Wednesday, February 11, 2015

What Do You Mean "They Wrote Back"?

Recently our boy wanted to pitch some ideas he had to Rovio, the makers of Angry Birds, about some game levels he thought would be cool.  Here is what he dictated to the wife:

Dear Angry Bird Makers,

My name is Ethan, and I am 6 years old.  My mom is letting me send this email to you.  Could you please watch the Harry Potter movies and make a Harry Potter Angry Birds game?  Could you please make one of the levels with the birds fighting the "Piggy Willow" which is like the Whomping Willow?  Can you make them fight Dementors too?  Can you have a level where they save Ron's car and destroy the Whomping Willow?  Can you make a level with Harry Potter fighting Professor Quirrell?  Could you have a level with the Chessboard Queen fighting Professor Snape? If you launch the Chessboard Queen and press it, it will split into 10 different Queens.  Could the last level of the game be Harry Potter and the gang fighting Voldemort ? When they destroy Voldemort and all the Dementors that keep annoying you and getting in your way, the Dementors will disappear and Voldemort will disintegrate.   Also, please make Harry Potter Angry Birds Toons.  Could you make a level of the gang fighting Aragog on Ron's Dad's car as it moves down the hill?  If Aragog catches up, you lose the level and Aragog crushes the car to bits.

Thank you.  Please ask J.K. Rowling for permission.

Signed,
Ethan

We figured “Hey, why not send it?  They will probably just ignore it and move on with their day.”  We told him that big companies are usually very, very busy so don’t expect an answer for a while (“or ever,” we added to ourselves).  This morning at about 6:30, though, we awoke to find this in the inbox:

Hi Ethan!
Thank you for writing to us! We always love to hear what kind of ideas you fans have, and what you would like to see in the games we make!
You seem to be a huge Harry Potter fan :) Most of us are, too! It also seems like you have given a lot of thought to what kind of things the game should feature. How great that you have been inspired so much both by our games and the Harry Potter movies!
We have already many plans for what will happen to our Birds next. They will be very busy appearing in new games this year. Hopefully you'll find the updates and games as exciting as we do. Keep popping those pigs! Squawk! :)
Kind Regards,
Veera
Rovio Support Team
I just want to say “Thank you, Veera from Rovio games” for absolutely delighting a six-year-old with your email!  Even though he is 99.9% sure this is how grown-ups say “No”, this letter is, by a wide margin, the classiest response I have ever heard a huge company give anyone in response to a fan letter like this and it made him smile super big to get it.
You guys really made his day!

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