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The Gamer's Charity
In 2003, the makers of the popular gaming webcomic Penny Arcade (Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins) created the Gamer's Charity: Child's Play. Child's Play focused on re-moralizing children who were in various hospitals across the US (expanded in later years to be an international organization) by ensuring that hospitals had the latest and greatest games and consoles to keep children active and stimulated, staving off the depression that can easily become overwhelming in a hospital bed. Over the years, they've collected well over 3.5 million dollars in the donation of toys, which has gone towards over 60 partner hospitals.
The gaming community has responded with impressive involvement, not only with their giving, but in their methods of giving, such as the recent "Desert Bus For Hope" marathon, in which gamers played 'Desert Bus', a mind-numbingly boring cross-country bus simulator with no pause, no brakes, and a continuous eight hour drive across a very boring desert, in which your bus constantly inches off the road to the right. While this conventional torture may seem like a strange way of giving, they tormented themselves with Desert Bus for an unthinkable 5 days, 5 hours, and 5 minutes, raising just over $70,000 for Child's Play through sponsors. If you don't think that's a determined giving spirit, why not watch the gameplay video here and see if you can keep from nodding off for a minute and five seconds.
A new charity marathon is apparently brewing, even now, as I write this article. Justin.tv is the primary event channel for a 48 hour long Multiplayer Marathon to benefit Child's Play, and appears as thought it will have live feeds later in the day when the marathon begins at the Marathon Coverage Site. It looks like it will be a fun event to watch, and perhaps use that chat window to lend your support. Or, if you're so inclined, there appears to be a donation button from ChipIn at the bottom of the coverage site, if a monetary donation is your interest.
I can't help but idly wonder, though, if people can play these multiplayer games as long as they do for recreation, how long could they go if their gaming was for a good cause?
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