Citing a large number of refunded donations and confusion over the goal of the "Retake Mass Effect" Child's Play charity drive, Penny Arcade's Jerry Holkins draws the line: "Child's Play cannot be a tool to draw attention to a cause. Child's Play must be the Cause."
While the fan-lead effort to show BioWare a more positive side of the Mass Effect 3 ending argument generated more than $80,000 for the Child's Play charity, it has also managed to generate much confusion for charity organizers. They've fielded questions from folks that believed the event officially sponsored by the charity, as well as those that believed there was a tangible monetary goal that would cause BioWare to flip the switch on a new ending.
The "Retake Mass Effect" webpage now features a post by one Robb, calling the charity drive a success and announcing that it would be "winding down" following conversations with Child's Play representatives.
Meanwhile the effort's Facebook page is essentially saying that Robb is speaking out of his ass.
While Robb was one of the individuals who set up the Child's Play fundraiser he is NOT a spokesperson for the Retake movement as a whole, and never asked to become one.
The charity campaign did NOT "wind down" it reached its preset goal of $80,000, ended, and the directors of Child's Play asked us to end the charity because they were getting bad publicity from it.
Either way, the charitable donation portion of the "Retake Mass Effect" movement has come to a close.
Child's Play And "Retake Mass Effect" [Penny Arcade]