Is FreeRice.com legit?

Yes.

Yea, it’s really true. However, I’m surprised that most people don’t take on free rice when they complain about how bad a situation the world is in. True the world is suffering, true the world is rising in temperature, true that people are being orphaned, abandoned, and killed everyday…but why sit around and complain when you get an oppurtunity like this?

I have it bookmarked in my “Timewasters” folder, for when I’m bored. You get to learn new vocabulary words and do something good for poor people. What’s not to love about that?

Exactly, this site really is underrated (by that I mean by publicity). This is a perfect oppurtunity to impact the world in a small but life changing way. Everytime I go on there, it never ceases to amaze me that I just fed yet another child. To be honest, I did not even know that there was such a program until my teacher suggested we go on the site during Humanities class.

I hope it’s legit! I have spent a lot of time thinking I was helping!

@filmfann Trust me, it was not in vain!

of course!! I love that website!!!

While I’m not entirely convinced that one grain of won rice exactly corresponds to one grain of actual donated rice (who would bother counting the grains, anyway?), I am convinced that playing the game helps feed people.

At first I found it hard to believe too, how you can help charity without actually giving anyone any money. But it does make sense.
It’s the ads on the bottom of the page. Sponsors pay the site for having their ads there. Thus you generate money by being exposed to them, money that is then spent on the UN World Food Program.
Just getting your attention for a few seconds can pay for someone’s dinner. It’s at the same time an embarrassing indication of just how freaking rich we are here, and a great way to raise the standard of living elsewhere.

Side note:
But with all due respect, admiration and lurve for the guy who made the site, I’m not really happy about the English vocabulary subject (the standard setting). Many of the “synonyms” you’re supposed to pick aren’t actually good synonyms at all. :/ I often find myself just not agreeing with what’s supposed to be the right answer.
It doesn’t help that in fact there do not exist any two words in any language of the world that mean exactly the same. There are always differences in connotations and the like. The basic idea of the exercise is flawed.

So I’d rather keep practising my geography and multiplication tables instead.

Holy cow that was a huge time-suck. Who knew that I was so horrible at world geography?

Yes, to think the money we use unneccessarily by using the computer, going on the internet, clicking on links in a matter of seconds is already enough to pay for a few grains of rice is quite embarrassing and it is intriguing at the same time…

I lurve freerice.com !!!

Yay! I’m happy to hear the responses above. I, too, have spent heaps of time thinking I was helping without really fact checking.

I wonder if there is a freerice iPhone app…

Edit: There is! It’s called MobileRice and it’s (of course) free.

@gemiwing, me too! I feel somewhat guilty about it, but maybe this will be good for me. :)

Seems like a good thing.

Another thing to keep us tethered to our PC.

Granted, you do have to answer 720 questions to donate one cup of rice, but it’s better than nothing.

@Jayne
I think you’ll find you’ve answered your 720ieth question before you realise it. :P
And if hundreds of people play at the same time, small contributions become substantial quickly.

Oh yes, I know. I’ve used the site and think it’s a good thing; but on the balance, it would technically be more time efficient to, say, work more and donate to charity. That’s just a lot less fun and not very realistic.

I agree.
The fun factor is important when it comes to why this works. If it would be a hundred times as efficient but completely boring, I think it would still raise much less money because not nearly as many people would do it.
I’d probably lose interest if it weren’t so addictive. Hate to admit it, but it’s true. :/

I’m afraid we’ve all still got a bit of selfish bastard in us, even if we want to help out. I think the people who can stay motivated indefinitely to put real effort into charity are few and far between.