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What Will RetakeMe3 Do At PAX?

The organization dedicated to bringing a cathartic and comprehensive ending to Mass Effect 3 is back at the drawing board thinking of new ways to do a little bit of good and make their message heard at PAX. RetakeMe3, which is close to 60 thousand members strong, has from the start advocated for contributions to many charitable organizations. The charity Child’s Play benefited the most from gamers’ generosity, gaining a total of 80 thousand dollars in the few short weeks since the group’s inception. Today I sat down with Eric again to go over what’s in the future for RetakeME3′s charity work and what can we expect from the group during PAX.

RetakeMe3 is refocusing its efforts on helping the community. After the issues with Child’s Play what were some of the concerns of associating yourself with an established charity?
The main concern was that most charities would not want to associate themselves with a “protest” group. We don’t want to put anyone else in the position of having other donors threatening to stop contributing to a charity just because they disagree with us. We also don’t want anyone to be contributing to charity for the wrong reasons. We give to charity to help make the world a little bit better, not to further our own ends.



What were some of the creative solutions your team came up with to remedy that concern?
In order to avoid any of the controversy that surrounded the Child’s Play fundraiser, but while still doing our best to help out it was decided that our charity work had to go in a completely different direction. To that end I contacted several people both within the Retake movement and without, and asked for their support in creating a whole new charitable fundraising group. The new group will be unrelated and not associated with the Retake movement. It will be a group made up of gamers combining forces to improve the world. Whether you agree with the Retake movement or not, even if you have never heard of it as long as you enjoy playing video games we want you to join our group. The members of the Retake movement are just a drop in the ocean compared to the numbers of gamers around the world, and we want to unite everyone together.

How do you get the consensus of 60 thousand group members when it comes to finding another charity to work with?
We are never going to have everyone agree to support a single charity. As such the admins of the new group will be looking at everyone’s suggestions (giving priority to non-for-profit groups), and then decide on which ones to support. The general idea right now is to have 1-3 different charity drives going at a time and let them run for about 2 months (or until a specific fiscal goal is reached), and then select new groups to support.

Considering this is an organization  advocating for a new ending to Mass Effect 3, why have you focused so much of your efforts on finding a charity you can help?

The goal of the Retake movement is to get a more appropriate ending for Mass Effect 3, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do some good along the way. The Retake movement has put a lot of emphasis on charity because it allows people to vent their hurt and frustration in a constructive way. Looking back we want to be able to say that we did ourselves proud, and didn’t just get lost in the mass of random internet rage.

What is the game plan in the next few days for RetakeME3?
For right now the Retake movement is bidding its time, and taking things slowly. We still have enough faith in BioWare to wait for them to make their announcement later in the month concerning ME3. We are working hard to keep people focused on the movement, and to keep morale up. A few of us are also working on a few side projects (such as the new fundraiser group), and planning contingency plans for whatever response we receive from BioWare.

Here is what is going to happen over the next few days for the new fundraising group:
1. A name will be chosen, and people will be introduced to the all new Gamer based fundraising group.
2. People will be invited to join so that we can show potential charitable partners the numbers and eagerness we have to offer.
3. We will be contacting our known associates in various charities and non-for-profits.
4. A charity will be chosen and announced, and supported for a set amount of time or until a specific goal is reached.

PAX is just around the corner. Will RetakeME3 be at the event and is there anything planned for the first public event for BioWare since the release of ME3?
There will be many members of the Retake movement at PAX we want to make sure people know that we don’t plan to give up, and that we aren’t going away. All Retake members that are going to be in attendance are being reminded to remain polite, civil, and respectful. We don’t need any negative press. We will keep the pressure on BioWare, but we will do it in an organized, professional way.

Expect a full interview with the RetakeME3 Organizer as new information is released!

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