The 24 hour gaming marathon for charity

[TheOneRinger]

The way they're doing this makes perfect sense to me.

1) Clearly not a marketing plan because it was only advertised to people who already follow news related to the game.

2) This way allows us to keep our money going to the places we intend it. I want my subscription money going to the game's development and Turbine/WB's employees. I don't want the company suddenly redirecting my money to a charity that they choose, because I have my own priorities when it comes to giving, and, as plenty here have noted, it's wise to investigate a charity before you give.

Also, Sapience's letting others choose his games makes this method much more hilarious.

[Dubbis]

I saw this on twitter and visited the website, I think it's awesome. Good luck to the whole team!

Also congratulations to Sapience for already reaching your goal Hello Kitty Online made me giggle, I actually had never even heard of it before. Also I was glad to see the Rock Band games on your list, they're so much fun.

[GV-Tanith]

Think of that. We could be in your kinships right now, and you won't know it! OooooOoOOoEeeeeeEEEEoooooo!

*considers this, directs a sharp glance at Sapience, and logs on to check the bacon supply in the kinhouse*

All kidding aside, best of luck with this. We're looking forward to reading about how you guys handled not falling asleep over your games at 3 AM.

[Clover]

I just want to stop by and say thanks for the amazing support from the community! On a personal note this is one of many charities that I support, but this one is near and dear to my heart. In 1995 my daughter was born 9 week premature and my family and I are so grateful to Children's Miracle Network and other charities like it for being there when we needed them the most. Dealing with a child's life-threatening illness is traumatic and it is reassuring to know that CMN hospitals are there with both medical and emotional support.

I encourage you to read more about CMN here. You can donate on my page, the team's page or if you are more comfortable directly to the charity. No amount is too small and spreading the word is free! Thanks again for your support.

[Mark_J]

The Children's Miracle network is one of the better charities out there, almost 91% of their fund raising proceeds go for their programs and not administration/fund raising costs. They also do something that many of the larger Non-Profits don't do, that is they give you the choice as to what Hospital the money you raise/donate gets to go to.

The Red Cross for example does not advertise that option. When you give them money it stays in the State from which it was donated. That means if you wanted to donate to the tornado victims in Alabama and you donated from New York, the Alabama Red Cross didn't get that money.

I'm not familiar with Extra Life and won't make any comment on them. I will say that with ANY donations be it time or money make certain you know exactly where the proceeds go. Ask the questions before you donate!

As for this event, I'd like to make a suggestion. Why not go to the local CMNH that will benefit from your marathon and hand out some LOTRO goodies? Could you maybe even arrange for a monitor set up so they could watch from a common room at various points through the event?

I bet the kids there would love to feel like they are part of the event while giving them something to cheer for at the same time. It's always great to see folks helping others out, good luck on the 20th!

[Sapience]

As for this event, I'd like to make a suggestion. Why not go to the local CMNH that will benefit from your marathon and hand out some LOTRO goodies? Could you maybe even arrange for a monitor set up so they could watch from a common room at various points through the event?

I bet the kids there would love to feel like they are part of the event while giving them something to cheer for at the same time. It's always great to see folks helping others out, good luck on the 20th!

This is an outstanding idea. I don't know how much of it we can make happen, but this is now definitely on my to do list.

As an update, Clover, Celestrata and myself have raised slightly over $1300 combined to date. Team Turbine has just broken the $4,100 mark. That makes us the 12th place team overall. This amazing community is responsible for an overwhelmingly large chunk of that and we can't begin to thank you for all the support.

Not only are you guys the most passionate (hey we got a trophy to prove it!), but clearly you're the most caring as well.

A little over two weeks to go. Sky's the limit.
http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?...am&teamID=9175

[Celestrata]

This is an outstanding idea. I don't know how much of it we can make happen, but this is now definitely on my to do list.

As an update, Clover, Celestrata and myself have raised slightly over $1300 combined to date. Team Turbine has just broken the $4,100 mark. That makes us the 12th place team overall. This amazing community is responsible for an overwhelmingly large chunk of that and we can't begin to thank you for all the support.

