Was WoW's "tribute" to Robin Williams a money grab?

[Zanten]

Nicklesbe said:

Zanten said:

Nicklesbe said:

Zanten said:
Soooo, we officially have a link to an actual petition that was signed by over ten thousand people. Case closed?

Because pretty sure if they had IGNORED the petition we'd inevitably be hearing 'Oh, those cold, heartless corporate bastards, not able to lift their little finger or expend any resources just to make one NPC for a man who loved their game yada yada yada.' =P Regardless of what Blizzard had done on the matter, someone would have portrayed it as an act of respect, and someone else would have portrayed it as an act of cold inhumanity, and either one could have been right, so how's about we just at least acknowledge that there was indeed a pretty impressive amount of public outcry for it to be done and leave it at that?

Not really case closed. They put it behind a paywall and just increased the price. Whether or not people signed a petition doesn't change the fact they are making money off it. If they want to make it right then they should donate the proceeds from that increase to the William's family and their various charities.

Sooo... this price increase is happening in the U.S. too then, right?

According to the forum post they are considering it everywhere so eventually yes.

Well, you're welcome to believe what you'd like, then. =P I honestly still think you're overreacting, because I actually think the guy made enough of an impact on people that there are folks who might actually WANT to do something for him. I'm in my mid-twenties and it felt like a relative died when I heard he'd passed, which is odd because I've NEVER reacted to a celebrity death like that before. I simply grew up watching his movies, and eventually his stand-up comedy, and even though I'm not even a more strenuous Robin Williams fan, he was simply a big part of what I grew up on. I'd honestly be surprised if Blizzard was devoid of people who could say the same.

Is there some corporate fatcat who's got dollar signs in his eyes? Yeah, maybe, the really old guys in Activision. But I doubt it'd be any more than a tiny minority of those in the company. And even if the announcement of the price bump was poorly timed- or even deliberately timed- I don't think that Robin Williams still being alive would have prevented a price bump from happening anyway. =P They might just have decided to spring it on everyone as a surprise.

I'd like to point out that pretty much any public form of media that has so much as commented on his death- be it Conan's brief tribute on his show, any and all Youtube videos since his death that have ever spoken of him, uploaded footage of him (including hard-to-find stuff like his entertainment of troops overseas) and pretty much everything beyond txting your friend about it privately- can be construed as looking for something, whether it's money, ratings, Youtube subscriptions, etc.

In addition, if Nintendo ever does do a tribute to him in one of their Zelda games (and frankly, I'd like it if they did,) then that's going to be behind a paywall as well, since you'll actually have to buy the game to see it. That being said, I'd still like it if they did a tribute to him in one of their games, even if something small.