Food For Friends was a little experiment we concocted as a new format for events held in MMORPGs.  We wanted to channel the in-game efforts of players into something real that would impact others in a positive way.  For those of you who missed it, the basic idea was to craft and a number of food items and hand them in to a GM. Sanrio Digital then made a donation to charity, the amount of which was determined by the total number of crafted food items submitted by players. As you can see this means that the event generated real world charity that was directly proportional to the efforts of the player base.

The event was a resounding success, with Sanrio Digital donating USD 12,000 to Unicef and the Asian Youth Orchestra! Keep in mind this is based on the Founders’ Beta, which was essentially a closed beta. We want charity to be an important part of HKO, so there will be other similar events in later releases of the game.

Media such as CNET, Allakhazam and Ten Ton Hamster wrote about the event, and the feedback we have been receiving has been very encouraging. Hopefully this exercise can stimulate a trend of a better sense of community responsibility. MMORPGs require a lot of time to play in the long run, and we think most players would be happy if some of the effort they invest in a game could also benefit the less fortunate.

Wow… it’s been an amazing month! People rushing to complete quests, the competitive relationships of the guilds, constant patching to improve the game, and the multiple events made for one heck of a month! But the best thing that this month brought us are the new friendships that we formed and priceless memories have been made from spending time with each other.

Founders’ Beta has been a real fun-filled experience for all of us and we’d like to thank all of the people who have participated in it and for the patience and dedicated support you have all given for the game. Without you, Founders’ Beta wouldn’t have been the success it has been.

Now, the wait begins for… Open Beta.

HOWEVER…

we will be having SOMETHING before Open Beta so it’d be awesome if you guys KEEP THE CLIENT!

Founders’ Beta has been a real success and it’s thanks to you! As the game winds down and officially closes at midnight EST on November 8, 2008, the time has come for the last, the greatest, the best event yet: the Founders’ Finale! We’re making the countdown to the end of this Founders’ Beta a lot of fun, and we’ll be giving away real diamond pendants generously provided by MBLife, so join any (or all!) of the contests in the Founders’ Finale for a chance to win!

The action starts on November 7, 2008 at 9pm EST. Here are the activities.

Crop Circles

Show off the precision of your landscaping skills!  Nothing is more refreshing than a day in a beautifully landscaped garden.  Use your farm to arrange your crops to grow into shapes or patterns, make colorful combinations, or draw a picture made of crops! Click here to see more details on the HKO Event blog.

Body Doubles

Do you look like your Hello Kitty Online avatar?  Send us pictures!  Mix and match avatar clothes and hairstyles or dress yourself up in real life to look like your avatar!   We will pick two winners (one male avatar and one female avatar) based on similarities between their photograph and their HKO avatar! See the details for that event on the HKO Event blog.

Blog For Thought

Share your Hello Kitty Online story!  Use your SanrioTown account blog to write about your experiences in the game, your best or funniest moments, the friends you met in the game, or anything related to HKO.  Creativity is king here!  Add photos, videos or music to make your blog post better. Read more about that on the HKO Event blog.

A Day With Hello Kitty and Friends

Got a talent for art?  This one is for you!  Draw your avatar together with Hello Kitty and her friends. Your drawing must be about something you have done in Sanrio Land – for example, planting your farm, cooking for charity, running back and forth on quests, or anything else you enjoyed doing in Sanrio Land! Click here to see more details about this event!

The Kevent

The Kevent is an obscure event shrouded in mystery, wrapped in enigma, riddled with puzzles, surrounded by inscrutability, and doused with a healthy dose of bewilderment.  And that’s as much as we’re going to tell you about The Kevent. What is The Kevent? You’ll have to log in to find out more!

See the HKO Event Blog for the respective deadlines of each event.

Winners in these events will be rewarded with fine diamond jewelry which sponsor by a prestige online jewelry shop - MBLife.com. The generous support and the sparkle of diamonds from MBLife will certainly help all founders to enjoy and excel in all our events. 

Good luck to all founders and thank you for your support! We look forward to seeing you as we celebrate a wonderful Founders’ Beta!

* MBLife.com is an online jewelry shop that provides a delightful shopping experience for customers to experience wide selection of fashionable diamond jewelry. (Learn more about MBLife.com)

As much as we enjoy spending time with our players, the Hello Kitty Online Founders’ Beta must draw to a close in order to make way for many improvements for Open Beta. So as mentioned in our last news post, Founders’ Beta will end on November 8, 2008 at 23:59 (midnight) Eastern Standard Time.

This last week of Founders’ Beta has been eventful, exciting, and interesting to say the least, so if you haven’t been logging in recently, don’t miss out! There are currently some events ongoing in this last week of Founders’ Beta, including the charity event “Food for Friends“, the Dream Studio contest “Frightspinners” which is currently at the judging stage, and the building of New York’s famous landmarks by players themselves!

Keep checking the HKO Event Blog for more details on what’s cooking in Hello Kitty Online. We hope that these last few days become fun and memorable for you all. See you in the game!