Not only are you guys the most passionate (hey we got a trophy to prove it!), but clearly you're the most caring as well.

A little over two weeks to go. Sky's the limit.
http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?...am&teamID=9175

The sky is, indeed, the limit. Honestly, I'm extremely proud of everyone here. To see our group hit 12th in the whole fundraiser is awesome. We're almost about to catch Sledgehammer Games and Infinity Ward! ^_^

So, with that in mind, I've asked around and I've gotten the approval to add a new goal to my page. If you guys can help my page reach over $700 in donations, I'll wear my LARP costuming and armor to work for a day and Tweet photos of it. (You can see a piece of concept art of the costume here: http://i46.tinypic.com/os8tnq.jpg. I don't really get pictures of it when I'm running around the woods.) My Extra Life page is here: http://www.extra-life.org/participant/seraphina

So, if you want to see me sitting here at work in full makeup, mask, wig, and armor... now's your chance. My character's half-undead, so there's certainly a good amount of makeup involved. =^_^=

[Elfheart]

How can you be half undead? I always thought that was an all or nothing kind of thing.

[Celestrata]

How can you be half undead? I always thought that was an all or nothing kind of thing.

Death taint. Skin is rotting and falling off at night, but the race still breathes and eats food. Sunlight burns them during the day, but they look more human during the day. It's a fun race!

[techknowrat]

You guys are gonna need lots of coffee & toothpicks for your eyes.

yeah they are, I have participated in the child's play gaming marathon 2 years in a row and those last 6 hours can be painful in fact my back is killing me thinking about it lol

this year because of work and health issues I think I will just make a sizable donation and leave the fund raising to others this year

[Sapience]

So now I have to come up with uber cool incentives? Ok I can do that! I have stuff kicking around that I'll give up for a good cause.

How's this. The person who, at 11:59PM Eastern time on October 20th has donated the most to my effort, gets this. Technically you'll get one like it as that's Amlug's. I'll give you mine which is currently hanging in my loft at home.

https://twitter.com/rickheaton/statu.../photo/1/large


The next 4 people who have donated the most get a set of these... All three Soundtracks. Angmar, Moria, and Rohan.


https://twitter.com/rickheaton/statu.../photo/1/large


And, just to make things interesting, I'll select one person at random from everyone who has donated, regardless of how much, and send them one of the Soundtrack sets as well.

Obviously Turbine employees don't count. So have at it!

Just make sure you leave an email address (you'll see the option) so I can contact you if you win.

Donate here: http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?...cipantID=35128

On more thing, because this is me doing this I don't care where you live. If you get mail delivery, We'll put our heads together and figure out how to get it to you.

[Damojo]

OK you got me, I'm in the UK but kids are kids.
Should I be lucky enough to win a prize, please re-draw it. There's no need to send things over here.

[Chellcn]

I'm the only income in my household, and it's a part time income at that. But I'm now going to try and scrape together some funds to donate, because Sapience has a Dreamcast.

Dang I loved that system. ~misty eyed~

[Jeroen3219]

[QUOTE=Sapience;6445459]The person who, ... has donated the most to my effort, gets this.[QUOTE]

Shameless self plugging for the win

Because of the good cause, you have my (anonymous/not traceble to my account) endorsement!

[Sapience]

I'm the only income in my household, and it's a part time income at that. But I'm now going to try and scrape together some funds to donate, because Sapience has a Dreamcast.

Dang I loved that system. ~misty eyed~

It's one of those systems I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of.

[QUOTE=Jeroen3219;6445994][QUOTE=Sapience;6445459]The person who, ... has donated the most to my effort, gets this.

Shameless self plugging for the win

Because of the good cause, you have my (anonymous/not traceble to my account) endorsement!

No shame in plugging oneself if it results in helping sick kids. I'll do it all day long.

For those who are wondering, top three donation amounts (not from Turbine Employees or Family)

$100
$59 ($50+$9)
$50 (multiple)

[Thrabath]

If I donate 50 i could make you play WoW for example?

