FreeRice - a project to fight world hunger

I just saw a spot on the BBC about Free Rice, a program that donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program for every word you get right in their online vocabulary game.

The game is fun and easy to play and adapts to your vocab level (according to the FAQs).

Every bit . . . or grain . . . helps!

I'm glad somebody posted about this initiative. I was going to start a thread about it yesterday after reading the BBC story but then got caught up in the game. It's as addictive as Toytown.

It's great fun, it's instructive and it's for a good cause. Highly recommended!

Nice game, not so convinced about the rice - what happens if the place getts flooded? But play away!! I passed the 1000 grains mark.

My vocab score hit a 48, and is now hovering around 44-45. My German would be a three, me thinks.

this game is really addictive. beware! I'm impressed by the 48, can't seem to get it above a 46 and I've really been trying!

Ok, that was fun for a rainy Sunday afternoon and I learned a few new words, like horologist.

Anyway, I noticed there are some really big name global companies who are sponsoring this site and after some additional reading I think this initiative is really more about advertising for these big name sponsors and really less about fighting world hunger. Furthermore, the combined total revenues and assets of these companies is astounding.

I'm both a cynic and a skeptic. To fight the problem of world hunger you most first address the issue of world poverty as world hunger is a symptom of world poverty. I believe these big name global companies have a responsible to contibute more to address the alleviation of world poverty, instead of trying to feed their financial bottom lines by advertising their companies and then contributing some meager financial resources to purchase a few grains of rice to feed the hungry.

OK, but on a superficial level, where else do you think the money for that rice was coming from?

I find it a great idea. I donated 1360 grains of rice. Just hope that the donated rice is distributed properly.

Rice grains vary widely. Mostly they weight 20-30 mg, although experimental breeding has produced them as large as 78 mg http://www.shigen.nig.ac.jp/rice/rgn/vol5/v5VI33.html

So 1360 grains is about 27 to 40 grams, not yet a meal. So keep playing.

However a day with 1,000,000,000 grains like yesterday is at least 27000 Kg - will feed a family of 4 for 1,8 years on a rather boring and deadly diet.

According to this BBC article, the site has raised a billion grains of rice since its start in early October. Apparently this is enough to feed 50,000 people for one day.

In addition to the rice, hopefully awareness (about both hunger AND poverty) will also be raised.

It's addictive all right! Vocab level doesn't seem to go above 50 though, no matter how long you hang around at that level (some luck was involved).

I'm enjoying this immensely, I go back to it a couple of times every day. It's also impressive to see the totals (amounts donated so far).

The other day I wanted to check how the whole game was set up so I kept giving wrong answers to see what the lowest level was. I must say I was a bit nervous doing it, I was half expecting to get a pop-up on my screen with something like "No brain activity detected. Further access denied".

It didn't happen, I'm glad to say. Also, I'm sure nobody would get every single word wrong so let me just confirm for the record that the game does go all the way down to level 1.

Update on FreeRice:

Another FreeRice update:


So 55 levels now!

That is bloody addictive !

thanks for passing this along!

It takes about 30,000 grains to make a pound. You do the math.

what's your point?

4.5 billion in January => 150,000lbs of rice => not bad at all.

It takes 1,500 correct words to donate a pound of rice. Why is some word game needed and what would it actually cost to just donate a pound of rice outright? We play games while people starve. That is my point.

He's right, I'm gonna stop clicking and go home and put my feet up and watch Family Guy whilst people starve instead.

And have a beer and make a nice meal (with rice)?

How about donate cash to a worthy organization instead of being the usual ass you are?

good point Eurovol, but some people don't give. If this encourages them to participate and it benefts others then why not? Every little bit helps and it's not hurting by doing this. Sure, people just giving lumps of gold and all you can eat healthy buffets would be better, but no one has yet stepped up to do that.

Well that's the advantage of being fabulously wealthy. I donate cash to worthy organisations and have lots of free time to be an ass as well. Given that you offered them up as mutually exclusive I guess you just chose the latter.

Sorry, but I am not so gullible. I have cruised around their website and I see nothing that suggests transparency. I want to see an official statement of money received from the advertising that supposedly gives all this rice and the money donated to the WFP. Find me that and I will be less skeptical and happy to play along.

Ah, the big and evil global companies. If they're rich, they must be the reason everybody's poor.


Tautology of the day.


So, let me set this straight - the big and evil global companies should alleviate world poverty in order to solve world hunger. And, I'm guessing here, they should do that by... making people less poor?

Seriously, how do you think global companies are responsible for hunger, and how do you think they should solve it?

I'm just wondering, who exactly for these big, evil, global companies?

That would be me. I made 11 people hungry today, just by sending e-mail.

And my Powerpoint presentation put 7 people on the street...

The question was meant to be rhetorical but thank you for making my point.

According to calculations earlier in this thread, you need a grand total of 256,713 correct words in order to compensate for your eviltry.

Don't you hate it when people answer rhetorical questions?

Just go to this site click on it and feed someone. No Games.

http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/h...EF090.ctgProd03

I have had The Hunger Site on my website for almost 10 years. They are actually fairly transparent in how it is given and who gives what.

So the main objections to the FreeRice game seem to be that it doesn't do enough to eradicate world hunger and also brings in advertising revenue for the companies behind it.

The first point is undoubtedly valid - it's not enough. But at least it's a start. Even if the companies concerned are primarily motivated by generating publicity and meeting targets (social and fiscal), the fact remains that it is also doing some good, however little and however incidentally. And it doesn't hurt to raise awareness, either - it's already spawned a copycat initiative on Facebook, for example. (Only 50 levels but donates 25 grains per word, as opposed to 20 on FreeRice. And you can see copies of the cheques and thank-you letters on there too.)

As far as the second point is concerned, what did you expect? The companies involved are not charities. But I don't see that the advertising revenue negates the positive aspects of this. Indeed, it seems to me to be a good example of a win-win situation: the companies profit through advertising, we learn more vocabulary, some hungry people get fed, the profile of the issue is raised. Where's the harm in that?

I'd be surprised if many people considered this initiative either sufficient or purely altruistic. But as a means of procrastination, it probably does rather more good than winding people up on TT or poking on FB or taking prisoners on WoW. And here's where I make my shocking confession: I would actually still play this game even if it weren't donating anything to anyone. Just because I'm a linguist and find it fascinating. And I'm clearly far from alone. For me, the fact that skiving off work and indulging a passion makes even a tiny contribution is an added bonus - and yes, I do donate directly to charity too. I don't think many people would consider that this type of game discharges their entire social responsibility, and you never know... the average quality of TT posts may yet improve!

Hear ye, hear ye! Freerice.com now has a number of different subjects, not just English vocabulary, and it's also possible to choose the level of difficulty (once you've answered the first question).

I just spent some time on World capitals and Famous paintings, which were great fun. The multiplication table is too basic, unfortunately, but kids would probably enjoy it.

^{And if you're feeling masochistic, you can even test your German.}

The Language Learning section is a bit disappointing. I hope they're going to expand the stock of words, right now it's quite repetitive in all four languages.

Show-off

Hardly. It's not much of an achievement if the level of difficulty is low.
Or, in Corneille's words: A vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire.

Now that's showing off.