So there's this charity, Child's Play, created by the guys who do the Penny Arcade webcomic:
Then there's this comedy group called Loading Ready Run, who are based out of my hometown, Victoria Canada. I don't know them personally, but I can vouch for their videos being entertaining!Since 2003, over 100,000 gamers worldwide have banded together through Child’s Play, a community based charity grown and nurtured from the game culture and industry. Over 3.5 million dollars in donations of toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals across North America and the world have been collected since our inception.
This year, we have continued expanding across the country and the globe. With around 60 partner hospitals and more arriving every month, you can be sure to find one from the map above that needs your help! You can choose to purchase requested items from their online retailer wish lists, or make a cash donation that helps out Child’s Play hospitals everywhere. Any items purchased through Amazon will be shipped directly to your hospital of choice, so please be sure to select their shipping address rather than your own.
When gamers give back, it makes a difference!
Finally, there's this old Sega CD game called Desert Bus, created by magicians Penn and Teller. You might be familiar with it, as raocow guest commentated for a Desert Bus LP a few years ago:Inspired in name and appearance by the Commdore 64 Home Computer System, LRR is a site run by-and for-geeks. You have to be at least a bit of a geek to think writing, shooting and producing a new, original short sketch every week is feasible. But you have to be a giant geek to actually do it. Since LoadingReadyRun's start in 2003, it has consistently updated with a new video, every week. Often more!
LRR videos have been featured in film festivals such as the Comic Con International Film Festival in San Diego, and shown on major TV networks, including G4 TechTV, The CW and even CNN.
What happens when you mix these three ingredients together? You get DESERT BUS FOR HOPE, a charity event in which the Loading Ready Run crew plays a marathon session of Desert Bus. For each dollar you donate to Child's Play (through the Desert Bus for Hope website), the longer these guys have to play this horrible joke of a game!The objective of the game is to drive a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada in real time at a maximum speed of 45mph, a feat that would take the player 8 hours of continuous play to complete, as the game cannot be paused.
The bus contains no passengers, and there is no scenery or other cars on the road. The bus veers to the right slightly; as a result, it is impossible to tape down a button to go do something else and have the game end properly. If the bus veers off the road it will stall and be towed back to Tucson, also in real time. If the player makes it to Las Vegas, they will score exactly one point. The player then gets the option to make the return trip to Tucson—for another point (a decision they must make in a few seconds or the game ends).
As of this writing (9:58 AM PST), they've managed to raise $15,947.78 and have to continue playing for the next 103 hours (and the donations are going up so fast that I've had to edit this number five times while writing this post!)
There's a live feed of the guys at LRR headquarters that you can watch. And because, let's face it, watching geeks play video games for hours isn't the most exciting thing in the world, they're taking pledges to do crazy stuff on camera. For example, $2000 will get them to crash the bus and restart the game. Last year one guy paid $10 for each person that they were able to fit on their couch and another $10 for each person that could fit on the chair (ended up being $150 and $90 for 15 and 9 people, respectively). $20 and $30 dollar donations get sing-alongs (from old favorites like the Captain Planet theme and Still Alive to their own creations such as "I'm on a bus" and "Desert Bus killed the Internet Star"). They'll also do things like put your message on the live feed for a certain amount of time. They're auctioning off cool prizes from sponsors such as Harmonix. Finally, they get call-ins from D-list celebrities (such as Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day) every now and then.
So how can you help?
- Donate!
- If you'd rather donate something tangible instead of cash, the Child's Play hospitals have all set up gift registries through Amazon. Find your local hospital on the map here!
- Can't donate? That's okay too! Spread the word about Child's Play and Desert Bus for Hope! If you have a twitter account, then follow Desert Bus, spread the word amongst your friends and help us get trending!