[Sapience]

If I donate 50 i could make you play WoW for example?

If that's what you want me to play for an hour that's what I'll play and tweet a screen of it.

[Lyzau]

If I donate 50 i could make you play WoW for example?

That is sooo cruel! /shakefist

[Bhoris_they_spider]

If that's what you want me to play for an hour that's what I'll play and tweet a screen of it.

How about 24 hours of Turbine staff trying to defeat ToO F&F T2 CM with the condition that they can only bring 1 burglar to the fight? I will pay $100 if you manage to kill it

[Sapience]

How about 24 hours of Turbine staff trying to defeat ToO F&F T2 CM with the condition that they can only bring 1 burglar to the fight? I will pay $100 if you manage to kill it

So the deal is 1 hour, 1 person, 1 game $50. Considering you're talking more than an hour and more than 1 person, you're going to have to adjust your offer UP dramatically.

Also, I can only speak for what I will do. Not others.


My offer stands as written and I mean it. $50, you name the game on any of the systems I have listed and as long as I can actually get a hold of the game, I'll play it for an hour. If you choose a game I don't have or cant get in time for the 20th, I'll let you know and you can choose a different one.

To date, people have donated and requested the following....

PC
Myst Online: Uru Live
Hello Kitty Online
The Lord of the Rings Online

Nintendo 64
Superman

[Sapience]

So I was giving this some thought last night and it occurred to me that ultimately, this is really about community. For us this is about helping sick kids in our local community and for those who have signed up to help us reach our goals, especially those who have signed up to actually play and raise money themselves, it's about their communities, too.



So here are some community goals to work for. Every $1 donation counts. The idea is to hit the goals and raise the maximum amount we can for, in my case, Boston Children's Hospital. The first goal should be easy, we're only $157 away!

Group Goals!

Goal #1 - Raise $1,250 - Every LOTRO player who donated receives the forum title "Hero" on the LOTRO Forums.

Goal #2 - Raise $1,500 - Every LOTRO player who donated receives an IN GAME TITLE (cannot be bought in the store, cannot be earned in game!!) 'The Sociable'

Goal #3 - Raise $2,000 - I'll film a community update wearing one of these: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/f0d0/

Goal #4 - Raise $2,500 - I'll film a community update wearing the beard above and convince a dev to do so, too!

[Jaedor]

Goal #1 has now been met. Good job everyone!

Now on to Goal #2...

[Goonerholic]

Maybe I'm blind and just completely missed it but, will any of the marathon sessions be streamed somewhere? Would love to pop in and watch the torture of playing Superman 64.

[Sapience]

Goal #1 has now been met. Good job everyone!

Now on to Goal #2...

$1407 as of now, almost there! And for the record, the community team has just been given this title to use for promotions and this is the very first use of it. So those who donate will have an in game title that currently cannot be earned any other way.

And just in case people think their donation won't matter, or they can't donate enough to get in on the goodies. A $1 donation at any point between now and 11:59PM Eastern time October 20th, 2012 is enough to qualify for ALL of the goal prizes as they are met. So if you donate a $1 you're already going to get a forum title after this is all over and be part of the random drawing for the 3 sound track CDs.

Maybe I'm blind and just completely missed it but, will any of the marathon sessions be streamed somewhere? Would love to pop in and watch the torture of playing Superman 64.

Unfortunately I won't be live streaming, but I did agree to tweet pics (and I plan to tweet during the whole event. I MIGHT be able to put together a Google+ hang out for part of it, but not sure on that) while playing each of the games people have donated to see me play. So if you're looking for curse filled rants, twitter's where you'll find them (on my personal feed, not the LOTRO feed). I'll have to think up a catchy hashtag to use for this...

Update: Literally while I was typing this the Total climbed to $1449. $51 away from Goal #2!

[Ravyrn]

Sapience, if the community could get you up to $5000, would you consider playing a freshly rolled reaver for an hour and streaming it? If you can agree to this, I will donate again I'll make my friends and kinnies donate again also.