don't want, so if a package of games comes with say five, and I only want three of them, I can't do it because I just don't want to own the other two games. I know it sounds super immature, but I have always had a problem buying things and have gotten into the habit of only buying what I really want.

 

[Sofus]

I have never donated anything for the sake of charity. I'll gladly pay for a product or an experience, but I don't care who gets the money in the end. Now I can understand why it's somewhat of a big deal outside of Denmark, but where I live I expect the government to use the rather high tax that I pay to take care of just about everything.

If we have a problem with poor people or something then the government can just raise the tax.

 

[Simonism451]

As most other people so far, I'm mostly buying them for the games, since if I wanted to support charities, I'd do so directly without expecting any sort of recompensation. That said, I don't go out of the way so that the charities don't get anything, so usually it's the default option for me. I also pay as much as I think I'm comfortable spending on the games, so if I like a certain offering I'll gladly go above the minimum to get everything.

 

[DEAD34345]

I don't buy Humble Bundles (or other bundles) because the money goes to charity, but it does have an influence. If the money was going to EA for example I'd really think about whether or not the purchase would be worthwhile, whereas when it's for charity I'll pretty much just dump £5 or so immediately. It changes the dynamic from "Do I want to buy these games?" to "Do I want to receive a bunch of free games for donating a small amount to charity?", to which the answer is always "Yes".

 

[Rose and Thorn]

I actually can't buy bundles like that. I don't like owning games I don't want, so if a package of games comes with say five, and I only want three of them, I can't do it because I just don't want to own the other two games. I know it sounds super immature, but I have always had a problem buying things and have gotten into the habit of only buying what I really want.

you could just gift the other games to someone else.

problem solved.

It isn't something that ever occured to me, mostly because I have no friends, but I guess I could do that.

Don't get me wrong though, I like these charity bundles and what they stand for. It is just most often the case the I only want 1 or 2 of the ones in the bundle and I've never tried to gift a digital game before so I don't really know how it works. I know you can buy people games on steam and gift them, but that is all I know.

 

[fenrizz]

Why?
Because I like to get cheap games.
Charity is the governments job, not mine.

 

[chikusho]

The most interesting games they sell on bundle sites I usually already own.

But I buy most of the bundles anyway, giving all of the money to charity. Then I gift the games to friends that might like whatever games are on sale that week. I usually never go for more than five to ten dollars, but it's for a good cause at least.

 

[raichu845]

I actually can't buy bundles like that. I don't like owning games I don't want, so if a package of games comes with say five, and I only want three of them, I can't do it because I just don't want to own the other two games. I know it sounds super immature, but I have always had a problem buying things and have gotten into the habit of only buying what I really want.

you could just gift the other games to someone else.

problem solved.

It isn't something that ever occured to me, mostly because I have no friends, but I guess I could do that.

Don't get me wrong though, I like these charity bundles and what they stand for. It is just most often the case the I only want 1 or 2 of the ones in the bundle and I've never tried to gift a digital game before so I don't really know how it works. I know you can buy people games on steam and gift them, but that is all I know.

people on this site sometimes trade or gift games to each others, mostly around festive periods i.e. valentines, christmas etc.


but for only two gaems its not worth it unless you do it for the charity.

I understand this, but trading gifts nowadays isn't allowed in most places. One for the obvious fact that the key could be used, the other is because most websites do not let you do it (probably for the same reason as the former). Other than that bundles such as Humble Bundle require your account to be linked to steam to activate because the selling of keys was ruining the point behind it